Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Speaker Recommendations

Hi All,

I am in the process of putting together HT system and need alot of help with speaker selection. The room size is 12'x16',ceiling hgt is 7'6". The receiver is going to be the Denon 3805 or 2805 (can't decided), listening will be 50/50 between music and video. Because of the layout of the room I will only be able use 3 surrounds,I will most likely be assembling the full speaker system over the next several months. Any suggestions on what I should start off with, I am looking for tower speakers for the front and possibly a sub.

Thanks
Gazer1

Welcome to our humble community

I have the Denon 2805 driving M60 mains, VP150 center, EP350 sub, and 4 Qs8's. I absolutely love my setup and the sound is fabulous. I would say look at all the options on both receivers, and get the one that makes more sense for what your needing. Some people pay a lot for features they never use. Right now I have all my stuff upstairs in a room that is slightly bigger than the one your planning. As soon as I complete my basement remodeling, in the next month hopefully, I will move everything down there. That room is much bigger and with 9' ceilings. The only thing I may do is get a second EP350 to match my other one since the room is pushing 900 sq ft overall...

A lot of your decision should be based on your budget. Personally, I think Axiom speakers in general offer a great value when you consider the sound these babies produce. Also, you may want to consider ordering from the Factory Outlet as you'll get an additional 10%, and if you order 5 or more speakers you get 5% also. The factory outlet still offers brand new speakers with the same warranty and guarantee. Supposably, they may have small blemishes or minor nicks, but most people find they can't find any problems cosmetically.

Good luck on your purchases.....

That is not a very large room (1440 cu ft). I know you said you were looking for towers. But I think it would be a great match for M2's and an EP500 sub. Try running thru the Home Theater Wizard for some ideas.

Gaze, the slightly higher power rating of the 3805 is of almost no significance, so unless one of its features(such as provision for Denon Link on DVD-A/SACD)is important to you the 2805(or 985)should be the better buy, especially since the microphone is included(about $60 extra on the 3805).

As to speakers, although in that size room M22s with a sub should be fine, if you're set on towers the M60s would be excellent and you could temporarily do without a sub. The surrounds(probably QS4s)should be next, then a sub and maybe last a center speaker, which in my view could well be a vertical M2.

Yes! Welcome!!

To echo JohnKs' recomendation, but with a bit of a twist: Do you prefer a slightly warmer, or, a slightly cooler sound with a touch more detail? If a warmer sound is more to your liking, then a look at the M50s as front towers with perhaps an M3 as center is another option. The M3 is more full range as a center, but it does have a bit of a bass hump(although I can't say as I hear it)as well as a reduction in some midrange detail. The M50s also fall a little behind in the accuracy and clarity dept. but they respond by being very pleasant and easy to listen to. It comes down to a matter of personal taste. I haven't heard them side to side, but I understand the difference is in degrees, not night and day.

I have the M50s, M3 set-up and I'm in it for the long haul, couldn't be happier.

Rich.

Gaze:
I think the "budget" is the big question here as far as peakers, but john is right on the money that if you don't need those last couple of features that the 3805 has, take the extra several hundred and put it towards the speaker budget instead..... it will have a much, much more significant difference in overall sound quality than a bigger receiver or hi-end disc player.

Welcome, by the way!

Another vote for "get the 2805 and some nice bookshelf speakers and spend the money on a good sub"

Seriously, this is a tough call. For most music I have a slight preference for tower speakers and no sub, although I'm sure that with more placement & tweaking effort I could get rid of my last few concerns. On the other hand, a good sub makes a BIG difference with movies (assuming we're not talking about "The English Patient" here).

My sub is out on loan right now so I'm running M60 mains but as soon as the sub comes back my HT system is going back to M2, VP100, QS8 plus a PSB 6i sub (similar to EP350). In the new house I'll need the M60 mains because the room will be much larger.

What kind(s) of music do you listen to the most ?

Is there a good chance of you moving into a larger room in the not too distant future ? If not, there is a real argument for good bookshelves plus a good sub.

The "M2 plus EP500" response might have sounded like a joke but you could do a LOT worse than that (assuming your speakers will be along the 16' wall not the 12' wall, thinking about distance from speakers to listening position here).

OK, I have to admit, you don't need an EP500

Seriously, though -- spending money on a good sub will make a big difference in your HT enjoyment. Get at least an EP175 and given the pricing I would go with an EP350.

IMO you can get at least 70% of the "home theater experience" with a stereo receiver, good bookshelf speakers, and a good sub. Depending on what you have today that might be a great way to start -- and if your heart is set on tower speakers (either for playing at high volumes or a larger room in the future) you could consider starting with something like M50s or 60s plus a sub and get receiver, surrounds & center later.

I found the jump from (DVD plus TV) to (DVD plus good mains and sub) to be a bigger improvement than the subsequent step to AV receiver and 5.1 speakers. Probably personal taste though...

In reply to:

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The M3 is more full range as a center, but it does have a bit of a bass hump(although I can't say as I hear it)as well as a reduction in some midrange detail.

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Uh, I thought the M3 had a mid hump (around 1K) - a huge, insurmountable hump... a Quasimodo-esque convexity that completely colours and destroys all good chi in it's path. Curse that evil 6.5" driveerrrrrrr...


Oh, wait, no, according the the NRC charts, it's what, a 1.5dB curve over 3 octaves or something.

Bren R.

I thought it was a small bass hump around 100 Hz and a small midrange dip centered on ~3 KHz. I believe the bass hump is deliberate (for better overall sound when running without a sub) while the midrange dip is a side-effect of the slightly poorer HF off-axis response of the... um... evil... (I can't say it with a straight face) 6.5" driver.