Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Axiom Folks where do I go from here?

I'll third the room treatment idea. Speakers will sound only as good as the room will allow. The room itself and the placement of the speakers within is part of the speaker system and, after the speaker itself, is the second most important component in the overall system. Yet, by and large, it is the most neglected.

In my experience, room treatments have made the most dramatic improvements (sound stage dimension and frequency response) over and above any equipment upgrade that I have ever made.

Oak, Mike and the others who've suggested that you consider room treatments are right on target. This isn't as clear and simple as suggesting that some player or amp or wires will give you better sound, but it has the advantage of being factual. The quality of sound depends on the quality of the recording, the ability of the speakers to reproduce the recording with a minimum of coloration and the degree to which the listening room adds its own colorations.

On the other hand buying new speakers is easier, it feels really good hitting "submit" on that order, and it's great fun unpacking them and trying them out . Seriously, you have real nice speakers already. Going to bigger mains would make a slight difference but I don't think anything you have is the weak link today.

Have we asked about the wall / floor finishes and how much soft furniture & drapes you have in the room ? First thing is to sit in the "sweet spot" (you DO have a nice chair in the sweet spot, right ?). Get a mirror and an assistant if necessary, but figure out where the first reflection point is between your ears and the speakers, ie where on the wall and floor does the sound bounce off when going from the speakers to your ears.

Make sure that (a) the reflection spots aren't all shiny and reflective, and that (b) the two sides are similar, ie not real shiny on one side and soft & fluffy on the other side. Think about rugs and wall hangings. Drapes. Icky stuff. Carpet or rug on the floor is good but lose points for a big glass-topped coffee table between you and the speakers.

If the family permits, you can get cool foam panels for the wall which look real sharp if you are an audio nut, and look like overpriced packing material to everyone else.

Your room shape is pretty good but the room modes are right where you called them -- 44 Hz is the peak from the 13 foot dimension. I *think* you are making that peak worse by having the speakers at the 1/4 and 3/4 mark due to the doors -- can you try pulling them further apart and see if that helps ? I know you can't leave them that way but it would be good to know.

The modes would also indicate a dip at 120. I can't think of any easy placement tricks to counter the dip at 120 or the peak at 130 but a bass trap or two would probably help the whole range.

Look at http://www.realtraps.com.

Edit -- I fixed up the picture on the previous page to match your room and took the liberty of hanging a couple of HF MiniTraps on the wall. The HF traps are normal bass traps which also provide absorbtion at higher frequencies to help with reflections and improve your soundstage. Two traps aren't enough to make a huge difference in the room acoustics but they will definitely help, and you would be pretty much killing two birds with one stone.

Note that the traps are located so the HF absorbing surface is at the spot where sound from the speakers would bounce off the wall and arrive at your ears a bit delayed, mucking up the imaging.

Whoops, forgot one thing. Bass traps work better in the corners, either where two walls meet or where wall and ceiling meet. Doesn't look like putting the bass traps on the side walls and using them to absorb HF as well would be the best use of $$.

OK, new plan. This layout would probably sound quite a bit better, although you would be a bit close to the TV and speakers. Make sure it sounds better before you buy new furniture or spend the $$ on flowers to stay out of the doghouse.



That's it. I gotta go back to rearranging my own *&%^* room. Good luck !!

This may be true, however..... Being that I have been an avid Car Stereo Fanatic for years, and have changed my system many many times... I know for a fact each company and component has its own sound. The trick is finding the the right combination for your liking. Its taken years but I finally have a system I love in my car. The Xtant amp's I use now are a much warmer sound then my Rockford Fosgates, but still found the system bright at high volumes. I changed out the Boston Acoustic Pro's I had for CDT Eurosports... and BAM the perfect sweet sound I love to hear. I can even say the best sounding CD player I ever had was an old Clarion Pro CD player.. It sounded awesome, but skipped like a mad man. So I had to sell it and went back to an Alpine CD player, and right away lost the clarity of the Clarion, but at least it did not skip.
My only point here is, Maybe it is just my ears, but I would state my life on it, that every component (Company) has a sound distinguishable to the next. I am open to all new things and am intrested in the possible dressing of the room. But at the same time, know that a new component in a system can change the sound completely.
I still have trouble delieving that a wire could make a difference, but its only because I have not heard it I am sure. I would love to hear a system locally with this expensive wire so I could demo it and see if I could actually hear a difference.
The only trick I see to making Dampening pannels for the room, is making it fashionable. This is my Familty room, and the room everyone uses when they enter the house... So it has to look good. I consider myself artistic, so could come up with something... As long as I could find materials that would not take away fron the pannels effects.

Here's a good "make your own bass traps and HF damping panels" link.

http://www.ethanwiner.com/basstrap.html

If you're up to trying different components I still think you would really like M50s, with the caveat that I have heard neither 22s or 50s.

Well That looks good, but here are the thoughts... Where you have the stand for the TV and such is where the double window is. The TV stand would Block exactly 1 foot of the window. Now two thoughts come to mind... 1 We barely remember to open the blinds of tht window so who cares right... 2 I thought a window glare would be too much... But remembered that window faces the North side, so sun light never directly hits the front of the house. Last problem I see is the the Cable hook-up is on the wall we are currently one. Since this is a rental house, I would have to get permision to go in the attic and run a new line.
However with all that I like this idea. I see a place for my subwoofer! Thats the biggest problem I have with this setup is where the sub goes! Thanks I run this by the peeps involved and keep ya posted!

Well to be honest I am going to get a Music Hall 25 CD player, and then test the sound from there. I always had intensions of getting the M60's, but when that day comes we will see.

Sounds good. M22s really are more than enough for your room. It just sounded like you wanted to change SOMETHING

Mine are, they are placed with the front of the speakers about an inch infront of the front of the entertainment stand to insure no obstruction in sound. They are about 15 inches away from the wall.