Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Took the plunge...

Just wanted to say hello and that I took the plunge on some Axioms. A week ago I was about 5 minutes from buying a Klipsch Reference setup (I actually already have the center). I decided to do some more research, I think more to justify my purchase than anything else. After reading some reviews on Axiom, I stopped by the message boards here, mainly looking for people having problems with the speakers. Based upon the helpfulness and happiness of the owners here, I decided it was something I had to try. My set up is not really going to be standard due to WAF, but I am hoping it sounds great anyway. I am expecting the speakers today or tomorrow so I will know soon enough!

Darrin

Soooo, what did you order?

Oh, and Welcome by the way!

Yeah - welcome and happy listening!

Wow - a guy/speaker/HT decision influenced/overruled/dictated by a wife. That almost NEVER happens!

doh! I meant to put that in there. I ordered a set of M60s and a set of M50s. My wife was, how shall I say...less than convinced that the QS8s would look good either on the wall or on stands, so I will be using the M50s as my surrounds. I am going to try the system out with the Klipsch RC-7, but if it doesn't match well, I'll be getting something else.

-Darrin

The concern I would have with using M50s for rears is that they are not timbre matched with the M60s. The M50s are reportedly (since I don't own them) warmer and more "laid back" depending on your perception of these great, and vague terms we all use for describing sound.

If you are going to listen to music, then a directional speaker (like the M60s and M50s) are desireable, however, if it is for movies, you REALLY want the QS8s. They are just AWESOME for surround sound in movies! You can find information all over the internet about types of speakers to use for surround speakers in a move viewing environment. They will all tell you to "difuse" the sound field. Any Axiom speaker besides the QS4 and QS8 do NOT difuse sound.

You are in a bind, my friend... You want awesome sound, but still have to live with your wife. My wife was a little freaked out when I unboxed my SVS PCi 20-39 subwoofer (39" tall, and about 16" around cylender shape)...

Every time I hook it up (since I am still working on finishing my basement, and the speakers sit in a corner in our office - what a waste of good sound) my wafe makes some comment about the "monster sub." I have a spot for it in our basement that will help to make it less noticeable, but trust me, we all (guys anyway) have struggled at some point with the WAF (Wife Approval Factor).

Please do not take my comments above about the M50s as "holy crap, I need to get things changed" but I would sure consider it. The QS8s are fairly small, and are VERY versitile in regards to placement of them.

Just don't want you to be unhappy with your set up later on.

I totally agree with Nick, and by the way, welcome to our Axiom family. The M50's besides being 100x bigger than a Qs4 or Qs8, would be good for SACD or DVD-A's and music, however, for HT, you really would want the Quadpolar surrounds as they will envelope you in the action. Things will appear as they are flying right through you. However, with a direct speaker for surround (m50 for exp.), unless your in the hot seat, it just won't be the same experience.

I'm curious why you would chose a direct radiating speaker, such as the M50 for a surround? Most people will use M22's for example as they are a smaller footprint?

welcome


Randy

Probably to avoid using stands...thats my guess.

I think you can get away with directional...if you're running 7.1. Otherwise 5.1 will seem very directional. Unless of course your speakers will be a good distance from the listening position, allowing for the distance to create a greater spread in the sound.

oh yeah...I agree with you. I talked to my wife about it and even resorted to bribing. Nothing was going to get her to let me get the QSs. Right now I still have some old Sony floor standers as surrounds and she wanted to keep floor standers in the back. When I suggested stands for the QS8s, she still wouldn't budge. Hopefully they will still sound good, but if not I guess I am back to begging!
Speaking of sound, has anyone tried a Klipsch center with Axiom towers? I kind of like the way the center sounds right now but I have a feeling I may need to replace it. The room is about 21x20x9' with part of one side open. My current setup, including the new Axioms on the way, is a Denon 3805, Klipsch RC-7 center, M60s up front and M50s in the rear (I know...I know ;-)) with a Hsu VTF3 MK2 sub. I would gladly accept any suggestions as I am fairly new to this. Thanks!

-Darrin

Think of all the floor space she would be gaining if you could find a wall to mount them, besides, even if you used the stands, I would not think they would take up anymore room than floorstanding models, and they actually look pretty cool.

Welcome aboard again Darrin, make sure you take my Axiom Polls on my website....later Randy

Perhaps she dreads the cable hang. I know my wife loves that. Though, when I build my home theater room...its in the wall with those cables at last!

Yep, as some of you know I'm remodeling my basement. I pre-ran all of my speaker wire, etc. So all I have to do is mount the Qs8's to my ceiling in the locations I've planned. One of these days I'll get some contruction pics on my website.

Darrin,

The QS8s can also be mounted on stands and there are some nice alternatives out there. This approach gets you the QS8s and keeps them off the wall.

I think she doesn't like the way the actual surrounds look, on stands or otherwise. Let me qualify that by saying she is not overbearing at all, but I'm sure you all have heard the, "well...I would really rather that you didn't do that. I'm not crazy about that idea." So, I decided to suck it up and go with floor standers for now, mainly because I don't want my wife to be unhappy with the setup.
Someone mentioned something about the M50s not be tonally (I think that was it) matched to the M60s...should I have just gotten 4 M60s if I was doing floor standers? Thanks again for any assistance!

-Darrin

Boy, do I ever understand your predicament. When I was conspiring to purchase the Axioms, and yes I do mean conspire, after my wife had picked out the living room furniture (see how all this works out) I would ask things like "Wouldn't it be nice to have music in the living room?" and "What do you think of matching speakers on either side of the entertainment center?". Based upon her responses, I prepared an argument for the day when the speakers arrived. I had everything planned out - the speakers would arrive, I'd unbox them, and place them before she ever knew what happened. Then, once they were up, she would see how well they blended. Heck, if all else failed, I still had 30 days to return them. Oh, what a sad day that would have been.

Did this plan ever go to crap. First, I was floored by how big the M80s were. Second, while unboxing everything in the garage, she comes home for lunch! Funny, we all know we're in trouble when our wives give the situation a passing glance as they walk out the door. Everything else was the same, including the parting kiss. But that glance…

As I nervously placed the speakers in their designated area and hooked up the rest of the system, everything arrived at the same time, I thought to myself, she's going to kill me. Once in place with music filling the entire area, I felt more at ease. Except for one thing, and there is no way of getting around it, holy crap these things are big!

The moment arrived when she came home. Her first comment to me "Those are huge!" Knowing my God given instruments, I knew she could only be referring to the speakers. The day went on without a hitch. Her only question to me was "How much?" When I told her, she didn't flip out. But the next day I did notice the empty slot in my wallet were the credit card used to be. Come to think of it, it’s still empty.

Along with the M80s, I purchased the QS8s with stands. The way the living room is setup, there is no place to properly wall-mount them, so the stands are the only way to go. Overall, the total setup looks pretty good and my wife has had no complaints. She has commented on how different the QS8s look. But when we are watching movies, she thoroughly enjoys them. And that is what we are all after anyway, right?

I'll try to post pics later. Good luck!

Lamfada
Sometimes I'm glad I never married.
To answer your question, yes, in my opinion you would be better off with 4 M60s. The other good option would be M22s on stands for the rear.
[edit] Or go ahead and buy the QS8s anyway along with $200-$300 worth of flowers for the wife.
GOOD LUCK!

I bet he could wrap the flowers around the Qs8 stands in a way that his wife would think he was turning into an interior decorator

aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh wedded bliss, can't live with them, can't live without them.

"can't live without them."

Sure you can.

Don't stress on the M50/M60 not tonally matched thing. I've compared M50s vs M22s (something which not many other people around here have done) and they're really very close. There's only a few differences (other than the bass level) and it's hard to tell the difference without immediate switching. Sounds like a cool setup to me!

i say "women you can't live with 'em you can't live with 'em"

"I'm always on the lookout for the next ex-Mrs. Malcom."

John,
I am chuckling at your explaination of the size of the M80's. When I purchased my M60's, the wife was allowed to select the custom finish. After they arrived, were set up and producing that wonderful Axiom sound, my wife say's "they sure are a lot smaller than the old speakers". Well, my old tower style speakers were 4 feet tall by 1 foot wide by 1 foot deep and weighed about 125lbs each! She figured that it was a 'win' on her part getting smaller speakers however I ended up with what I wanted without any negotiations.
Cheers,
Shaun

Shaun,

Right there with you man...Wife thinks the 60s are cute. While not much smaller than the speakers they replaced, she still remembers the big ol' pioneers i used to have. I love it when they think they have won. OK, darling, I'll get smaller speakers...-Andy

Well, you guys have seen the obvious. These are my first real set of speakers. Heck, the first and only stereo I owned was bought by my parents for me when I was in 7th grade. Kept that setup well into my first marriage and beyond. So that equals, hmmm, 18 years! And that was 8 yrs ago. Boy, that was a long period of deprivation. But I'm making up for it now!

In reply to:

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But I'm making up for it now!

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In reply to:

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2 M80tis
2 QS8s
VP150
EP500
Denon AVR 3805
Denon DVD 3910
Sony LCD 42"

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You sure as heck are! Sweet setup!

spiffnme:
thanks for the kind words. We will try our best!

As an owner of M50s, M22s, VP150, and Michaura M55s(Axiom made bookshelves similar to M22s in confiuration built for another retailer) used for surrounds, I believe that the timber matching comments regarding the M50s and other Axioms with the 5 1/4" midrange are generally overstated. I cannot recall a post making this comment that was based on actual experience rather than the hypothetical idea of the mismatch. While I don't listen to much true multichannel music I listen to music almost exclusively in a four channel DSP stereo mode that uses the 3/4" tweeter and 2 5 1/4" midrange/woofers in the Michaura surrounds with the M50 mains. I don't believe anyone would detect any timber difference between the mains and surrounds. There is a really a quite small difference in the midrange presentation of the M50s and the speakers using the 5 1/4" midrange judging from the graphs. I think the difference is less one of timber than of the volume of certain frequencies presented.

I posit that in listening tests the difference in using M60s or M50s for surrounds would be one of a subtly different sound of one compared to the other rather than of any sense of disharmony.

It would be helpful to us all to hear what your impressions are after you have them all set up and listen for a while. I believe that you will be the first to judge based on actual listening to this combination.

don- did you find a good deal on your denon equipment??

Ken and Mark;
Thank you both for your comments on tonal matching.

Rich

Just a note about timbre matching. As you mentioned, most comments come from people who have not done an a/b test between them. I just wanted to note that my comments are based off of information that I obtained directly from Alan from Axiom. I would think that if anyone would know these speakers, he would.

Sorry for not clarifying that before.

I second Ken's comments on the M50/M22 difference. As an owner of both I have compared them directly and agree you really have to switch back and forth to tell much difference other than the greater bass of the 50s. I find the quality of source material has far more effect on the quality of what your hearing than the differences between these speakers. My sense in comparing was that depending on the material I would have a slight preference for the sound of one speaker or the other. My mood at any particular time would be a bigger facter than the differences between the speakers, and placement in the room would be as much a factor as anything else. With four good stands you would spend as about the same as the choice you made going with the M60s and 50s.

Well, I received a call from FedEx yesterday that they had dropped the speakers off. Shortly thereafter, a funny thing happened...I had a need to work from home for the rest of the day. So when I got home, I immediately got to work unboxing. I noticed something that some of you have mentioned...these things aren't all that big. At any rate, once I got them set up, I ran the auto setup on the Denon and then got to tweaking it a bit. When I was satisfied (at least for the time being) in went The Phantom Menace. Umm...HOLY ****!!! Okay, I gave it about 1/2 hour for the initial excitement to wear off, then started istening carefully. Honestly, I wanted to find something I could point at and say to the wife, "see...the surround just isn't there." I could try that, but only if she doesn't listen to them! Now, I am still working on her for the QS8s as I think they will produce noticably better surround, but for now I am VERY happy. I still need to do something with the M50s because they are not nearly as big as the speakers they replaced. The problem is that we have a sectional couch and the back of the couch is about 4 feet in front of the speakers. I angled them up slightly and that helped, but there is more tweaking to be done. Oh, and if anyone is curious, I thought that once I adjusted the highs on the Klipsch RC-7 down a little, it blended very nicely with the rest of the system. Sorry for being so long winded...I'm still pretty excited.

-Darrin

rook,
I probably could have found a better deal but I decided to go with a reputable dealer in case of problems down the line. But because I ordered multiple items, they were kind enough to offer a small discount. And things worked out pretty good as I had some technical problems with the 3910, which needed replacing. The new one arrived in three days. If you like, I can email you the name of the company.

John

Darrin, congrats on receiving your speakers. Heck, if you weren't excited, we'd think there was something wrong with you. It's great to have xmas in February!

I'm happy for you Darrin, when I changed from bookshelves as rears/surrounds to Qs8's here is what I noticed:

For the Bookshelves, things sound pretty awesome. During movies with gun battles and explosions you could hear things wizzing by you, but if I was not in the primary listening position the experience was not as good because of the direct radiating bookshelves.

For the Qs8's, it is a whole new experience, the same movies feel like the bullets are passing through you, and the explosions, oh man..talk about being enveloped in the sound.

Not trying to talk you into them or anything You have to make your wife happy, lord knows I try....

Randy


m60's VP150 EP350 4-Qs8's
Denon 2805



If I can only describe to you what the Star Wars Trilogy DVD's and I and II sound like on my setup

Nick, do you have Alan's comments that you could post? It would be helpful to have them in context, since Axiom sells hometheater packages with the M3 and M50 mixed with the 5 1/4" driver center and surrounds.

If I can only describe to you what the Star Wars Trilogy DVD's and I and II sound like on my setup

Yah, it's only the content itself* that needs fixing...


*Well, Eps. I and II, anyway. The OT movies are great, though I'm not crazy about the "over saturation" effect they used for the DVDs, either. Or Ben Burtt's complete remixing of the sound, drowning out John Williams's score at key moments...

http://www.starwarslegacy.com/