Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners New Home Theater Build - Advice Wanted!

Let me echo the "skip the 7.1" sentiments above. I went from 5.1 to 7.1 and, frankly, the difference is only in the bragging rights (which is to say there is no REAL audible difference).

The QS8s are remarkable in their ability to spread diffuse sound in the rear of the room. Save your money (but pre-wire the room for 7.1 nonetheless, if you are in the walls-open phase) and stick with the 5.1. You aren't missing out. Promise.

I would place the surrounds to the sides, rather than in the corners, too. The design of the QS8s will spread the sound out to the rear wall, which will spread the sound out.

I went from 6.1 (had a corner loaded layout and needed the rear channel to fill in the gap between Left Surround and Right surround) to 5.1 with a much better layout, very similar to yours and I find the 5.1 equally satisfying as it is layed out properly, no odd placements of surround speakers. I have yet to try the rear channel out in the new house, it would be about 2' behind so it might still work equally as well.

I've had a bit more time to research some receivers. I've shifted from eyeballing the Denon to the Onkyo TX-NR708. It looks to be a lot better value for roughly the same cost.

More on the center channel: I'm not discarding the suggestions I've gotten here about using a M2(s) as a center. However, I do have a 'standard' center in my current setup and it sounds good at various seating positions. How much of a difference does this make? I read a Audioholics article about this type of thing, but with sound is generally hard to say until you hear it, really. In your opinions, would it be *bad* to get a VP100 vs a M2 for the center? If it's that bad, sound will win out over looks but if the difference is going to be minimal, I may still go with the VP100.

One other thing: Custom finishes. How are the custom vinyl finishes? I'd really like a different than stock look, but can't even begin to rationalize +$100 a pop for real wood.

Bryan, the 708 would be an excellent choice and the best buy on it at this time appears to be the factory refurb from Accessories4less . It should be mentioned that unless the 708 has a new feature that you really want, the 707 is available there for $100 less.

The receiver you have chosen should work great. If it offers more features than a comparable denon I say go for it.

No it is not *bad*. I have one and it works very well. Like you said until you hear it only you wil be able to tell if it is good enough for your room/seating arrangement.


The custom vinyl finishes are very good especially the high gloss finishes, but only you can decide if they are worth the extra cost above the already excellent stock finishes.

Custom finishes are cool, if only for the "wow" factor of showing them off to your friends.

Know that you can get a bit f a custom look by simply swapping out the grill covers. For example, I have had good experience with a friend who bought her speakers in the standard cherry finish. We swapped out her black grill covers for white ones and the look was really sharp and modern. Her speakers certainly look like nothing you'd get from Best Buy.

The vinyl wraps are nothing special, but they are a reasonable facsimile of the real thing, if viewed from a distance. I would let your budget dictate this decision, but I would put it way down on my list, after speaker and amp selection. If you've got money left over after these things are taken care of, then maybe you do a custom wood finish on only the front 3 speakers, and do the rear speakers in a lighter wood (or even paint them, as I suggested before) in a standard vinyl.

TV arrived today... Went ahead and ordered the Onkyo and the Axiom's (did go with the VP100... I think I'll be happy!). Getting excited here!

More questions (Sorry! You guys are too good):

Anyone know if the 33lb speaker mounts @ Monoprice (http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...=1&format=2) work with the QS8's? They have great reviews. At $42/ea I couldn't really justify the Axiom versions.

Looks to me like the will work but you will have to screw/bolt them to the speaker.

There don't seem to be any measurements for that bracket. I'm skeptical. If it is dimensionally too small, the amount of weight it will hold is going to be compromised pretty dramatically. Frankly, I think you're better off fabricating your own somehow if the Axiom ceiling mounts are too expensive.

I have bought quite a lot of stuff from Monoprice and had really great luck EXCEPT for a pair of speaker brackets I bought. They were plastic, though, so may not be applicable to your situation.