Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater don't laugh at my dumb questions... kinda long

First off, let me just say that i'm totally new to this home theater thing! I have a perfect understanding of the technical side of it all, but have never been able to afford "nice" toys... bear with me...

I've been in the market a high end home theater for a couple years now and just stumbled upon the axiom website. needless to say i have no idea what speakers to buy!

i listen to alot of music, but this system is going to be used primaraly for movie watching.
i'm using the following components:
Onkyo TX-SR702 Receiver
Sony DVP-CX985V DVD changer
Hitachi 60" Ultravision LCD HDTV

my room is 16' X 18'

up until this point i was going to purchase a set of Polk Monitor 60's for front, CS2 Center, and Monitor 40's for rear. toss up between a Velyodyne DPS10B and Polk PSW404 subwoofer. as i said i just recently heard of Axiom Audio and am VERY interested to say the least. i've read great reviews for both manufacturers speakers but am still a little skeptical about mail ordering something so expensive from Canada.

I am now considering an Axiom setup like this:
M50ti Front
VP100/150 Center (don't know which to use... help!)
QS4/8 Surround (again with the decision...)
EP175 subwoofer

here come the questions:

VP100 or 150... other than the obvious, is there a definate advantage to one over the other?

QS4 or 8... same as above

is keeping the driver size as critical as some people make it out to be?

finally, and in my mind, most importantly... has anyone auditioned the Polk Monitor Series against the Axioms? I can't find anyone in the Richmond VA area who has a set of Axioms that i can listen to. The Polk's are everywhere! They sound good... but then again, i'm no audiophile!!

Any help that you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hopefully I can become part of the happy Axiom family!

thanks
nick

Perfectly good questions, don't worry. It might be worth giving Axiom a call even if we give you good answers to all your questions -- they see a lot more "model A vs. model B" comparisons than any of us do.

re: centers -- let's start by saying that I have a VP100, have never heard a 150, but have no desire to upgrade.

From the direct comparisons I have read, the pattern seems to be that in a large room people think the VP150 is better; in a smaller room there doesn't seem to be any noticeable difference. The main advantage of the VP150 is the ability to play somewhat louder without straining, and the ability to fill a slightly wider listening area without losing the flat frequency response (because of the separated tweeters). Given your room size, my guess is that you would be just as happy with a VP100 but this would be a real good question for the Axiom experts. They tend to surprise people by recommending less expensive models if that's all they need, BTW.

Between QS4s and QS8s again the main difference is the ability to play louder. Here I have to admit that I went for QS8s to get the same size driver as my center and mains (M60). Didn't know how much difference it would make (and probably never will know) but I'm real happy with the decision and the QS8s sound mighty fine.

Your room is about the same size so I guess I would end up recommending VP100 and QS8s, following the same logic I used -- your room isn't big enough to need VP150, but it seems like a lot of people are buying QS8s over QS4s. Interestingly enough I have *never* seen a direct comparison between the two, so again I guess talking to or emailing Axiom might be a good idea.

I did not talk to Axiom before purchasing, and in hindsight I probably would have saved some time and worry if I had. I ended up real happy with my system (the board members here are a great source of ideas) but we still don't talk to as many owners as the Axiom folks.

I have not heard Polks recently but I think one of my friends has Monitors. I'll see if I can set up a comparison. I didn't find a lot of reviews on the Polk 60s but the reviews I saw seemed pretty positive.

Welcome Nick!
John really covered all the important points well, so there's no sense in my reiterating them!

Two additional thoughts, though:
One, you may want to consider the 350 sub instead of the EP175. I have a room that's a fair amount smaller than yours (13x13) and I wouldn't want to go smaller than my 350 for my tastes... and I don't consider myself a bass-head (hmmm, without the hyphen, it reads as more of a fish head thing... Fish Heads, Fish Heads, Roly-Poly Fish heads.... Hmmm, I digress.... where was I?).

Oh yeah, the other thing I wanted to mention is the concern for ordering "something so expensive from Canada". I, too was concerned about ordering speakers without hearing them, but I don't feel that way at all now. Not only do I love my Axioms, I've since learned as I spend more and more time here and in other forums, that ANY and ALL speakers sound different dependant upon the room they're in. In that respect, having 30 days to listen in YOUR intended room makes more sense than buying speakers from a local showroom.

Besides, if you did decide to return a speaker, Axioms' return point is in Buffalo, NY, so you don't have to deal with the "border stuff (and it's fees) if you did have a return!

one more thing to consider is axiom return policy. if you get the qs4's vp100 or ep175 and want to go bigger in the first 30 days there is no return shipping when upgrading. fyi
Jake

I just got my first Axiom speaker and have within the last three days talked to their customer support and dealt with their FEDEX shipping...you WILL NOT be dissapointed! I order a lot of things over the internet and Axiom is as good as they get for business transaction.

Axiom staff told me I can go with QS4 and VP100 when I made my order in last november with my 13 x 13 x 8 family room. At first, I ordered VP150, QS8 and M60 and I saved a few bucks. They said the additonal gain of QS8 and VP150 may not be that significant.

Anyway, I'm happy so far even with my vintage AV receiver.

BTW, if you're interested, we can set a date and I can bring my QS4 to you place to compare with your QS8. Hopefully someone around GTA can bring the VP150 and join us for testing. Then we can solve the 'mystery' of the question what if I opt for a higher module.

Do you think it's a good idea?

That would be great. I bet you go home happy about the QS4s and I go home happy about the VP100.

Dang, now I need to clean the basement again

"I can't find anyone in the Richmond VA area who has a set of Axioms that i can listen to."

There are two of us on the Auditioning Axioms in your area thread in Genreal Questions area.
I'm in Charlottesville and you are welcome to come up here for a listen.
PM me if you are interested.

inkt-i'm in the west end of richmond, and im off of work on mon,tue, and wed. gimme a holler if you want to hear the axioms. i've got the M60s, VP150, QS8s, and an EP-350.

Welcome inktdevil.

I may be the only person here that owns Polks (Rti8s (replaced by Monitor 70s, I think), CSi5, FXi3s) and Axioms (M22s). The RTi8s sound like larger, louder M22s (meaning both speakers are outstanding). The CSi5 is the best speaker I own. The FXi3s are just OK. Polk and Axiom are both excellent companies founded by people that are committed to providing outstanding sound at a reasonable price. I would guess that Polks are marked up a little more before you buy them because they don't sell direct so you probably get slightly more bang for your buck with Axiom. If I were starting over right now, knowing what I know now, I would consider trying to find a CSi5 and some RTi8s somewhere cheap (like eBay) vs. ordering some Axioms and taking them into where I could compare them to the Polks in the store. I have heard of people getting the RTi8s for as low as $450 for the pair. Then I would get Axiom surrounds as I suspect they are much better than the Polk surrounds (at least one person that has heard both confirms this). And I would definitely not get a Polk subwoofer. I am very happy with my Velodyne (CHT-12) but folks here that have heard Velodyne's low end models feel that SVS and Hsu are better.