Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Floor standing or in wall speakers?

Having trouble deciding what speakers to get. First here are pictures of the room, which is 17x11, although because of the door way into the kitcken roughly only 11x11 will be usable.




I plan on mounting a 65" above the fireplace and removing the drywall right under it so I can fit a VP150 some what flush with the wall. I will use QS8 on stands flanking a sofa or sectional. For the sub, either a EP500 or EP600 in the right coner, depends if I knock down the left wall and create a bar for the kitcken. As for the fronts, I can not decide. I like how the W22 in whall speakers would look, but am concerned about the sound quality. I would prefer to get the M60s, but will having them at such a low hieght compared to the TV comprise anything? Meaning will it sound like audio is coming from the wrong direction when watching movies?

I always recommend floor standing because of the (1) known acoustics before you consider the room, and (2) portability. But your setup looks perfect for the Axiom in/on-walls. Someone else had a similar setup and the final product really looked first class. I had decent results with in ceiling speakers (not axiom), but no comparison to on-wall boxes that replaced them.

I don't think you will find the audio strange. I have M80's on the floor (of course) and my VP150 hanging from the ceiling above my 65" Sharp LCD and it all blends together flawlessly without a hitch. The in-walls do look the tits though, I'll give them that. But having experimented with speaker placement quite a bit I would be a little hesitant on taking away the option of moving them around to get the most out of them.

Personally I like the freedom of placing a floor standing speaker where ever I want it as compared to having the speakers anchored into the wall where they will be permanently. But that's just me.

Floor standing and no TV above the fireplace. In-walls are a compromise and the TV up high will cause your neck to hurt. Leave the in-walls and fireplace TVs for the interior designers who don't have a clue about usability.

My folks have a plasma above the fireplace with no issues, of course, it is a gas fireplace with blower, does not harm the tv if you have a mantle.

Try to have the tweeters of the right/left/center as close as possible. Ideally, you want them at ear level when seated, that may not be possible in this situation. You don't want your center way high and your other speakers low, that will screw up the soundstage.

Really, why not? As I stated my center is hanging from my ceiling and I have never noticed anything screwy with my sound stage. Where I sit the tweets on my M80's are at ear level. My VP150 is aimed straight at my seating position, so all the sound waves are projected towards my ears. I guess it all sounds great since I sit in the sweet spot. But I've walked all over the room and I'm truely amazed by how great it all sounds no matter where I am in the room.

I found V1 of my HT was okay with my center channel up high and pointed down...aside from being off center ever so slightly

but once the speaker decided it was afraid of heights.....

I decided to move it below the screen and I found the performance much better....as well as the finish...wow they morphed to HG!

then I decided after a long time to finish the stand...

I still need to take new pics of the whole front set up. It's funny seeing the pics as the equipment rack continuously changes in each picture I've put off too long painting the inside of the rack black or adding something around or behind the equipment to make it look cleaner or flush...

Holy crap, the finish on those is astonishing!!! Question, where did you get those feet that stick out from the M60's? I love those!!! Not only do they add stability, but they look the tits as well!!!

Thanks for all the opinions guys. The fireplace is not going to stay that size, going to put a glass door insert in that only has about 2-3"s worth of trim and sheet rock right up to it. So that white boarder you see around the fireplace now will be roughly how large it is. This way I can move the TV and center speaker down. The center speaker will be perfectly at ear level, and the TV will really not be that high, the ceilings are only like 7' (old house).

I have given up on the in walls, and am now between M22 monitors or M60s. The monitors will def sound better than the in walls, and should still look decent mounted to the wall and angled towards the seating position. UGH decisions.

OK, given the choice between mounting free standing speakers on the wall and going with in-walls, I would go with in-walls. The in-walls at least are designed to be in-the wall. M22's are not.

You could check out the on-wall speakers Axiom makes.

Sorry, I have somewhat strong opinions on ceiling/wall speakers (and TV's/fireplaces). I feel if you are going to spend a small fortune on your gear, why handicap your movie experience to make it look 'pretty'.