RBH, Paradigm or Axiom for large room?

[parinshah]

I am debating between a couple in or on-wall speakers (have a toddler and newborn!)

We have a room that is 30' x 18', with 10' foot ceilings....the back half will have a pool and ping pong table and the front half will have a TV, sofa and other media stuff...so its not a "true" media room.

I have a 70" Hitachi DLP that is 23" deep, and a Denon AVR-2805 receiver

Does anyone have any recommendations for speakers between RBH, Paradigm and the Axioms? I have only researched the Axioms so far and was considering the W22's, 150 center channel, and 350 subwoofer...Probably will cost around $2k. I don't mind spending around $3k if its really, really worth it. I am not going to get surrounds because although we will watch movies, we only do that once a month or so.

The couch will be about 12-15' from the tv set. I want speakers that will be good for movies from this distance, but also give me enough sound for the whole room for music when shooting pool.

Looking for some good insight...Thanks!

 

[DD66000]

If the DLP is into the room, not in a wall recess so that the screen is flush to the main wall, then using in-wall, on-wall speakers is not a good idea. All speakers should be forward of their surroundings to produce a good soundstage.

 

[parinshah]

I was worried you may say that!!!!

That being said...what would you choose between the Axioms, RBH, and paradigms. Again, I only know the axioms at this point and would choose between the m22's and m60's

Thanks!

 

[DD66000]

I have no experience with any of those brands, but why limit yourself to only those?

 

[fredk]

The M22 might be a little small for that size room. I would ckeck with Axiom.

Axioms are similar in sound to the Paradigm Studio line. I have not heard anything by RBH.

 

[AVRat]

If aesthetics aren't too important:

Ascend Acoustics CMT340/340C - $838 shipped.

Subs:
SVS PB12-Plus - $1140
AV123 MFW-15 - $699
Epik Castle/Tower - $999/1099

 

[Highbar]

I'm not really sure which speakers to suggests I like the Paradigm sound and if you're looking for onwalls their Cinema Series Speakers will probably fit the bill. On that note though you can pretty much wall mount any bookshelf speaker so you can look at a good number of speakers.

Now as for it being loud enough when playing pool and such... Why not get a 5.1 setup and you could run in a 5chanel stereo setting when doing that and have plenty of volume there. You could pretty much mount the "surrounds", or stereo pair for games, either right to the sides of the sofa or just behind it. Then no worries about volume and you get 5.1 for the occasional movie.

Just some thoughts.

 

[parinshah]

These are really good ideas....any more thoughts on paradigm vs. rbh vs. axiom?

 

[GRS0002]

The M22's should fill the room without an issue. Maybe look at the W22 which are the same except the fit on the wall. It will keep them a little more secure from the little ones.

 

[the grunt]

These are really good ideas....any more thoughts on paradigm vs. rbh vs. axiom?

I’ve seen the RBH Signature line compared to Focal/JMLabs which are considered by many to be detailed or bright (depending on your word choice) which would also be similar to the Axiom M22 and as Fredk said the Paradigm Studio line.

I can’t recommend any one brand over the others since they are all good companies. If you can listen to any of the specific models you are interested in that is the first thing you should do. You can checked the “Hearing Things” forum at Axiom to see if anyone in your area is auditioning.

Like DD66000 said I am also curious how you came to narrow down your choices to those three brands when there are so many to choose from?

As GRS0002 says, the M22s will get plenty loud even in that room. And Highbar makes a good point that if you get 5.1 you can better cover the whole room with sound at a more constant volume by using multi-channel stereo rather than having it really loud at one end just so you can get the volume you want at the other.

 

[parinshah]

What other brands would you recommend?

I think $5k would be the max I would want to spend on speakers.

 

[the grunt]

For 5k you could get an awesome 5.1 or possibly 7.1 setup from any of these companies. But from some of them you could still get a great system for alot less:

Aperion
Ascend
AV123
Axiom *
B&W *
Boston Acoustics
Definitive Technologies
Emotiva
HSU
Infinity
Jamo
JBL *
Klipsch
Mirage
Paradigm *
Polk
PSB
RBH
SVS

(no offence intended to anyone if I left off your favorite brand but this is all I could think of right away, please feel free to add more.)

* I’ve listened to speaker lines of these brands and liked them because I found them detailed/bright, though not every line from each of these manufactures is necessarily considered detailed.

I can only recommend the detailed ones that I liked. However, if you don’t like detailed speakers (some people don’t) then they will likely sound bright or harsh to you. If you can list some brands that you have heard and what you liked about them as compared to others more people will be able to chime in with help.

There probably haven’t been many responses to your original post as it’s not likely many people have compared the Axiom, Paradigm and RBH to each other. And since you seemed to have already narrowed down your list people probably thought you had discarded other brands for a reason.

If you are concerned about getting speaker with a sonic signature that you like then you really need to listen to some different speakers to get perspective. Then your best bet would be to start another thread asking more generally about speaker recommendations similar to what you liked.

Sorry to seem so vague but I can’t know what you will like without a perspective on what you already have listened to and liked/disliked. If you aren’t particular about exactly how the speakers sound as long as they are good speakers from a good company then any of the above brands will do the job.

I know it sounds like I’m beating a dead horse but you must have spent a pretty penny on that awesome HDTV so you should do it justice and put some serious effort into getting speakers that you really like to go with it. I almost made the mistake of just getting the first speakers I thought I liked but because of this site (Audioholics) I realized just how important the audio was going to be.

Just because you don’t watch many movies now you may find that with a nice system (and boy is that TV a start) you will watch more and even listen to more music. Originally my speaker purchase was for a system that would be used for 75% movies, 20% games and 5% music. The reality is that with nice speakers it’s more like 80% music and 10% each for games and movies. So put some time into your speaker purchase as I think you will be thankful for it in the long run.

Cheers
Dean

 

[parinshah]

Thanks a lot...very helpful!

i guess the problem is that I have heard speakers here and there but don't really have any preference. I would like to know what is a great bang for the buck in this price range. I will try another thread.

Thanks!

Parin

 

[trnqk7]

RBH and Axiom are great speakers, but I think the Axioms are "brighter" to my ear. Either would be a great choice (m60's or m80's for Axiom, RBH TK series if they can be found). RBH also has some great inwall speakers that you might want to look into.

 

[parinshah]

The axioms are a lot cheaper than the paradigms and RBH's....are they as good?

what do you mean by the axioms being "brighter"?

thanks!

 

[DD66000]

This is getting to the point of chasing your own tail. We all can recommend speakers, but you're the one that has to pick. And the only way is to audition speakers and the more, in any one place, the better.
And that would include any speakers you would have to buy first and audition in your room, which is really best. Even traditional retail speaker companies like JBL, you can buy online and audition them in your home and have a 30 day return policy.

I think $5k would be the max I would want to spend on speakers.

And for $5K for 3 speakers, w/wo subs, I'd prefer to audtion in my home, where it really counts.
And for $5K, you could get 3 JBL PT800, or 2 PT800, and PC600 center and at least one sub and have money left over. And these speakers are really Revel speakers, in disguise. That's about as much bang for the buck you can get.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
http://www.harmanaudio.com/search_browse/default.asp?sp=S&brand=JBL&market=HOM

 

[parinshah]

I just posted this on another thread, and place it here to catch some people reading this one.

I do need to audition these, but I am looking to get a consensus on 2 or 3 and audition from there.

Interesting. Thoughts of kids running around and into speakers scares me a bit...and I like the minimalist look of having them in or on the wall.

I spoke with my builders home theater guy and they sell triad's and sonance. Any thoughts on those? how much do these run...and how do they compare with the axiom's?

 

[DD66000]

I just posted this on another thread, and place it here to catch some people reading this one.

I do need to audition these, but I am looking to get a consensus on 2 or 3 and audition from there.

Interesting. Thoughts of kids running around and into speakers scares me a bit...and I like the minimalist look of having them in or on the wall.

I spoke with my builders home theater guy and they sell triad's and sonance. Any thoughts on those? how much do these run...and how do they compare with the axiom's?

Why do you need a consensus from anybody? Just go audtion speakers and buy the ones you like best.

Triads are very good but quite expensive.

 

[trnqk7]

Brightness is a subjective term, so it may not be the same for you as it is for me. However, it refers to the the perceived "harshness" of the treble in speakers. If the treble is loud, or seems loud, relative to the other frequency bands, the speaker can be said to be bright. It's not a negative thing necessarily. I own Dali speakers (see my signature) that have 2 tweeters on each speaker. I love them. Not that there aren't better speakers, but they were right for me at the price. They might be "bright" to some people, the same way Axioms are "bright" to some people. In the end though, you need to listen to as many of these speakers as possible.

 

[parinshah]

Are triads and sonance's a lot more than the axioms? How do they sound different?