Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater M22 or In-Cabinet M60s?

Hey Y'all -

I've been lurking on the forums for a while now, trying to learn as much as I can about the Axiom line of speakers. From what I can tell, they appear to be very worthy of consideration. I need some advice and comments on which Axiom Home Theater setup would be best for my situation.

My wife and I had a new house built in late 2006 and early 2007 on 42 acres in NW Arkansas. Before we started building the house, my old home theater receiver died. Knowing that we were going to build, I just boxed up the speakers and various other components thinking that I'd drag them out again when I got in the new house and got over the financial hurdles that come with building one.

Well, time gets away from me pretty easily, and now I've been without an audio system for more than four years. Last winter, we bought a new Sony 52" LCD flat screen, and have been using the TV speakers for sound.

Anyway, to ty to make a long story short, I've finally got around to buying a new receiver. I got a Yamaha RX-V765 last Friday. So, I dug out the old speakers and other components so I can set things up. I'm looking to upgrade the speakers in the enar future, and I'm trying to decide which ones will fit the given space and constraints that I have somehow wedged myself into.

The kids are gone, the wife is retired now, and so the new house is only about 2000 square feet. Being in Arkansas, the bedrock is only 2' below grade, so no basement. As a result, we have to live with the "home theater" being in the great room (or whatever you want to call it.) We have an open floor plan, so the great room, dining room, and kitchen are all basically one big space. Altogether it comes to about 7000 cubic feet.

We enjoy watching movies, but we are also both musicians. So music is a big part of our lives. Being in our mid fifties, we don't need quite the high volume levels that younger folks may desire. Still, we do enjoy a variety of music: 60's and 70's rock, country, bluegrass, blues, and some classical. So we do enjoy concert-hall levels some of the time.

I've been looking at the Epic Grand Master 500, and the Epic 60 Home Theater 500 as possible candidates. The thing is, our great room arrangement makes it a bit difficult to fit in those M60s. We have one of those notorious wall units, and unfortunately, the wife says I'm stuck with it. Our wood stove is also close to the wall unit, so setting an M60 on the right side of the unti would be very bad news for the life of the speaker. I'm ryingt o decide if putting the in-cabinet M60s in the wall unit would be better, or if I can get by with the M22s mounted on the wall with the Full Metal Brackets.

The seating is about 13' from the wall unit. I'll post a picture so you can get an idea what the "great room" looks like. The TV in the photo has been replaced by the 52" flat screen now.

So, What do y'all think?

Here's the photo:

Since Axion has an excellent 30-days in house trial policy, you could order some M22s and judge if they fullfil your needs. You can call them to ask them if, in the advent that you decide to up to in-cabinet M60s within that timeframe, what would be the shipping cost back of the M22s (might be low/free if you ask nicely!).

So you would replace those shelves with a blank front and the in-cab M60s? I'm just trying to get a picture of what you're contemplating.

Beautiful room, Dave. I see what you were referring to reg the wood stove in the corner there. The M22 will give you more placement options obviously, vs the in-cabinet M60. When you spoke of putting the M60 in-cabinet in the wall unit, you must then be considering modifying your wall unit, correct? In this case, I would contact Axiom, and ask them what the dimensional requirements are (behind the baffle) of the M60 in-cabs. You might consider the W-22s in this case, as well.

The cabinets of the M22's are actually fairly deep at 19-20 inches and are rear ported so they need to be set up a few inches off the wall, if you were considering placing them on/in the wall unit. The brackets would work on the outside of the wall unit as long as you feel the speakers would be far enough away from the stove.

I'm thinking the M22's might work the best for you here, and they are, by all accounts, a wonderfull speaker, but the M60s could also work well if you modify the wall unit accordingly.

I know, I'm sitting on the fence.....

Adrian, I think you meant the M22s are fairly tall at 19-20 inches, they are only 8" inches deep making them easy to fit on a shelf as long as you have enough height.

My mistake! the terrorist is correct.

You man the "terrifying", terrorist!

I'd go with the M22's. And a couple of EP800's on either side of the wood stove should really do the trick!

pn

Yes, that's what I had in mind. The M60's aren't as wide as the wall unit shelves. I was also thinking of building some new narrow shelves to fit in there. Maybe build a divider and put the M60 on the inside of the unit, but toward the outer edge, and then put some narrow shelves in the remaining space. I suppose I'd have to get some grille cloth to cover the M60s.