Hello all, thought I'd say hi - have been aware of Axiom for many years and have received the fine newsletter for most of them. Work steady midnight so have been "lurking" around the boards for the last 6 months or so and you have been quite entertaining --- as well as informative . Got that bad upgradeitis bug that's going around so I think I'm gonna start piecing together a new speaker system sometime this year.

So if you haven't figured it out yet - I'm Luc from London

Welcome, Luc. It's always nice when a spy reveals himself. What is your current hardware?

Welcome aboard Luc! So which speakers are you presently looking at?

Boy that was quick, went out for a smoke and 2 welcomes, thanks

My current hardware a nice Pioneer vsx 1015 7.1 driving my old 5.1 Mission center and 700 speakers that I relegated as rears and rear surrounds, picked up a set of small Fluance floorstanders for my mains in 2005 when I got the Pio, I know, I should have bought the Axiom mains then, but cost was a factor.

The Mission sub has also been relegated as a rear sub since I picked up an Energy S10.3 on Canuck Audio Mart great sub for hitting those sub 25hz in movies. The Pioneer will be replaced as well for likely the Denon 2808 or 3808 because of the 4 HDMI 1.3. The Samsung 6189 led rear projection has replaced my epson projector (got tired of changing bulbs every 2 years)and of course my trusty PS3 that I stood in line for 25hrs to get on day 1 --- there weren't too many 50 year olds in that lineup lol

I think my 1st purchase will be the VP150 the 100 would likely be good enough but for aesthetic purposes the vp150 just looks awesome. Will likely go for the M22s for mains sometime later as I am quite happy with the Missions as rears and rear surrounds. Since it will be likely that this satisfaction will wane in the future it will be quite easy to move the M22s to the rear

Another welcome!

Do you use your PS3 mostly for games or movies?

Hi Luc and welcome. Many of us lurked for years before posting. Glad to have you join the forum.

Welcome aboard!

Hi Luc. I'm just up the raod from you in Kitchener. I should be getting my M80s soon (I hope...) now.

I'm sure you'll love the upgrades

Thanks again,

medic8r - The ps3 is used equally for both, probably a little more for movies - this little box just amazes me - the upconversion video quality improvements for DVD playing, I built a pretty high end HTPC for this purpose but the ps3 PQ and SQ just blows it away - and then there's blu-ray that is just awesome can't wait to get a new receiver to hear the improvements with lossless audio

dllewel - Raven manor looks pretty awesome, I can only wish to be able to afford that kind of gear

HomeDad - Home dad heh all right!! - I've been a single Dad for over 20 yrs

Yea Fred you're just a hop skip and a jump away...

Welcome Luc

thank you - and yes PorterPlex is pretty impressive as well...

TGIF

Well looks like Axiom may be waiting another 10 years to get some of my money - Got a deal on a pair of Paradigm Studio 60s and a Studio CC centre and they do rock

Congrats! Hey, aren't you on the wrong forum?

MOMMMM they won't let me play here anymore

You have nice toys. You can stay.

He can stay as long as we get some pics of his new toys.

Well I'm at work right now but I'll see what I can conjure up over the weekend

Congrats on the new speakers but the QS8s would still be a great addition to your HT. Maybe Axiom can get some of your money yet.

I think we're pretty cool with Paradigm. They are good canadian speakers too.

Paradigm speakers are often compared to Axioms. IMHO, they are a very good substitute. All of the Paradigms I've heard sound quite similar to Axiom speakers. Very neutral, clean, and accurate. I've even heard Paradigm's being described as 'bright', just as Axiom's sometimes are.

I can certainly understand getting a good deal. When I was ready to buy my M80's, I went on a quest to listen to as many 'comparable' speakers as I could, just to be sure that I wanted to stick with Axiom. Paradigm was at the top of my list. The nearest dealer had a pair of Studio 100's set up. I did like them, but they were almost $1k more than the M80's. The dealer immediately knocked about $500 off to try to sell them. A deal, sure, but it not enough to shake me from my M80's. The sound quality was so similar (though there were differences: bass was a tiny bit more forceful on the 100's, highs were a tiny bit less harsh on the m80's) that it really came down to cosmetics, and I had to give the nod to Paradigm for that, but not for +$500. They were good speakers though. I have a lot of respect for Paradigm speakers.

Does this mean we're not going to burn him?

It is Friday, after all. How else are we going to get the weekend started?

Its a thought, but really, he does have a nice, shiny, spinny avatar, so I vote we let him stay.

Hmmm, to keep up in the avatar arms race, this weekend I'd better hit the animation shop and make my rainbow head spin and pulse both ways...

I can practically hear Ken squealing in anticipation!

But can you make it shiny, spiny AND invisible like mine?

You can, but why would you want an avatar that looks like a Tennessee river ape?

See, I looked that one up on urban dictionary, and didn't find anything. I knew you were just making this stuff up and defining it before I got there.

Haha, Ken's a real n00b. He needs the Banner Hammer.

I've always heard that as ban hammer. Banner Hammer doesn't make much sense, unless you're talking about ad blocking.

n00b.

Dammit!

You'd think I'd know, having been banned thrice.

Stupid hammer.

Yea that's a tough one, I'm currently running 4 Mission 700s as rear and rear surround - I've been pretty happy with my Missions that's why they were relegated as rears

Thanks man, you're all heart

Banner Hammer also is common tongue in online games when you want to get rid of a spammer, or other form of online annoyance. Honestly though, I've only heard it a few times.

Ha, Ken, Murph the superdelegate is in my camp!

Quit the race now, you're only embarrassing yourself at this point.

Is it over yet?

Ok grabbed a couple of pics today - take it easy on me the HT is nowhere near as extravagant as some I've seen here, I live in a 1 bdrm apt with my 20 yr old daughter (No I did not take pictures of her)

You have a nice set-up, Luc! Nothing to be embarrassed about. Most of us have to balance functional living spaces with our hobby.

Thanks, here's the breakdown

7.2 system

Samsung 6189 LED LCD rear projection TV

2 x Paradigm Reference Studio 60 mains
1 x Paradigm Reference Studio CC center
1 x Energy S10-3 front sub
4 x Mission 700 rears and rear surrounds
1x Mission sub pulling up the rear

Pioneer vsx-1015 receiver
Day 1 - 20gb PS3

HTPC (next to the receiver)
C2D e6600 on Intel Bad Axe 2, 74gb raptor OS, 400 gb storage, 4 gb pc5300, his 3850 vid
4 gb pc5300, his 3850 vid

Looks good Luc; a lot better than my mancave. I have a lot of decorating to do. How do you like your setup now that you've had it for a while?

Thanks Fred, the set up is outstanding, it seems that every evolution of the HT I keep saying that it can't get any better than this... Can't wait til I can afford to pick up the new receiver and experience the DTS HD-MA, hopefully before Xmas. I'm sure once you are done the decorating your "mancave" will be awesome as well. One good thing about being a single parent is that I don't have the "WAF" to consider when upgrading gear

I'm still waiting for decent prices on bluray players before I make the last step into HD.

No WAF here either. I see big ugly bass traps in my future...

Well after a year of waiting for prices to drop and trying to decide which receiver would be "best for me" I finally decided on the Marantz 4002

While it doesn't have all the new audio decoders all my decoding will be done at source - it has 3 Hdmi 1.3 passthrough 1.1 repeating so I will still get lossless via LPCM 7.1 analogue inputs as well as 7.1 pre outs - will add an amp later and use it as a pre/pro - now have the nice warm Marantz sound. Should be great with my Paradigm Studio front end and my Samsung 6189 Here's a brief synopsis

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/receivers/marantz-sr4002