Hi,

I am setting up a home entertainment center for my house and I thought I would share it with you guys. It is an ingoing process and I will keep you updated with pics in terms of development.

Here is a pic to start off. First time using imageshack.

[image]<a href="http://img174.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00043ik7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/3528/dsc00043ik7.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>[/image]

Hey, there's a pile of potential. I look forward to the updates. It's always exciting seeing someone's dream come alive.

oh btw, I am attaching you another pic of my basement layout.

I am having troubles as to where to place my QS8's.

I don't know whether to put them on the sides or behind the couch (couch 1).

I am actually placing the couch in front of the pillar (not beside it where it is seen in the pic).

It is the pillar that is causing me issues and I don't want to to block any of the sound in the RR channel.

Where the dotted line is along the couch, is an little overhang wall where I could place the rear speakers behind. You can see in the the first pic (along the top of the image).

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Oh also, I will introduce myself.

I am 19 years old and my father told me to make a home entertainment center for our home. He told that I should tackle the project since he has very little time. So I decided to give it a shot with a particular budget in mind.

Paul, if as you say you'll place the couch in front of the pillar(15' back did seem too far)then the right side surround can also be placed slightly ahead of the pillar, say maybe a foot behind the listeners, so that the sound wouldn't be significantly blocked.

I agree with John.

From the Axiom FAQ:

"Where should I place my surround speakers?
Ideally, surround speakers should be either wall-mounted or stand-mounted to either side of the couch or primary listening area, from one to six feet higher than seated listeners' ears, and slightly forward or rearwards of the listening area if you wish. Axiom's Quadpolar surrounds are especially versatile and can yield excellent performance with stand or wall-mounting to the rear as well as at side locations. (see our dedicated stands for the QS Surround speakers in the Store). Rear center speakers for 6.1 and 7.1 installations are intended to go on the rear wall at about the same height as the surround speakers."

You don't say how far in front of the pillar the couch will be placed, but even if the back edge of the couch was even with the front edge of the pillar, you should be able to get the surrounds on the side walls just slightly behind the heads of the listeners and still have a direct line of sight from the couch to the surrounds. If the couch will be even more forward than the pillar, you should have no problems at all.

If push comes to shove, and you find you have to place the couch where indicated in the drawing, though I prefer slightly behind, you could place the surrounds on the side walls slightly in front of the couch.

Paul,

My advice to you given your geometry is to make allowances for a somewhat "flexible" installation of your sides. Since your rear wall is so far back, you may have to rely on direct sound from the rear tweeter of the QSx. So you may find that you are better off locating the sides in front of your couch. Then again, maybe not.

If you decide to go down this path, place wiring slightly forward, beside and behind the couch to cover the possible side area in the diagram that you posted earlier. Or if you don't mind the wiring showing, you can just leave the wire long enough to reach all of these locations.

While you are at it, you may want to consider installing wiring for rears at your 26 foot wall in the back. Although it would have been better to have these rears located closer to the couch, your ceiling is not tall enough to accomodate the rears so you don't have much choice.

The other thing I considered was rotating your existing lay-out -90 degrees. So the TV would end up on the right 15' wall and couch 1 on the rear 37' wall. Then you can mount the rears above couch 1. The problem with this is that you'll have your ears pretty much against the rear wall and that's not the best for sound quality.

Some updated images of my progress:



You can see the wooden floor



Plasma is going to be mounted on the wall. The units will be placed on the right cabinet. The frame around the plasma and units is made of polished black marble and framed with gold outlining.

I have decided that I would put the rear speakers on the sides as it makes more sense. I also going to move couch 1 about 11-12 feet from the display.

Oh I also apologize for the image quality of the pics. It was token from my cell phone as I don't a digital camera in handy for the time being.

It gets pretty hot right above my 30,000 BTU gas fireplace. Are you sure your plasma isn't going to ignite right above your fireplace?

I am certainly positive that my plasma won't overheat. I put a thermometer around where the plasma is going and it wasn't even close to 90 degrees Fah. If you see where the plasma is going to be mounted, their is about 10 inch depth in it, so the heat from the fireplace doesn't go directly to the plasma.

I got pics of my HT setup as of now. For now the T.V is on a pedestal and I only hooked up the front speakers, center, and sub to the receiver. A FTA receiver, Oppo DVD player, and Wii is also connected to it.

Here are some pics so far of my setup:



The wall behind the T.V is where the T.V is going to be mounted.



My speakers match my wooden floor.



EP500 sub at the corner.



Front setup (keep in mind I only have three speakers attached to receiver for the time being.



Close up of the 58" Panasonic Plasma. I was playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii and its amazing. When connected with the Axiom speakers and sub, it does wonders!

P.S The quality of pics doesn't do justice. I took them with my cell.

Beautiful, Paul! I love that built-in.

Is that real marble?!?! Did you set it yourself?

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Is that real marble?!?! Did you set it yourself?

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yes and yes.