Well, I ordered an M80/VP150/QS8 system last Friday. Thanks, Joe, Allan and Brent for the advice. Also, thanks to mhorgel for the generous in-house demo of his M60/VP100/QS8 system. I honestly don't know how my system could sound any better than his, but if it can, I'm going to be one happy camper.

I ordered from the Factory outlet so it'll be close to 3 weeks before I get them. I got FO M80's and QS-8's but a new VP-150 (6 week wait on the black VP-150's in FO) because 3 weeks is about all my "instant gratification" buffer can possibly stand.

I finally (after 5 years) got my surround sound speaker wire run the way I want - My wife actually pulled the carpet from under the baseboards and I ran partsexpress 12Ga 2 Conductor wire around to the surrounds areas. I haven't pulled them from the baseboard up through the wall (7ft up) yet but I'm going to wait for the QS-8's so I can put in junction boxes and do it right. My wife then repulled the carpet back under the baseboards (she's mine, and you can't have her).

I'll have my Polk RT2000p's around for a while so I can A/B compare them to the Axioms and I'm also planning on inviting another Lexingtonian who is getting Ascend CMT-340's over to take a listen to those on my system as well.

I'm going to keep the crossover set (system wide - unfortunately) to 80Hz on my system as it currently is with my Polks and dual SVS 20-39 PCi but I was curious if that has caused any holes in the sound with the surrounds and center for anyone? The VP-150 (if I'm reading right) has it's -3dB point at 85Hz and the QS-8's at 95Hz.

One other question about the surrounds - while I can still pull some carpet. Currently, my downstairs is upside down "U" shaped (sort of). The couch is along the wall and the projector screen is about 14' away. The surrounds will be from 11-14' away on the right and left walls but both of those walls extend BEHIND the listening position. Is this potentially a problem? Should I think of mounting my R/L surrounds on the 6' back wall behind my couch right above my head?

Here's a crude (best I can do in ASCII) drawing
F=M80
C=VP150
S=QS-8
K=Kitchen
*=Living space

*****F**C**F***
***************
***************
S****_COUCH***S
**K**______****
*****______****
*****
*****

Andy - welcome to the marching army of the audio-satisifed yet cash unwealthy Axiom folks. You are gonna love these things. Pictures ARE required.

Welcome, my son.
Welcome to the machine....

Welcome, Andrew. It's the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend. Come inside.

So, to recap, you're getting M80's, have dual SVS subwoofers, and a wife who indulges you beyond measure. Why in the hell would any of us want to HELP you?

I don't completely "get" the luxury ascii diagram. But I think you'd want the surrounds on the sides behind you, rather than on the back wall, if that's the question. Pictures would help.

My room is not square, it's a big rectangle with an open room at each end - in the shape of an upside down "U" with one of the ends smaller than the other. The "*" in the diagram represent the area of the room. I am going to place the surrounds on the sides, the problem is that the couch is on the back wall so that the rearward facing tweeter on the QS8's will be firing into another room that does not necissarily have a direct "line of ear" back to the couch.

In other words, imagine a rectangular room 20' long with a couch that is out 8' from the back wall. Put the surrounds where you think they should be which is probably about 6' back from the rear wall. Place a wall running the width of the couch behind the couch and place another two walls running perpendicular right back to the rear wall. The surrounds are now basically firing into two "alcoves" with the front tweeter firing into the room.

My question is whether the above situation is poor enough to warrant putting the QS8's on the wall that my couch is leaning up against.

Okay! I think I get it now.

If I were faced with that situation, I think I would try putting the surrounds a bit in front of the listening position rather than "even" with it.

But you know, everybody is going to tell you to experiment. Which is not terribly helpful advice unless you have a happy fixation on drilling holes in your walls.

This is just my opinion, which means I can't back it up by fact. But, I think it would be superior to have the surrounds on the side wall just slightly behind your ears. I understand that the rear firing tweeters will be shooting into two different sized alcoves, but that might just work out fine.

The obvious suggestion is to try the surrounds in both positions, before you mount them. You don't have to wall mount them for the trials. Just prop them up on something that will not block the down firing woofer. For test purposes it would be OK if they are only several feet off the floor, but try to get them as high as you safely can. You want to get an idea of how those tweeters will interact with the alcoves.

The QS8s are reputed to be very forgiving when it comes to placement, so don't drive yourself nuts about this. I've seen the QS8s (in photos here on the board) in just about every position imaginable, and everybody says their setup works just fine. If you don't like them on the sides, it would still be OK to put them on the wall behind the couch.

Here's the deal with the Qs8s. Preferred position is is just behind the listening position on the side walls. Having said that, the general consesus is that these things are so forgiving that you can pretty much put them wherever you want relative to side or rear as long as it is relatively near the listening position. Get them about 1 foot below the ceiling and don't stick them in a corner. You might experiment with a step ladder.

They're so forgiving, in fact, that I don't even own QS8s and they still sound great!

We, however, are NOT so forgiving, PETER!

Peter, I sometimes wonder what color the sky is where you are.......

ok, now you've forced me to dig out my "Wish You Were Here" CD to see how it sounds on the axioms... Shine on you crazy diamond part 12.... do you think they could of came up with some more song titles for that CD??!!??

Bilbo- Amazing. Better than you thought it sounded before.