After multiple delays, finally, one of my two Official Axiom Demo Rooms is
ready; it is the most important one the Home Theatre one. The room is 14'-2"
wide by 22'-3" deep. The height varies from 9'-7" down to 8'-2" and 6'-11".
As you can see I did not spend money on the aesthetics of the room; I wanted
a magnificent sound and a great picture. The way the room looks really did
not matter to me; it is only used to watch movies, sports and TV in total
darkness.
Front and side walls are regular sheetrock sheets screwed over wood spacers
which are screwed to plastic inserts which are part of a poured concrete
wall system (http://www.nudura.com/en/HomeOwner/whatisnudura.aspx). The back
wall which connects to my bedroom is made of several layers of sheetrock
sheets over sound bar, Sonopan sheets, air spaces and concrete blocks. The
ceiling is a single layer of sheetrock sheets on sound bars screwed to
wooden beams which support a concrete floor above. The ceiling cavities are
filled with sound insulation pads. All that sheetrock made the room too
lively. Again the floor is made of exposed concrete except for the last
third of the room on which a wood structure supports the back row of seats.
All that sheetrock and concrete made the room too lively but I did not want
to apply special sound room treatment.
To reduce liveliness to an acceptable level I laid down a medium thick
carpet without a liner over the entire floor. I put heavy furniture on all
three levels even if the front one is barely ever used. It was enough to
tame the room and to give it a pleasant acoustic signature. It is still a
room which is livelier than the average one but more than acceptable.
I wanted a vey large screen projection system at the lowest possible cost.
The maximum size my room could host was a 150" diagonal one in a 16:9 ratio.
The solution was to paint the screen; I used the Goo-Systems. I have not
done a perfect job but the result is still more than impressive as per
visitors' comments. To fill such a large screen you need a good projector.
To help the projector to fill the screen with enough brightness I really
darkened the room. The front and the rear walls are flat black so is the
ceiling. One side wall is the darkest brown I could find and the opposite
one the deepest blue available. Finally, the carpet is black with small dark
coloured patterns. Except for the furniture on the front row which is too
light and reflective (budget limitation) the furniture on the two other rows
is rather quite dark and not as reflective. My Panasonic AE-PT2000U has no
problem filing the entire large screen even in eco-mode.
The overall appearance of the room can be qualified as plain or sobre quite
severe and austere. And now to the sound equipment . . .
An Axiom Epic 80 - 600 Home Theatre Ensemble in a 8.4 configuration (dual
center speakers) with each M80v2 supported by its EP500v2 is the core of the
system. In front, you have an Axiom VP150v2 on an Axiom FMS-CC stand below
the screen aiming at the middle row of listeners and one above on an Axiom
FMB bracket aiming at the rear row of listeners. The Axiom M80v2s are
installed on each side of the screen on top of a MDF box which hosts an
Axiom EP500v2 subwoofer. In each of the two spaces between the main
M80v2/EP500v2 speaker combos and the center speaker lies an Axiom EP600v2
horizontal model. Each one of the two corners of the back wall hosts an
Axiom EP600v2 in a vertical model. The benefit of two subwoofers on the
wooden structure which supports the last row is to provide physical motions
similar to the butt-kicker without ever getting overbearing. For the
listeners of the middle row (concrete floor) between in the middle of 4
Axiom EP600v2 when the action is pondering at high level . . . you feel your
hair moving on your head. On the side and rear walls there are two rows of
tracks which the two pairs of Axiom QS8v2 are mounted on. This provide great
flexibility in experimenting different locations.
All these passive Axiom speakers are powered by a single Axiom A1400-8
hooked up to a Newcastle P-965 processor. I also ran dual Axiom A1400-8
amplifiers for a brief period and I'm looking forward to add a second one
again in my system. I will probably be adding the new Axiom A1400-2; I will
keep you posted.
How does it sound ? You have to hear it to believe it ! You are all welcome
anytime . . .
