Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater MC's Living Room HT...

Hey guys, figured I would start a new thread documenting the progress of my HT (Mod, please feel free to delete the old one). My first thread was supposed to be about speaker stands but went into everything else and the thread’s topic is no longer accurate. So starting over here, hopefully you guys will enjoy seeing everything develop :). Here is some background info…

Just bought my first home back in September, it’s a cozy little cape cod in a great lake community. I was originally just going to change a few things, but it turned into a completely gut job. Nothing left but studs right now…lol. Being a major tech head the living room setup is one of my top priorities . The room is 11'x17'. It has a small fireplace and two entrances to other rooms, the kitchen and secondary bedroom. Originally it only had the opening to the kitchen, but I knocked down a wall near the stairs into a bedroom on the first floor to really open it up. I’ll turn that room into a billiard room eventually. Here are some pictures…

Original front wall...


Original back wall, there is now an opening between the front door and stairs going into the bedroom.


Removed cabinets...


Wall framed out to hold 65" plasma


New Fireplace


Electrical and paper model of TV so I can figure out where to run LV wires.


Render of the room. On the right an AV rack and m60/m80, on the left an m60/m80 and EP600.


So that is where I am right now. I need to figure out what speakers and amp/AVR I am going to buy. I know I am def going 6.1, with VP150 as my center and 3 QS8s as my surrounds. Not sure if I want to go with the m60s or m80s however.

If you can afford it, order both the M60s/M80s do a comparison and send back the pair you don't want to keep, or if there happens to be an M80 or M60 owner nearby ask for a demo and order the opposite set of speakers and compare them to his

My parents actually have m60s in the setup I installed for their living room (which is MUCH bigger than mine), so I could always borrow them. My real issue is powering the m80s. I really had my eye on an emotiva UPA-7 amp paired up with their UMC-1 pre-pro once it comes out. However it seems emotiva amps are hit or miss with the m80s.

So as far as options go this is what I am looking at...

1.)Ditch the emotiva amp and spend alot more and get the axiom amp in order to power the m80s, vp150, and three qs8s
2.) Get a high-end AVR, like a Denon 5308CI or 4308CI for the m80s, vp150, and three qs8s
3.) Stick with the emotiva amp and get the m60's instead of the m80s

To decide I need to figure out a few things... The room is only around 1300 cubic feet, do I really need a speaker as powerful as an m80? Will it sound that much better? Will the m60's with the EP600 be enough? Than of course to seperates really offer that much more over similarly high quality AVR?

I would really like to hear what you guys have to say based off your experince. Thanks!

I think there's a bit of ground between a UPA-7 and an A1400-8... quality and price-wise.

How loud do you plan to crank things up? Our living room upstairs is 1,000 cu ft larger than yours, my old Denono 2805 gives me more volume/performance then I would ever need driving m22's and a ep350.

My basement is 8 times bigger than yours and my Denon 3808 drives my M80 7.2 setup with no problem.

Yeah I know I am all over the price spectrum, just trying to figure out what would work best with the room.



Thanks sirquack that is good info to have. I have M2's, Vp100, and QS4's in my bedroom at my parents house, all driven by a Denon 2000 something CI and it works pretty well. I just wanted to go all out with my own place.

Like I mentioned my parents have an Epic 60 system that I really like and they are in a 20x25x25 massive living room. So my thinking was yah the m80s can go louder, but will the sound be more detailed than the m60s at lower volumes also? That is what I am concerned about the quality of the sound, not the sheer volume.

It is not the speakers that are powerful, it is all about what drives them. The M60s sound great as do the M80s and you just have to decide if the sound of the M60s is enough for you or do you want that extra little bit more you can achieve with the M80s.

The biggest difference is do you forsee running the system as a 2 channel and want the fullest range mains as possible, this would be the M80s, if not stick with the M60s, you may lose a little bit of midrange/upper end clarity(?)/feel and lower bass range but really only noticeable in direct A/B testing.

It is a tough decision, I went through it a few years ago and ordered the M60s. They sounded a bit different then my M22Ti's, not as forward, so I sought out an M80 owner in town, Mojo and we did a fairly lengthy comparison between my M22s, the M60s and his M80s.

http://axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=207481&fpart=1

The Denons run the M80s with no problems and in a space like yours should be all you need. If you get upgradeitis you can always add a 2 chanel amp to drive the M80s at a later date.

Thank's Jake, that actually helped me out alot, I am def leaning more towards the m80's now. I do mostly use my gear for HT and not music, but I do prefer the crisper more clear cut sound that you mentioned the m80's provde over the m60s. Although I do wish I had more room to seperate my two towers, they are only going to be 6 feet apart, but than again my listening position will be about the same.

What model denon are you using to drive them?

Agreed, My room is just a little larger than this, and my Denon 2809 can achieve earsplitting levels. I think your room(and your ears) will be the limitting factor on how loud you play. One thing you might also consider, Mike, is to use a thick curtain to section off the foyer(on a rail to slide it out of the way when you want) and maybe one either side of the other walkthrough.

I can attest to the fact that the M80s are very detailed even at low volume.

After rereading the M22, M60, M80 thread from link above, I'm ready to buy a set of M60's to go along with my M22's. LOL. Concerning the A/B switching on the receiver, am I understanding this correctly? That the B is for Zone 2, so the M60's are hooked up to A (Zone 1) and the M22's are hooked up to B (Zone 2)?