Ok, I have been lurking around Axiom for like 5 years now. Life and timing have finally come into play and I'm ready to pull the trigger on getting an axiom speaker set up for my new family room.

I'm thinking the the M60's for fronts, the QS8 for rears and the VP150 v3 for the front.

I'm also getting the new Onkyo TX-NR808 receiver, which is a 7.2 receiver.

My house already has JBL SP6CSII in the ceiling (hey the came with the house). I figure I'll use those for me second set of rear speakers.

I have 2 openings on either side of my in-wall entertainment center that are 22" wide x 16" tall x 16" deep. I figured those are perfect places for a set of small but punchy subs.

Day Time
Night Time


Now I know a lot of people here opt for subs other than the Axioms. I don't want to spend a ton of money, but I thought something like the Definitive Technology ProSub 800 or the Infinity PS212 would be perfect. Are 2 decent subs better than one expensive subs for a 7.2 system?

Any and all advice is welcome, as I know most of you enjoy setting up dream systems as much as I do.

thanks!

Larry, welcome back. Those Axioms that you've selected should be excellent. The QS8s will be side surrounds, so where in relation to your listening position are those JBL ceiling speakers? The positioning might not really be suitable for the back surrounds.

Fine choice for your receiver.

As to the subs, keep in mind that they can be positioned just as well lying down, so the 24" width available doesn't necessarily limit you to small subs.

Re Subs... don't shoot me but I just ordered an Outlaw LFM1-Plus today.

They have a 15% 0ff + free shipping sale on until September 06.

Please don't shoot me.

Seriously though, if this post is offensive to the board feel free to remove it and advise me.

snazzed

sawyer,
you have almost the same setup as mine, even the room size also almost identical, except that I still saving up for my QS8 but my Orb are doing a decent job for me now.

I have the NR808 for a month now and it's an excellent AVR with tons of features. I bet you will love your setup as much as I do.

Michael

Like you, I was pondering Axioms for a long time. Just received my Axioms yesterday, the M60s, The QS8s and the VP150. Had issues powering them with my new Onkyo TXSR608. They didn't sound good until I cranked the receiver up. This a.m. switched back to my old Onkyo without HDMI and they now sound good at lower levels. Think my old receiver has a higher output. For music they sound excellent, however for TV watching and movies they are average. I am disappointed in the lows, virtually have to rely on the sub. Thought the M60s would have done a much better job in handling the lows. I currently have a Velodyne sub, and have ordered a new SVS SB12 sub for replacement, but it hasn't got here yet. The QS8s are excelllent. The VP 150 seems to be a little bright. Will try them out through next week and determine if I want to keep them or not.

Just an option....

I have a 24x17x7 room and went with M22's for F/R/C, QS8's for Surrounds and a SVS PC12+ Subwoofer.

It fills the room and then some with very nice sound.

bad dog, you must have something wrong in your settings/calibration in the receiver, the 60's should put out tons of bass. In fact, back when I owned some, people thought I had a sub still in the mix when I had disabled the sub from the equation.

lol..bad dog

Hi BadDog,

If you have the M60's set to small in the receiver they will only be playing down to the crossover point selected (the crossover does not act as a brick wall though).

The only way to get the full bass potential from the M60's is to set them to large in the receiver so they play full range. I just want to make sure you have tried this or have the speakers set up this way.

I am not familiar with the velodyne sub you have but the SVS will make a big difference for home theater. In the case when using the subs you can set the M60's to small with a 60hz or 80hz crossover.

My room is 18 feet wide and it goes from the family room all the way into the kitchen, so the back of the room is open. I have 9 foot ceilings too.

If you look at the pics I posted, the small openings I was going to put the sub woofer in are 22" wide x 16" tall x 16" deep.

So I'm thinking of getting a small sub to put in one of those spots for now, and then get a second one later on. I think that will give me enough on the low end of things.

So is one large sub woofer better than 2 smaller subs, or will I even really notice a difference if I'm not going to A/B test them?

Thanks Dr. House for your recommendations.

I am using an older receiver which limits calibration. Had a Onkyo 608, but returned today to Best Buy as volume never started until level 43 of 99. I have the the M60s set to large as you suggested and then I set the the speaker setting for the M60s to +3 and that seemed to help. Also set the Bass to +5 and the Treble to -2. This brought out more of the bass and took away some of the echo sounding that I was getting in stereo mode. Will keep playing with the settings and try out different music and movies. Phantom of the Opera CD should give me a better feel vs the 2 movies I have watched thus far.

I have the same thing with my Denon with my Axioms. On the volume control that is rated at -80 to +15 I start to get sound at around -40 and increase it from there. I have this setting programmed, so when it turns on I don't have to increase the volume control so much each time I play music, watch movies etc.. Mostly this has to do with the sensitivity of the speakers. There was nothing defective with the receiver btw.

Good call on using the tone controls BadDog!

I had my Onkyo setting to -35 (in THX mode) when power up, this volume is just nice for late night viewing (but sometimes had to reduce to -45 when it's really late). During daytime normal TV volume is -27 to -20 (channel depending) and for BD/Music is -26 (low volume) to -12 (very loud wife complaining, neighbor turning heads volume)

Thanks all for your recommendations. BadDog's tail is a wagging now.

After playing numerous CDs and a few movies last night I was able to get the settings where they should be to get a good tonal balance. Phantom of the Opera sounds like I am live at the theater.

Tempting, tempting....

I too set my Onkyo to power up at -40, and while I was at it set the maximum volume to -10. While that's plenty loud enough for my townhouse, I really set it to ensure the kids don't accidentally crank it up too loud with the custom programmed Volume Up button on my universal remote. I've programmed that button to essentially hit the regular volume up button 10 times.

Nice features in receivers these days.

I dropped my remote the other day, which somehow caused the volume to go to full blast. I'm so glad that I had max volume set at 0.

I agree. Two very overlooked settings on modern AVR's.

I have my power on set to -25, my normal AM listening volume from the kitchen as I stumble through breakfast.

My Max is also set to -10.

Very nice looking space. I've been thinking about the Onk 808 as well. Although it is a 7.2 channel receiver, it has Dolby PLIIz processing which means that 2 of those channels could be front effect channels.

I think that's what I would do. If you have 2 ceiling speakers in the front it would be interesting to hear your system configured so that the ceiling speakers were your L/R effect speakers over your proposed M22 rather than using the back surrounds.

2x6, yea the speakers in my ceiling are right above my couch. The house came with the speakers position where they are, it wasn't something I planned. I'm sure I could find a good way to integrate the JBL ceiling speakers into a 7.1 (or 7.2) set up. I know the second rears are suppose to be behind your listening area, but not many of us have the luxury or ability to truly build a room dedicated to the perfect home theater.

As far as the Onkyo 808 goes, I personally don't think there is a receiver that will do the job I am looking for at that price. The Denon and Yamaha receivers that are similar at higher price points. For the money saved, I could get the second powered sub.

I just need to find a place to listen to the new 808 just to be sure, then I will be more at ease to spend the money. I'm hoping to listen to the axioms at Grunt's place in the coming weeks. Then I will likely pull the trigger on the new receiver and axiom set up!

Larry, the 808 is a fine choice and there's no need to find a place to "listen" to it. Anything that you'd hear at a dealer would be the sound of the program material, the listening room, the speakers and any settings that the salesman may make. The 808 and all other similar competently designed receivers will amplify transparently without adding a sonic coloration.