Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners I need some basic advice - pls help!

I am heavily researching my dedicated home theater (projection system, 24x14 sized room). However, I have limited knowledge when it comes to higher-end setups. So, if you wouldn't mind taking a few minutes, I would appreciate help with the following questions:

1. I am considering the M80 speakers. Would those be too much for a 24x14 sized room? What do the M80 speakers give me the M60's wouldn't?

2. What receiver would you recommend to run the M80's? I would like an amp that runs an 8.1 system. My budget is around $1,000. Note: I probably don't need multiple zones since it will be a dedicated HT receiver.

3. Would the receiver change for M60s?

4. Now, I had the theater pre-wired for the following speakers:
Front R&L Ceiling
Front R&L Floor
Rear R&L Floor
Rear R&L Ceiling
Right Side - 2 Speakers
Left Side - 2 Speakers
Rear Center Ceiling
Front Center Speaker
Now, lets say I wanted to run all of those speakers? Obviously a reciever can't power all of those, at least in the $1k range. How does a power-amplifier work? I assume its a post-reciever setup? Does someone have a link to a FAQ or website that describes that setup? What power-amplifier would you recommend to power all of those speakers?

5. Assuming I had the M80's for fronts, what would you recommend for front R&L ceiling speakers?

6. Is a voltage regulator or line conditioner recommended? Do you really need those? Do they make a difference?

7. How are the Axiom subs? On all of the other forums I always read about SVS, Velodyne and HSU.

8. Unfortunately my side speaker pre-wires are at least 3-4 feet in front of where I will be sitting. Is it worth it to put speakers there still? Or skip the 8.1?

9. What is the difference between 2-4-8 OHM? I am sure there is a FAQ out there which tells how speakers and receivers and OHMs all work, in laymans terms. But I can't find one...any links?

Thanks in advance! I appreciate you taking the time to answer what you can!

Hopefully once I get my Axioms, I will be able to demo my setup for all those who travel to Las Vegas!

Hey VegasVec, I don't know how much help I can be on most of these but I'll try with a few to help you get started...

1) Either M80 or M60 would work. M80's simply play LOUDER. They would be more appropriate for large rooms where you're sitting a fair distance from them or if you're a person that prefers to listen to their system at deafening levels. If you're sitting quite close to the fronts say within twenty feet the M60's would do you just fine. But if you're further away than that, love your music really loud, want Axiom top of the line speaker, and $$$$$$$$$ is no object then the M80's would also be awesome. There's really no sonic advantage of the M80's over the M60's other than decibels.

2,3) For the M80's Alan has recommends Denon, HK and newer NAD recievers or separates. I'd also say Outlaw would be great too. The M60's would also work great with these but others have reported great results with Yammie, Onkyo, Pioneer. Can't say about a 8.1 reciever as I didn't look for one in my recent search for a reciever.

5) Ceiling speakers. Foreign territory for me but I'd wager either the Qs4 or Qs8 would be your best bet.

6) IMHO, save the $$$$$

7) For a system like that you'd likely want a big sub. HSU, SVS and Axiom all make great subs. Axiom subs in the past have always been well regarded and very good performers but with the competition from HSU and SVS likely haven't offered the same bang for the buck to US customers as their other speakers, for Canadians this is a little different senario. The new EP500 and EP600 may prove the be Axiom's "break in" subs, only time will tell. The EP500 and EP600 would likely be more appropriate for the kind of system you're talking about. I just recieved the EP500 and I"m LUVING it! It truly can reach to the depths of Hell!

8) There are differing views of whether even 6.1,7.1 are much of an improvement over 5.1. So 8.1 I don't know as I haven't even got my 5.1 setup. My advise would be to start a bit slower. Go with a 5.1 setup and enjoy that for a bit then try adding some more speakers to your system. If they don't give you the increase improvement you're looking for then you could easily return them within Axioms 30 day return period.

Also don't hesitate to contact the Axiom folks like Alan as they are very helpful from begining to end and post sale. Particularily on the 8.1 issues.

Welcome and happy Home Theatring, Jag

Just to touch on #4:

If you really eventually want to run that many speakers, and you're going to get a $1k reciever now, make sure you get one with pre-outs. That way you will have access to the unamplified signal for each channel which you can then pass to a seperate amplifier. A reciever is essentially a pre-amp/processor (pre/pro), an amplifier, and a radio tuner all built into one box. The pre/pro section allows you to do input switching and decoding/dsp, the amp just amplifies the signal, and the tuner obviously lets you listen to the radio. So, if you get a reciever that has pre-outs, basically that lets you continue using the pre-pro and radio tuner, but just skip the amp section. You'll end up needing a lot of amps to power all those speakers, and you have to pass the amps an un-amplified signal. You could get a nice set up now, and then as you fancied down the road you could pick up some more amps and speakers to expand.