Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Center channel & subwoofer in entertainment center

Getting the Epic 60 Home Theater with four 4 QS8's and upgrade to VP150 for the center. Haven't decided on subwoofer as many seem to prefer HSU and VTF. I'll have a 7.1 with the Dennon 3805. Because of the WAF (wife approval factor), I was going to put the center and subwoofer in the entertainment center with doors that will be made with grill covers. I'm concerned this would hurt the sound. Any thoughts?

Put the subwoofer in the entertainment center? That seems to me to be a feat of modern engineering if you can manage it. But on a serious note, if the sub was enclosed inside the additional walls the entertainment center would provide, it would noticeably change the overall sound. The center you're probably fine putting behind a fabric door, I think someone has posted pics of their HT where they did this. The sub, I would put on the floor in the room somewhere. If WAF poses a serious constraint, try positioning it behind a nice potted plant or under an end table or something.

Hello PaulHa,

I do not recommend installing any high-quality, neutral speakers like Axioms into an entertainement center, because boundary effects from the surrounding cabinetry will indeed degrade sound quality--to what degree is unpredictable.

Designers go to considerable lengths to reduce edge cancellations and effects of a speaker's own front baffle and grille cover. Good speakers are designed, measured, and intended to operate more or less in free space, unencumbered by extra cabinetry. Of course, we all live in rooms (the other enclosure!) so a speaker should be positioned to avoid gross effects from nearby walls by allowing some space between the wall behind the speaker and any side walls.

But installing a speaker into an EC undoes all the good intentions of the designer by substituting new cabinetry that will generate reflections and cancellations that can't be controlled.

If you must do this, there are a few steps you can take to reduce boundary effects. On the doors in front of the speakers, use a plain grille cloth with no decorative wooden or plastic latice work. Remove the M60's own grille and move the speaker as close as possible to the grille cloth of the EC's door. If it protrudes somewhat, even better. Use it without the doors if you can convince your spouse that it will sound much better (and it will. . .). Try an A/B test with one M60 out in free space and the other in the EC, using your receiver's balance control to go between one speaker and the other. If you hear dramatic differences in reproduction, with a "hollow" or colored sound from the speaker in the EC, you'll know how much you sacrifice in fidelity and transparency.

The subwoofer is the one speaker that you cannot plop into an EC and expect it to work properly. Its performance is very dependent on its location in the room relative to your listening area. A good place to start with a sub is putting it into a corner (any corner) and, if the bass is too boomy, gradually moving it out of the corner along one wall or the other until you get smooth, deep bass heard from several seating locations in the room.

Regards,

Hi,

Sorry, I re-read your question and realized you were not intending to put the M60s into the center, but my advice re the subwoofer and general comments about putting mains or a center into an EC apply nevertheless.

Another factor to consider is that lots of subwoofers are not magnetically shielded, and the large magnet on the woofer has the potential to cause distortion of a CRT-based direct-view or rear-projection set postioned in the EC near the sub.

Regards,

Now I know why I joined this forum. Thanks for the the input. Need to get flowers or something to soften up the wife, and of course show her the thread.

Take heart, Paul... at least a sub is generally easy to hide - my fiancee's been listening to my anecdotes at work about house audio for so long, she trusts my judgement on placement, so WAF for me is a non-issue. If it's only the look of the sub she doesn't like, it's easy enough to hide a sub in a room, the sound from them are very non-directional - you can slip a box sub into a secluded area, a cylinder sub can be hidden behind a couch (do a search for BigJohn's pics - I believe he hid a cylinder behind a ficus or something).

And welcome aboard - a lot of great minds here, normally I don't touch forums at all, but even before I was an Axiom owner, I signed up here.

Bren R.

Paul if money is no object both HSU and SVS make subs with wood veneered enclosures. Axiom subs will certainly do the trick as well and are available in all kinds of custom finishes. Perhaps show some to the wife and she'll concede. Good luck.

Great idea. I showed her the choices and she's sold. Another happy ending.