Well, I got flooded in late july so I need to redo my HT. My trusty 15 year old Sound Dynamics floor standings and my sub got wet...

I am no audiophile, but I don't like buying low end stuff. I enjoy quality (within a reasonable budget).

My home theater is a basement room, that's 11 x 16 for the HT part, but the actual room is 11x24 (there's an extra 8' behind the couch).

The insurance only covers the sub and fronts. If I was to change to Axiom speakers, I would have to change the center channel as well I guess so I'll try to take the budget for the sub to cover for it.

Here are my questions:

1. Would M60 be more than enough for someone like me? or should I go all out and get M80s?

2. Since I would buy the center channel to match, I wouldn't be getting a sub right away (probably for a long time i.e over a year). Would either fronts be good enough to get some decent bass? I'm not bass crazy (I had an 8" sub before that I never really liked, as it sounded... muddy for lack of a better word. It was too small for the room I was told)

Main usage is TV & Movies. Occasional concert DVDs and music on rare occasions. I was suggested by Axiom people to go with the M22 bookshelf speakers, a VP150 and an EP350, but I don't like the idea of using stands for the bookshelf, I'd rather have floorstandings.

If it makes any difference, the TV is a 61" JVC D-ILA rear-projector. I was thinking of mounting the VP150 above it using the Full Metal bracket, to free up space under the TV for components.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

Marc

While I'm at it, the tv stand I had for this beast has to be replaced and I have no clue what to get! If you have a similar setup or suggestions, let me know.

The M60's should be fine. FWIW, I have M60's in a similar sized room with a VP150 on top of my 61" JVC D-ILA :-)

I built a custom bracket to hold the speaker. The back is anchored by the wall. To be honest, I'm not convinced the retail TV bracket will hold the VP150. It is quite heavy.

Can't help with the stand. I use the JVC stand that I got with the TV.

Marc, welcome. I doubt that it would be a good idea to apply the sub money to the center speaker and pass on a sub, since the sub can contribute so much to your enjoyment. If the budget made it necessary I'd even first consider not using a center speaker and letting the mains provide a "phantom" center. However, since you're apparently willing to at least consider the M80s, my thought would be to apply M80-type money to the M60s plus a less expensive, but still fine sub, such as the Hsu STF-2 , for about the same total cost. This combination should be excellent for your room(I assume that you haven't discussed the surrounds since they weren't damaged in the flood).

On a related note, our M60s were in a 'brief' basement flood event and even though the water level came up to an inch over the base of our speakers, there was no damage, no long term loss of aesthetic or sound quality.
I'm not saying Axiom makes them water resistent, i'm just saying what happened in our circumstance.

You can see the water line easy.

Ah crap, sorry for the overlarge photo but you should REALLY get the picture.

Oh geez, pardon the brutal pun.

On the plus side, you can really see the tight weave of the Berber carpet we used to own.

Yeah, chess; nice carpet.

Well thanks John.
We picked it out after the first flood destroyed the old carpet to help sell the house.

Then we moved.
Damn prairie floodlands.

Chess, since you explained to me some years ago that you really do have a 4th of July in Canada, I suppose that I should point out, however, on this weekend that you apparently don't have a Labor Day.

That's right John.
Much like many other countries of the world, we do actually have a 4th of July. It is hard to go from the 3rd to the 5th without covering over the 4th, ever so quickly.
As for labor day, no, we have no labor day, BUT we do have a Labour Day. That would be tomorrow and why i'm not going into work.

I see; despite the misspelling, you still don't have to go in to work(at least this has gotten us on to page 2 and away from the giant picture).

We got 6 to 7 inches of water (uneven basement floor) so a lot got damaged...

The speakers are still fine sound-wise but the case swell up.

Skipping the center seems worse to me than skipping the sub. Are the M60s as good at covering bass as the M80s? I could save by going with the M60s but if the bass is lacking, then I would need the sub... I can either spend 800$ to get the sub or 400$ extra for the M80s...

BTW, the surrounds were wall mounted so no damage there They are Energy speakers and fairly small. I will change them eventually as I prefer to have a matching set but not right now.

Do the drapes match the rug?

???

Marc, Peter was just replying to chess and kidding him about the huge pic prominently featuring his carpet.

If strong "full range" response down to about 20Hz is the criterion, very few speakers(neither the M60 and M80)meet it. Both have plenty of bass for most needs, but a good sub does even better in the lowest bass. For example, the $350 unit that I mentioned for use with the M60s would have better bass than the M80s by themselves.

Peter try to make funny, get no laff!

Thank you I ordered the M60s, a VP150 and the EP350. That should cover it fairly well

I don't think you'll regret those choices.