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The wife just called and my NEW (factory outlet) speakers are sitting in my garage while I sit here typing this from WORK!!!!!

They arrived a day early, and it's fortunate that someone was even home.

Now I wait. AND I will not have time to even set them up today!

They are:
M60's x2
VP150
EP500
QS8's x4

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...I will not have time to even set them up today!

Just you wait and see.... You'll FIND time to set them up. At least a few of them.

I got mine on a day that I was really busy too, but I unboxed everything (to look for factor outlet "flaws", but couldn't find any. I fired them up with wires running all off the place and stayed up until about 2AM just to do it.

You'll love them once you hear them!

Congrats!

Yes, you're right... I will find a little time to play with them. I have about 1.5 hours after work before I have to go to a meeting. I will eat while unpacking. I have to move my old speakers out of the way, take down my old surrounds, mount the new surround racks in new places, and listen to my new sub

Joey:
Are you feeling OK? I mean, I only say this as a friend, but you look like crap. You might be coming down with something, and God knows you don't need to be spreading it around at work.

Maybe you should just go home and come back tomorrow when you're not looking so "under the weather"?

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Joey:
Are you feeling OK? I mean, I only say this as a friend, but you look like crap. You might be coming down with something, and God knows you don't need to be spreading it around at work.

Maybe you should just go home and come back tomorrow when you're not looking so "under the weather"?

At first I thought: what's he talking about, I don't have any pictures posted? Then it hit me!!!! Believe me, I have been thinking the same thing. Alas, one must be responsible though if one wants to be able to eat and pay for electricity while listening is to his awesomely cool new sound system!

Too funny. I too remember wanting to call in sick the day after my Axioms were delivered. The brain won out, but I did manage to get out early.

I'm soooo jealous, that's the exact setup I want.

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I'm soooo jealous, that's the exact setup I want.

Sorry to bring out the jealousy in anyone

I will say that upon close inspection of all the speakers I did find a little surface damage to the EP500 on the top, back, right hand corner. It looked as if something was dropped on the very corner point. No MDF or vinyl was missing but an area about 1/8" wide by 1/2" long was hanging loose. So a little Elmers wood glue and 5 minutes later you can barely see anything was ever wrong.

I am not complaining though because I did buy from the warehouse and they do say that there could be minor blemishes. But when you consider that I saved a good chunk of money... I guess a little chunk of damage is warranted. I am unable to find any other issues with all of the rest of the speakers.

The biggest bummer is that I still have not had the time to get any of them hooked up!!!!
Hopefully tonight will be the night!

I do have one question though...: Since I will be using the T mounting brackets for the QS8's and it is recommended that the bracket be mounted to a stud in the wall...how does one snake the wires into the access hole in the T bracket when the bracket has a stud right behind it running down the very middle???

I'm not sure what access hole you are referring to on the T bracket.

The problem that I had with the T bracket was it was too long and I couldn't get my wires on the posts. So I cut off the bottom third or so.

I really don't think that you need to mount it on a stud. If you use dry-wall anchors, you should be just fine.

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I really don't think that you need to mount it on a stud. If you use dry-wall anchors, you should be just fine.

True, but do hit the stud if you can. I did in the middle and used drywall anchors for the sides of the T. I just had the wire come out next to the T bracket, not through it- I don't remember seeing an "access hole" in the bracket but I may have missed it.

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I really don't think that you need to mount it on a stud. If you use dry-wall anchors, you should be just fine.

True, but do hit the stud if you can. I did in the middle and used drywall anchors for the sides of the T. I just had the wire come out next to the T bracket, not through it- I don't remember seeing an "access hole" in the bracket but I may have missed it.

You know, sitting here at work I can't really remember what the stupid T bracket even looks like. I "thought" it had some type of hole in it to snake the wires through but I could be completely wrong. I guess I will have to make a separate hole in the wall to get them through. You see, my walls are not sheet-rock (dry wall) they are paneling on top of 1/2" of some type of semi-dense fiber board nailed to 2x4's. The walls were already installed as part of a finished basement when I bought the house. I imagine the fiber board helps a little with keeping the basement warmer in the winter, and they certainly do help with the accoustics of the room. BUT, it is a little harder to make new holes and if you make a boo-boo it is nearly impossible to cover up.. unlike dry wall that can be fixed with spackle.

I am (hopefully) getting the QS8's soon myself. Looking at the documentation, it looks as though the speaker will sit af enough off the wall that a wirewill fit between the speaker and the T bracket. You shouldn't have a problem.

check out pg 4 of this manual:

http://www.axiomaudio.com/global/downloads/surround_manual.pdf

There is no "hole for wires" in the T-bracket but you can fit wires behind the speaker OK as long as you don't use banana plugs. I think the 5-way jacks on the back of the QS speakers are angled to make this easier.

With the rubber bumpers supplied with the QS's in place
I was able to fit 12G wire behind them from wall. I also connected wire directly to posts.

I have everything but one QS8 hooked up. One of the T-brackets out of the four is missing!

Called Axiom and they are sending one out right away.
So far the 7.1 setup sounds fantastic! (still using a low-end Sony direct radiator in place of the QS8 in the right-rear surround possition)

My wife was sure that there would be no real difference in the sound quality from my old system. HAH, the pitiable fool! {{Just kidding honey-pie.}}

While I was working on hanging the QS8's I decided to fire up the cable music chanels to listen to some music. I was only using the M60's and the EP500. The wife was upstairs and after a few minutes at moderate volume she came down and commented on how much clearer the new speakers sounded. Of course I still have some tweaking to do with my SPL meter, but I thought it was interesting that someone who would be satisfied with junk speakers noticed the better sound on her own.

For me, they sound fantastic. Ooops, already said that!

I hope to really give them a workout this evening, minus one QS8. Wait a minute..., I can hook it up and just set it on the dry bar right next to where it will ultimately hang...that will be better than nothing for now. The sub is awesome in it's ability to crank if you need it to, and it blends so well with the M60's. The VP150 blends so perfectly with the M60's that when they are all set at nearly the same level it sounds like the music and/or vocals from TV are coming out of the middle of the screen instead of from the top of the TV where the center sits. The QS8's are by far the best surrounds I have ever heard! With music, and with dialog they are really much harder to localize than direct radiators. I can't wait to hear them with some good surround effects from some movies.

So even though I hate to bring out the envy in anyone...if this review has done that to you...tough luck. Just kidding!!!

No but really, the vinyl looks really quite good, better than just some black spray paint on ply-wood. The quality of the build is solid and yes the sub is heavy. And even though I have read some comments that the grills are flimsy...I think they are rather firm. I suppose some brands have these massive bullet-proof grills but who cares when you really want to leave them off anyway? I am still debating on whether I should let my speakers play naked or not.

But for anyone out there in forum land, especially those of you who are just lurking and considering an Axiom purchase, I can say with full confidence that you will NOT be disapointed with the sound quality coming from these peakers!

I have never posted pictures on any forum but I intend to...once I have it all figured out.

Happy Listening!

Very cool. Congrats. Enjoy!

As far as a temporary setup for the orphan QS8, stacking hockey pucks under the corners of the speaker (or using cans of corn or black olives) is the generally accepted practice to ensure you have "some" clearance on the lower driver when forced to set it upon a shelf.

I think the olives give the highest S/N ratio, but I don't have any measurements to prove it. At the moment.

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I hope to really give them a workout this evening, minus one QS8. Wait a minute..., I can hook it up and just set it on the dry bar right next to where it will ultimately hang...that will be better than nothing for now.

Make sure you use the Bridgman Patented mounting technique for the QS8...I used it, and it sounded great!

See pic:

If you do not expose the bottom woofer, you will be selling yourself short!

I believe patented Bridgman mounting technique (for QS8's at least) requires the use of Habitant Pea soup cans.
[image]http://www.amazon.com/Habitant-French-Canadian-Yellow-Pea-Soup/dp/B0002BQLMI[/image]

Darn, I couldn't get the image to come up. Oh well.

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While I was working on hanging the QS8's I decided to fire up the cable music chanels to listen to some music. I was only using the M60's and the EP500. The wife was upstairs and after a few minutes at moderate volume she came down and commented on how much clearer the new speakers sounded. Of course I still have some tweaking to do with my SPL meter, but I thought it was interesting that someone who would be satisfied with junk speakers noticed the better sound on her own.

She has unbelievable hearing if she could tell the difference through the floor all the way upstairs

Seriously, great post- welcome and enjoy the system.

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...she came down and commented on how much clearer the new speakers sounded.

I actually don't find this surprising at all. My wife and I noticed a big difference between my Bose 601s and the M80s when we were A/Bing them. The M80s were much clearer and maintained their tone (if that's the right word) all the way up the basement stairs.

By the way, compared to the products that Bose has released since 1986, the 601 series II were the last decent-sounding speaker.

>>I believe patented Bridgman mounting technique (for QS8's at least) requires the use of Habitant Pea soup cans.

Looking for this ?

I find it works best if you take the bottom grill off and rest the speaker on the plastic posts which hold the grill. I actually got the idea from "Romeo", who purchased QS8s just before I did.