I am building a new home theater system in my home. The room I am placing it in is 16'X16' with a 9' ceiling. With the arrangement of doors and the fireplace, I will have to place the TV off to the right side of the room. I plan to purchase the Pioneer VSX-1020-K receiver, which is capable of 7.1. I have a speaker budget of about $2000. The center channel speaker will be placed in a component cabinet below the TV. It will be mostly used for home theater, with occasional music listening.

Here are my questions:

Which Axiom 7.1 system should I purchase?

How should I place the left and right channel speakers? Should I mount them beside the TV (on the right side of the room) or should I mount them above the picture molding on either side of the room? I do plan on mounting the surrounds above the picture molding at the 8' level.

Thanks

Welcome!!

If you could supply a picture or drawing of the room it would be more helpful.

I had my surrounds up near the ceiling like that before and I must say they sound even better only 2' above seated ear level in my new house.

The mains should be set as wide apart as possible upto as far apart as you are away from them to form an equilateral triangle(this is the ideal). You can mount them higher up and angle them down but again the ideal is to have the mains with the tweeters situated around seated ear level.

There is no way for me to get the surrounds at ear level due to the windows, doors and the fireplace. Only the left and right channel speakers could be at ear level, and only if they flank the TV which will be on the right side of the room. To get the triangle, I would have to place them up high as well.

I will try to figure out how to get a diagram into the forum.

Oh, you don't need to have your surrounds at ear level.

If windows doors etc are involved then you have to place them where you can. the system will still sound good. As I said, I went from less than optimal to nearly optimal and it sounded very good before and it sounds even better now.

With regard to what you should purchase are you looking for in/onwall mountable main/center channel or will bookshelf/floorstanders be the choice?

For your budget I would look to M22 and it's variations/VP100 and QS8's for surrounds and to bring out the low end for HT an EP350 subwoofer.

If you can wait 3-4 weeks I would highly suggest looking at the Factory Outlet to save 10% and if you order 5 or more items you get an extra 5% off as well.

The surrounds work best 2-3ft above your ears or higher Lynn, they don't have to be at ear level. Many of us have them wall or ceiling mounted. Mine are about 7ft of the floor.

I am planning on mounting them on the wall, so I was looking at the M2 for left and right channel, VP100 center and QS4's for the surrounds. I was considering the EP175 for the sub.

7.1 system - my suggestions.

Mains - M2 or M22 if you can afford them, better midrange then the M2 or so I am told.

Center VP100 - a very good if not forgotten center.

Side Surrounds L/R - QS4s or better still QS8s, a slightly better match for the M2/M22 as they use the same drivers but the 4s are excellent as well.

Rear channels if you are close to them, say less than 5-6', then QS4/QS8s depending on what you chose for side surrounds and if the distance is longer, another set of M2s/M22s as the sound will have time/distance to disperse and envelop you properly, yet will still hit you and let you know it is behind you.

How far is the couch going to be from the back wall? Maybe 7.1 is not the way to go, maybe stick with 5.1 and upgrade the actual speakers a little bit.

Here is a pic of my seating area the couch is about 16" away from the back wall and the QS8's are about 2' above my seated listening height. Hope this helps with your plans.

Hi Lynn Shaver,

I would keep things simple for right now and stick to a 5.1 setup to start with and see how it goes first with setting everything up. I would recommend....

M3 or M22 for mains.
VP150 for the centre channel (measure the dimensions of the cabinet that it will be placed in to make sure it will fit).
QS8's for surrounds.
EP350 v3 for subwoofer.

Well. I have not bought my setup but mine is basically looking to be identical to that one but getting a different subwoofer because another company has a better value unit than the EP-350.

Check out this PL-200 and look up reviews on it.

http://www.acousticsounddesign.com/core/view_BigProduct.cfm?pid=1555&sc=28

I am planning on mounting my left front speaker directly onto the mantle of my fireplace, just a little above optimal listening level but otherwise I am looking at somehow putting it onto the bricks. So i'de rather just put them where I can easily.

The right speaker will go near a window, but it should fit just perfect where I have it in mind.

My center channel (if it exists, still in debate on budget) is the tough one because it will be just above my tv. I do not trust using a full metal bracket to support it even though I have read that works. I am going to call axiom sales on sunday and discuss it with them. I am thinking I will likely build an all oak desk extension to mount my center channel (if it exists) ontop of it... Of course the vp 100 weighs less so it might just work in a bracket, hmmm... :P

There is something about the vp150 though that excites me. it must be that cool looking line of 5 speakers. It wakes up my inner child. That alone is worth the cost, right?

I have to agree with that. I think you would be better of using the $$$ of the extra 2 surrounds and put it towards a better 5.1 system. You can always get the extra 2 surrounds later when money permits. I my case, since I couldn't afford the whole system at once, I am building it one step at the time. I bought the M80s in January and then the VP150 in May. I decided to return the VP150 and upgraded to a VP180 (which hopefully will arrive Tuesday or Wednesday ). Around Xmas I'll probably get a sub but if money will be short (it always is), I'll get at least the 2x QS8s for surround. It might take me a couple of years to complete my system but in the end I know I'll be extremely happy with it. I am not saying you should do the same but I don't think that 2 extra surrounds would be as critical as a better 5.1 system. Just my 2 cents...
Cheers.

Bruno

Thanks for all the advice. The VP150 will not fit in my cabinet. I will look at getting a different sub as well, and with the savings get the M22' and QS8's.

Yeah, the QS8's look very nice and if you'll notice you can not buy them from the outlet store.

I have decided how I am going to staggar my upgrade process if not the cost the process, cause putting it all in at once will be a ton of work.

Step one i will order fresh qs8's and woofer, amp. The qs8's will serve as the left and right channels as poor as this idea seems untill my others arive.

I'm going to order my m22's and center channel via the outlet to save 80 dollars, that and it will allow me time to build the desk extensions I am planning on to mount my speakers on, so I do not have to drill holes in my walls...

Anyway that is my current plan. I do not know if my plan helps you any but hey, why not eh?

The QS8s are available from the Outlet, just not in custom versions. The wording is different which makes it easy to miss

"Single QS8 Factory Outlet" Instead of

"Single Factory Outlet QS4" which is just above it.

Yes Lynn I'm in the 'get 5.1 for now & upgrade to 7.1 later' camp. And I am also of the opinion (remember opinions are like assholes, everyone has one, and most of them stink) that Axiom subs are for people without a budget. If you are trying to stick to a budget then I say go with eD or SVS or someone like that and spend the savings on better mains and surrounds.

Your room dimensions measure 2300 cubic feet, which is almost to the limit of where Axiom recommends M22's (2500 cubic feet if I'm not mistaken?). So perhaps even a set of M60's would be in the running? Not that you wouldn't enjoy the M22's, just thought I'd mention that.

But don't take my advice too seriously. After all I started out with a speaker budget of two grand and I would up spending that alone on my EP800!