Hello,

Ok, need help. Building a new house with HT room ( 13w x 24L x 18vaulted ). Planning to order Pioneer 150FD Kuro, Pio 95 BluRay, either Pio 94 Reciever or Denon 3808, with Axiom speakers. Here's my delima: M80's are 4 ohm and the receivers are both 8 ohm. Pioneer says it won't work. JC at Axiom says probably work but Pio 94 may overheat and shut down. He says Denon doesn't have problems even though it's 8 ohms. My question is:

1. Pioneer 0r Denon?
2. Do I go with M60s since they are 8ohms?

rest of the set up is the 150 CC, OS8 surrounds, and

Sub: ( still not sure, but welcome opinions )
1. Axiom 350, 400, or 500 ( $678, $1100 or $1230 )
2. SVS PB12 Ultra ( $900 shipped )
3 Definitive SuperCube 1 ( $800 shipped )

thanks for any help. When spending this kind of money I want to get it right.

- JD

All three Denon's I've owned have driven the M80's with no problem, the 3808 would have no problems at all with 4 ohms. I would guess the Pioneer should be able to drive the 80's also, but If I had to choose between the two I would go with the Denon.
Depending on your budget the EP400, 500 or SVS are all great subs, HSU has some good offerings also.

JD, welcome. Any amplifier will "work" with 4ohm speakers; the question would be how loud and how long. In most applications the Pioneer should be fine, despite the cautious advice of Pioneer and most other companies, largely for possible liability concerns.

Thanks for the help. I think this is what I'm going with

TV - Pioneer Kuro 150FD
Receiver - Denon 3808
Speakers - M80s, 150cc, 2xOS8, EP500
BluRay - Pioneer 95FD

Here's a picture of the room:
http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/jfdawson/Media%20Room/

Buying it all in 2 weeks! Can't wait.....

Sounds great welcome to the club.

That looks like a great setup you're putting together. I can't wait to see the finished room full of the new gear.

JD welcome!

Our room dimensions are darn near identical except for our much lower 7 1/2' ceiling height resulting in about half of the cubic area as yours, we have a 7.1 Epic 80/600 system. From my experience with both the 60s as well as the 80s (I have both) *my* suggestion would be the 80s for your 5616 cu. ft. room...which BTW is a very good room size to work with regarding acoustics. I also have an EP600 as well as an EP350 and found that although the 350 is great little sub, the 600 is in another class of it's own so I'd suggest either the EP500 or the 600. I betcha a pair of 500s in that room would be killer! (It's easy to spend your money from where I'm sitting. )

Keep in mind also that you can pre-out a 2 channel amplifier from the receiver to run your 4 ohm 80s if you desire, taking the load from the AVR.

Your room looks great, are you installing a 7.1 or a 5.1 system?

Rick,
Thanks. I'm going with 5:1 now because of cost. I do not want to skimp on anything as I'm one of those people that believes in buying the very best you can. I plan to expand it to 7:1 later. I'm married, so for every $ I spend on Media room the wife spends twice that on furniture, shoes, etc..

- Jeff

My listening room is 16.5 x 26 x 8.5, and little ol' M50s with only 85WPC can cleanly cause my eardrums to clap together in the middle if I push it, so I suspect that M60s will certainly do the trick!

As far as subs; I just have a 12" sealed sub with a 275W plate amp and it's more than my sucky listening room can handle already! So a great big ol' bass monster isn't really required.

.....although I'd really love a big beautiful EP600 sittin' there!

Yeah! Really, really would!!

When I showed my Wife a photo of the 600 in light maple with tan grill, and she thought it looked like a band-aid.

Shot down by a bad choice of colours.

I haven't heard any of the other subs although I have read a considerable amount about SVS. From what I have read, the 500 appears to be a more "musical" sub than SVS while doing double-duty for movies. This is very important because not only do you want a sub that's going to reach deep and loud for movie effects, you also want a sub that's going to be articulate and transparent for music.

MAybe we need a sticky for GEAR that could depict the Who, what, when, where and how of gear vs. room. I've read enough posts so far that someone could populate a really large list....

/shrugs...

It wouldn't matter. The Help Me Choose link off the main page tells you what you need. They also have the wizard as well. We all do the wizard, then come here and ask anyway

Hi,
I can the Definitive Reference sub and it was amazing. When I went to the store to see it they only had SuperCube 1 on display and I was shocked by the power of it. I figured since the Reference model was still in my price range I'd do for. However, later I purchased the Axiom EP600 and the difference was night and day. Even though the Definitive Reference model out amped the Axiom the "sound" quality of the Axiom just blew it away. If I were looking for a sub today, and couldn't afford the Axiom EP600 I would absolutely checkout one of the smaller ones I'm sure you would not be disappointed. Like speakers there is a difference with how sub deliver bass. I found the Definitive a powerhouse, but the Axiom cleaner, and deeper.

In terms of an amp.... check out Yamaha. After going through 2 Denon models, one better than the previous I found them to be less satisfying, almost muted by comparison with other amps. I heard a Yamaha demo and thought the sound was clearer and the imaging, especially for movies, more direct and noticeable. In the end I purchased a Sherbourn processor (which by the way I'm selling) and currently awaiting an Anthem.

But getting back to the sub - I'm sure the same quality and "sound" that's part of the EP600 is shared with smaller models in the line. I don't think you can go wrong.

Actually, only the EP-400 (small rooms) and the EP-500 are also using Axiom's DSP technology. I have the EP-500 and it is perfect for music and HT (clear, clean and powerful).

Selfish question .... but given the existing speaker setup and room dimensions, I'm wondering how the Yam V3800 would match up?

I have the Denon 3800, and the Yam V3800 as strong front runners in my upgrade path. The numbers look close (as far as I can understand from my limited knowledge) but most of the local HT shops are pushing Denon products. '/shrugs

the reason I'm going with Denon 3808 model is because of 4 HDMI inputs with 1 HDMI out. Mine is going in a Media Room so it's more for Movies, than music.

It also supports 7.1 ( when I get enough $ to fill it out ), Ethernet port ( that supports the wireless iPod )
http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/3584.asp
this would allow me to stream music from itunes over wireless.

-JD