Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater M22Ti's on shelves? (much more inside!)

Hello everyone,

I have a full complement of Axiom's and I'm very, very pleased with them. Music, movies, they are perfect to my ears.

M22Ti
VP150
QS8s

SCENARIO
OK, I am purchasing a projector and building a screen. Due to screen size, space taken up by equipment rack and the size of the wall, it doesn't look like I'll have room for the stands that my M22s sit on. (They'd be blocking the screen).

Here's what I'm considering:

Mounting the speakers on shelves, at the same height as my stands (22"). The shelves will be 12" deep, which means there will be approximately 3" of space b/t the rear-firing port and the wall.

Is this enough space? It's important to note that these are SHELVES and not an "entertainment center"; i.e. the speakers won't be "boxed in" like if I was putting them into a cubby? I hope I explained this adequately!

In theory, it would work just fine. However, real world and theory tend to not match up sometimes.

What do you guys think of this idea?

Michael, that should work well. A few inches of "breathing room" for the rear port is adequate. In general it's all right to have a speaker very close to one room surface as long as the distance of the woofer cones to the other two room surfaces(e.g. floor and side wall) differ from that and from each other. One point would be not to set the M22s at all back on the shelf but to instead have it slightly overlapping(maybe 1/2")the front edge, so as to minimize diffraction caused by the shelf.

Thanks, JohnK. RE: "overlapping the front of the shelf" That's exactly how I have them now on my stands. I designed the stands that way so that basically, the grill is hanging over the front. That would make the edges of the cones right at or slightly over the edge.

Good to hear a positive opinion on this idea; if the stupid wall was only 12" wider, it wouldn't have come to this!

There's so much involved; measuring, thinking, remeasuring....you know how it goes. I'm trying to keep the "front three" as close in-line w/each other as possible. The VP150 will be going on a shelf centered on and directly underneath the screen.

This would put the VP150 within 8 inches of the tweets on the M22's (assumming a shelf of 22"). Not bad if I say so myself. Thanks again.

Anyone else have any input? Anyone know the minimum mounting distance from a rear wall for the M22's?

Michael, it seems to me I've heard that at least 3" is necessary, but don't hold me to that.

Hi Jack,

Thanks for the input. I've emailed Axiom (thru the "contact" link) and asked what the minimum distance is. I'm hoping it's not any more than 3" b/c I don't want 18" deep shelves sticking out of the wall...that would defeat what I'm trying to achieve.

You know, it's amazing how when you start a project, it's SO simple. Just a little of this and a little of that.

But then you break out the tape measure and b/c you moved "this", now "that" wont' fit...but it MIGHT fit if you raise "this thing" by 3", but now "that thing over there" won't fit. :rolleyes: Know what I mean? Heh, I'm driving myself batty...I find myself standing in my living room, tape measure in hand mumbling incoherently.

Well, I think I answered my own question. I think 2 3/8" is the minimum distance. How did I come up with that?

Well, the wall mount that Axiom sells specifically says it works with the M22. The mount places the speaker 2 3/8" from the wall.

In reply to:

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Sold individually, in black or white. Bracket places speaker 2 and 3/8" from the wall, and measures 6 and 1/8" from top to bottom.

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Check it out. [l=Link]http://www.axiomaudio.com/FMB.html#[/l]

The FMB can angle the speaker out a bit and since the port is at the top you can probably get 3-ish inches from port to wall...

I bet Axiom says 3 inches

Wow, I got a response back from Axiom already! Got to love their customer service.

Here's what they said, verbatim.

In reply to:

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You will require a couple of inches from the back wall, the more the better. The open shelve should limit boundary effect that is caused by enclosures.

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The answer is kind of ambiguous IMO.

I stood in the front of my living room last night for about an hour with the tape measure. I might be able to get everything to fit across the front of the room as is. I.E. Keep the speakers on the stands. If I move the stands back as far as I can (i.e. the base of the stands touch the wall) I'll have roughly 2 1/2" from the wall to the speaker. How ironic.

It all depends on the size of the screen, really.

As it stands right now, the screen will be 48" x 81", borders/frame included. (45" x 78" viewing area)

Axiom's response is kind of confusing; they say "the more the better" yet they sell brackets that put the rear of the speaker 2 3/8" away from the wall. I wish I could get a definitive answer. Guess I'll email them back.

I'm not sure if Axiom intends the FMBs to be used with M22s in a main configuration or just as surrounds. Don't think there is as much bass content in the surround channels so maybe the port/wall effects don't matter so much ?