Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M60 + QS8 + VP150 Questions

I am in the process of upgrading my HT equipment and need some advice. I will eventually be upgrading my audio to 2 ea. M60,1 pr. QS-8, 1 ea. VP150 for my 5.0 setup. Yes you noticed that there won't be a subwoofer as I live in an apartment.

Questions:

1. During my first buying spree, I will be buying the M60's and the VP150. I plan on moving my *cough* Bose *cough* 601 series 3 to use as temp surround speakers so I can get rid of the pesky *cough* Bose *cough* wedges that are my current center and surrounds. Is this arrangement going to drive me sonically insane?

2.After I purchase my QS8's and upgrade my receiver, are the M60's going to be able to provide sufficient bass to allow me to skip a subwoofer? I realize that this question is subjective, but I really don't have the option of running a sub in my apartment building.

3. If there is a question of the M60's bass abilities, and I decide to move up to M80's, is a receiver like a Yamaha RX-V2600 going to be able to drive the M80's given their 4 ohm imp?

My head hurts.

I ran much worse speakers than your Boses as surrounds in conjunction with M60 and VP100, with no problems. You probably won't want to play a lot of music in 5.1 but I still prefer stereo anyways.

If you are running without a sub, you will want a receiver which can route LF signal from center and surrounds to the mains. I'm pretty sure that all Yamaha receivers will do that (my HK will not) but check.

I'm a bit rusty re: which Yamahas are good at 4 ohms. I *think* the 2500 and up are OK but not 100% sure.

M60s put out a surprising amount of bass. Maybe combining M60s with "buttkickers" or whatever they are called (under the feet of your couch/chair) might be a good apartment-friendly combination.

You can get a bit more and deeper bass out of M80s but at some point you are going to have the same noise problems as with a sub, but with less ability to "turn down the deep bass". My thought would be to go with 60s and save the money for a sub later.

Hey Mayhem, welcome to these parts

I love my m60's and I think they have great, tight, accurate bass... I can't count how many times they have brought a huge smile to my face. The specs on the 80's show slightly lower numbers, but it is very close. I believe without a sub, you'll want your receiver set to Large for the mains so they get the full signal. You may find your neighbors in the apartment think you still have a sub. Some Yammy's have had issues with the 4ohm 80's, not sure about the 2600.

There has to be someone out in the LA area that you can audition some 60's. Have you checked the "Hearing Things" forum and the "Audition in your area" thread, page 1?

Randy

Here is the California list, I'm not familiar with LA, some of these may be suburbs? Spiff has 60's and he is always on these forums. Try sending anybody a PM message...

California

Antioch - (4)M80, (1)VP150, (4)QS8, (2)M3, (2)M22ti (koiman)
Campbell - M50s (Stbean)
Costa Mesa, CA - M2i, VP100, EP175, QS4 (atreu59)
Fremont - M22, VP150, QS8 - (gnrajagopal)
Fresno - M60s (richeydog)
Grass Valley - M60s (mamzh)
Long Beach - EP600, M22, QS8, VP150 (LongBeachBear)
Los Angeles - M60, VP150, QS8, M2i (Spiffnme)
Menlo Park (SF Bay Area) - M22s, VP150, QS8s (oldskoolboarder)
Monteray - M60s, VP150, QS8s, EP350 - (jordanz)
Oakland - M22, VP100 (Pmbuko)
Oakland - M50s, QS4s, VP100 - (kcarlile)
San Marcos - M80s, VP150, QS8 (ZeN)
Irvine - M22s, VP150, 3 QS8s (snippy)
San Ramon - M80s, 3 M2is, VP150 (simboticus)
Tracy - M80s (front, center, & rears) QS8s (surrounds)EP600 (Tharkun)
Tustin - VP150, M22s, QS4s (4) - (Aetherhole)
Newport Beach - M60 + QS8 + M2 (2x6spds)
Nevada City - M50s, VP150, M22s - (md55)
Union City - M60s, VP150, QS8s - (twelly)

Hi all:

Thanks for your replies, it is appreciated. I'm not to worried about not having deep bass, I don't have it now with my 601's. It sounds like I will be fine with M60's, I am apprehensive on running 4 ohm without using seperate amps, something completely out of my budget.

While I live in Los Angeles, I am down in the OC every weekend at my g/f's, so both of these auditioners would be within range with the proper setups. I'll drop them a PM for an audition.

Los Angeles - M60, VP150, QS8, M2i (Spiffnme)
Newport Beach - M60 + QS8 + M2 (2x6spds)

I understand that Axiom will also let me audition the speakers in house for 30 days (with me being responsible for return freight), that would be an excellent real world test.

Thanks again!

Denon's and HK's will drive the 80's with no problems. There may be other AVR's that will also. As you mentioned, seperates would also be an option.. 2X6 or Spiff are very much AV guru's, they can help ya out I'm sure...

Randy

ps: got your PM on AVS forum

Playing forums tag

I'm prob gonna stick with the M60's, I am more comfortable that a receiver in my price range (i.e. Yamaha RX-V2600 or Denon 380x series) will be able to drive the 60's easily vs. potentially not having enough umph to drive the 4 ohm 80's. From everything I have heard, the 60's seem tight on the bass, and should the living sitch change, I can always add a sub later.

Thanks all for the input

Most Denon models will drive 4ohm speakers with no problem, so if you ever do get Axiom Upgradeitis, you would be set

By the way, you'll love your Qs8's and VP150 probably more...

Much as I like HKs, I wouldn't recommend 'em for this application. The HK bass management is great but it doesn't seem to be able to route LF from center and surrounds to the mains. Lord knows I tried...

I took a quick flip through the Denon 2805 manual and it doesn't seem to do this either -- manual says that all the LF from center and surrounds only go to the sub.

Any other receiver suggestions, folks ?

I have the 2805, couldn't he just set the mains to large to get the full range of LFE? I'm guessing what your getting at Dan is that if he has no sub, then he would not have a crossover to set to route the low stuff from the Q's and VP, since the subwoofer would be NO on the receiver? Hmm interesting.

For HT applications, I'm not sure it would matter much anyway, as I don't believe a lot of LFE is sent to the Center and Surround channels anyway, correct me if I'm wrong?