Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 3rd home theater, trying to do it right....

My advice is listen to Nick. I did a lot of research and planning during my build. He was a big help along the way. Probably the most comprehensive, experienced and practical advice you will get in this forum is from him. Just do what he tells you to do.

If you are the same fellow that jumped into my build thread a while back, well, welcome back.

Wow. That is quite the compliment. Thank you.

I am very passionate about this stuff. I try to expose myself to as much of the technology as I can, and I love sharing what I know, and will tell you what is ideal, what is a slight compromise but good, what is a bigger compromise but still OK, and what just won't work. Everyone has limits of what they can do, or what they want to do. We can't all have massively expensive setups in dedicated spaces that are professionally designed and built. In fact, I don't think that I know of anyone here that has all of that. Those people generally don't know what they want, and just want to pay for someone else to tell them. I would like to think that people here want to understand the options better and take more control into their own hands.

Yes good chance I am the same fellow that jumped in a while back. I've moved a lot in the past several years and this will be my third theater room. Each time I chimed into the forum for advice. This is going to be my best set up yet as I am finally feeling enough stability in my current home to justify doing a nice job on the room. should be here a long time. I'm about done with my speakers. Really can't spend more on upgrades and I have just enough to fill my 9.1 system. 2 M22's 1 VP180 2 Yamaha in ceiling (will use for height speakers above the M22's, 4 QS8's and an EP350.

I assume I should use the Atmos feature to set up the speakers after install?

Also putting my EP350 behind / below my screen but there is barely enough space behind the sub if it is flush with the screen underneath. I will probably have about 1" between the back of the sub and the drywall. The space above the sub will be open air to the 8' ceiling. Will it be a problem having the back of the sub that close to the rear wall?

Front facing subs like that are fine close to the wall since the air movement and sound is coming out of the other side.

The reason you don't want many tower speakers close to the wall is because they have ports on the back, and there is some level of audio resonating from/through the cabinet itself, but with a sub, while that still happens, the lower frequencies aren't impacted the same way due to how long the wavelengths are.

Now, close to a side wall (but still facing forward) will definitely change the subwoofer output into the room a little, and a corner is just nasty. Yes, it will "excite more room modes" but it usually comes across as boomy and muddy.

Does anyone have any familiarity with the Sunfire HSR IW8 subwoofer / amplifier set up? I have decided to go with something that has a remote control for the sub. I typically have to make adjustments (when the wife chimes in lol) and I don't want to have to remove my screen every time...

Any suggestions other than the Subfire well appreciated.

Most AVRs have a quick bass level button or a night mode option right on the remote. This allows you to cut the bass without going into menu level settings or settings on the sub itself.

Yeah, I agree. Use your receiver to do it and don't worry about another limiting factor in subwoofer choice (remote control).

Plus if you have a remotely controllable sub, it will just be too temping to "fiddle" with things all of the time instead of enjoying movies.

Hmmmm I'll have to look at my Yamaha, I am used to getting up and fiddling with the volume on the back of my sub. With it parked behind my screen I won't be able to do that. If I'm going to control bass volume with my receiver what level manual volume do I leave my sub on permenantly?

Agree with using the receiver. I calibrate my sub into my system with sub level set to 0 in my system. I consider this my movie watching setting. Then if I need less bass I have a shortcut programmed into my Harmony remote to access the channel levels in the receiver and I back the sub off from there.
With that in mind, you could likely do the same with an RF Harmony remote that talks to an IR blaster behind your screen where you could turn your sub down directly. I would consider that plan B though as I am guessing you will not be able to easily return your sub to a known calibrated setting without being able to see where the gain is actually set. Hope that helps.