Speaker upgrade complete...

[armaraas]

Well, my upgrade for now is complete. I have added some room treatments, panels from ATS Acoustics, Aperion 6T for mains, Aperion 5C for center, AV123 MWF-15 for sub, Axiom QS8 and M2 for surrounds. My wife is probably going to cut me off for now, but I'll be adding more room treatments and bass traps as I can. Existing equipment is an older Samsung 56" 720p DLP, HK AVR-235, Xbox 360, Newpoint power conditioner, and pc. I moved the dvd player downstairs for my wife, so dvds are currently watched with the xbox or pc.

The room is a second floor bedroom that's bigger than normal, and works as a media room (use the pc on the tv) and my home office (if work knew the setup in my home office, I doubt it would have been approved...). I went 7.1 mostly because since I was able to buy speakers now (wife willing), I figured I better get them while I can. Once we have kids in a year or two, I'll have to get the basement finished and this stuff moved down there into a bigger room. I compromised on the location of the sides a bit because of a lack of studs, so the one is right on the side wall, so far it seems fine. If I decide I don't like it I may move the sides down onto stands.

Here's a few pics-

 

[gus6464]

Those are great looking panels. Nice setup you got there.

 

[armaraas]

Close ups of the mains and sub-

 

[MinusTheBear]

I love your set up!!!

I have the Axiom Qs4's in a 7.1 setup. I have played around with placment by placing them on the side walls and the wall behind my couch like you have and I much prefer them on the side walls. I find QS4's come alive more during movies and fill my room with much fuller/richer sound on the side walls than on the back wall. I can only imagine what the Qs8's bring. I also like the fact my Qs4's are for my surround speakers for 5.1 rather than my surround back speakers.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Did you by any chance listen to the M2's in a 2 channel setup. I am curious how these would sound compared to the M3's.

 

[Adam]

I agree with the others - great set-up! I also like the way that you did your panels. The finish on those speakers and sub is very nice, too.

As for the home office - you've got me beat, that's for sure!

 

[MinusTheBear]

I agree with the others - great set-up! I also like the way that you did your panels. The finish on those speakers and sub is very nice, too.

As for the home office - you've got me beat, that's for sure!

As for my entire home theatre system - you've got me destroyed

 

[armaraas]

MinusTheBear,
Yah, I had to make some compromises since my space is a little tight for 7.1, but since the wife gave me the okay I wanted to get them now, in case she would object later, or if there would be any significant changes to the Axioms in the next year or two. Eventually these will be moved to a larger room about 14'x27', and the bookshelves will be put in the back and the QS8's will be put on the side walls where they belong.

I had dipoles on the back wall for the last couple of weeks and liked them there better than direct firing in the corners of the room (they were on stands and were blocked by the back the of the couch when in the corners). I figured with the QS8's supposedly so forgiving on location that they would work well on the back wall for dispersion. I put the M2's to the sides because they were the furthest away, and because of location issues. I have a door on one side, so I had to mount the speaker above it (thought that would be too close to the ceiling for QS8), and the other side has a small wall jutting in about 16 inches from the back wall, so the QS8 would have been almost up against it on one side, I thought that might hinder it's performance a bit, so I put a bookshelf there instead.

 

[Adam]

...but since the wife gave me the okay I wanted to get them now, in case she would object later...

Smart man.

 

[armaraas]

Did you by any chance listen to the M2's in a 2 channel setup. I am curious how these would sound compared to the M3's.

No, I didn't, I was too excited to get them up, but I thought about it. I had problems finding good stud locations to hang them, so I thought about possibly moving them to our family room where I put my old towers (my wife isn't overly fond of them). I listened to some Blue Man Group in 5.1 DTS with them however, and I was shocked at how well the whole system sounded together. My old surrounds had 4" woofers, and the -3db was at about 130hz, so hearing anything below 120hz from my surrounds was a new experience to me. I'll maybe try plugging them in as the mains, it's easy enough to do. They're location isn't ideal, but it might give me an idea of their performance.

 

[jostenmeat]

Very well put together! I also agree the panels look great, and the rears fit very well there. But the finish on those Aperions is gorgeous! And pretty cool that the MFW-15 has a very similar finish (at least from the photos on my monitor) even though they are from different brands.

I've always been very curious to hear those QS surrounds. I haven't heard any axiom, but if I could hear one model, those might be it...

 

[mike c]

nice! i like the matching finishes and the panels!

 

[armaraas]

Thanks all.
For the Aperion's and MWF, I was hoping the finish would be close on them. They aren't exact but I am pretty happy with them, they're close enough that if I decided to move the sub out by the mains I wouldn't be concerned about them being 'mismatched'. The 6T's are a little more red, and the MWF is a little more brown (doesn't come through that well on the pictures).

MinusTheBear, I did connect up the M2's as the main's and listened to them for a few songs. They did sound pretty good despite their less than ideal placement for stereo listening. I was surprised by the bass from them. They did get a little boomy, probably from being in the corners more than anything, and I forgot I had the crossover at 40hz for the towers. I adjusted that up to 60hz and 80hz, and that helped a bit. Of course, I have not heard the M3's at all, so can't really offer a comparison, but they do seem like pretty capable smaller speakers.

Time to fire up the first full movie, I think I'll have to go with Serenity...

 

[Adam]

Time to fire up the first full movie, I think I'll have to go with Serenity...

A fine choice! I preferred the TV series for the humor, but the movie was quite good.

 

[jamie2112]

Looks great now its time to ENJOY..and by the looks of your fine setup you will be doing just that. Congrats....

 

[chadnliz]

Thats a sharp looking system you have there, it looks great!

 

[armaraas]

And it looks like my old subwoofer isn't even going to go to waste, it already has a new use!
That is the other spot for the MWF that I have, I'm not sure I even what to try it there now...

 

[speakerman39]

Very nice!!!! The panels look amazing. Lets just say you are one lucky guy. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[3db]

Well, my upgrade for now is complete. I have added some room treatments, panels from ATS Acoustics, Aperion 6T for mains, Aperion 5C for center, AV123 MWF-15 for sub, Axiom QS8 and M2 for surrounds. My wife is probably going to cut me off for now, but I'll be adding more room treatments and bass traps as I can. Existing equipment is an older Samsung 56" 720p DLP, HK AVR-235, Xbox 360, Newpoint power conditioner, and pc. I moved the dvd player downstairs for my wife, so dvds are currently watched with the xbox or pc.

The room is a second floor bedroom that's bigger than normal, and works as a media room (use the pc on the tv) and my home office (if work knew the setup in my home office, I doubt it would have been approved...). I went 7.1 mostly because since I was able to buy speakers now (wife willing), I figured I better get them while I can. Once we have kids in a year or two, I'll have to get the basement finished and this stuff moved down there into a bigger room. I compromised on the location of the sides a bit because of a lack of studs, so the one is right on the side wall, so far it seems fine. If I decide I don't like it I may move the sides down onto stands.

Here's a few pics-

nicely put together. You should be proud!

 

[mike c]

beagle? cute dog!