Hi All-

I'm just finishing building a house and have already bought Axiom in-wall and outdoor speakers for the whole house audio system. In my limited testing, they sound great.

Now comes the Home Theater -- I would appreciate any comments or ideas any of you have either positive or negative on my proposed setup.

My Amp: Denon 4310 (already purchased)
My TV: New Sharp 65" LCD (not yet purchased)
My Room: 5.1 (Big room. Not a dedicated home theater room. Windows, fireplace, vaulted ceiling)
My Gear: HD Cable, PS3, Wii, Media PC

My proposed Speakers: Axiom Epic 80/500

My questions:
- Will my Denon will drive the M80's okay? (4 ohm)
- Should I bi-amp the M80s? (Amp is 7.1 and supports it) I have no Zone 2 need so will leave the additional amps to waste if I don't bi-amp
- What gauge wire should I use to wire the speakers (is 14 okay?)
- Any suggestions on good universal remote?
- Anything else I should do?

Thanks very much guys -- I'll be sure to post pics and a review once I set everything up. Moving in next month.

peter

Yup
Nope--not wasting anything, and you wouldn't gain a thing by bi-amping.
Depends how long your runs are going to be.
Harmony or URC, depending on how you like programming stuff.
Not off the top of my head!

Thanks for that very quick reply.

Speaker runs are short. <10 feet for the L/R and ~40 feet for the surrounds.

Oh, def. 14 gauge you should be good.

I'd be curious how big that room is before knowing if the Denon should be OK on it's own, or if another 500 sub might help...

Otherwise, I agree with the toddler and baby.

I was thinking that another sub might be a good idea.

It's always a good idea

Wow! That sounds like a wonderful system. I am very interested to hear your more detailed review of ALL of your Axiom products!

I'll bet the Denon will be just fine. You'll likely get unnecessary upgradeitis eventually, anyway, so you might as well save some stuff for later.

I don't think the bi-amping is going to do anything for you since all the channels on the Denon are sourced from the same power supply.

For those short runs, 14g wire is just fine. I do like the look and feel of 12g, though.

I'm a very happy URC MX-700 user. That model is discontinued, but both the wife and I really like it.

You can always add another sub or upgrade to the 600 or 800 if you feel the need. I bet that - after you get the 500 positioned and dialed-in - you won't feel the need. You may feel the "want" though.

If you don't already have a UPS for the DVR and PC, I think that's a good ~$100. My hand was forced by the bulb in my RPTV, but I like knowing that I can shut the hard drives down gracefully, too.

Congratulations on your new home. Warmest wishes to you and your family for many happy years there.

You know, you guys are right on that sub thing. Who wants to send me theirs?

If you pay the shipping I might send you my 150lb sub although you could probably pick one up cheaper nearby.

Dude - I just sold my old M&K M70 8" push/pull sub. If I hadda known.

Thanks very much guys for all the input -

The Room is about 18 feet back to front, and 20 feet side to side. Windows on the Back and Side wall. Vaulted ceiling from 9 feet on the side to 11 feet high in the middle.

I was thinking of a 2nd Sub, but space is tight and this is the main living space, so its a negotiation with the wife more than anything else. I'm going to start with one in any case.

I'll be sure to attach some photos along with the review when its all complete.

Regards,
peter

Peter, the 4310 will drive the M80s to levels beyond what is safe for your hearing. This includes the frequencies where the M80s have a 4 ohm impedance, but note that the M80s are 8 ohm speakers over the majority of their frequency range.

There is no bi-amping capability in the 4310, despite the language in the manual. There is only one amplifier, with seven output channels to distribute the limited amount of power of which the power supply section is capable. So, there are no "amps to waste" if you're not using back surrounds or zone 2, and no increase of power to the mains is available by routing it through two sets of output transistors rather than one.

As to the wire gauge, this depends primarily on the length of the runs as shown in this excellent explanation of speaker wiring by a veteran audio professional. For the M80s alone, 16ga would likely be fine, but the other speakers need to be considered as well.

Thanks John for the advice and the excellent link. Much appreciated.

I'm going to order the Home Theater speakers this week.

peter

You're not driving it over? I was so looking forward to meeting you...