I have my new QS8s mounted on 8' stands to find the best position. I will be mounting them mid ceiling in the room. MOst of you know the loooong story and (too) many pics have been posted elsewhere. I finally decided to pull all banana plugs from my 1909 except for the 7.1 backs and test them on their own. I had concern when I finally ran Audyssey and the Denon 1909 set the x-over at 150Hz! ! That is disappointing. They are out in mid air (will be ceiling mounted) with back wall 11' away and side walls about 6' away. It seems to really dissipate the lows. I tried my (M2) sized Bic V52 book shelf speakers o the 8' stands. The V52s base was improved enough to be much preferred from what the Q's allowed to my listening pos. in my large open room. While the back sound stage was very much nicer than the DF V52's, the sound location of each speaker was not bothersome, but it was more from two locations, than a wall of sound behind.
W/ Qs up on stands (tilted at 27º), Dire Straights Money for Nothin' (remastered) was disappointing one minute in when the drums slowly come in, then hammer you. I listened from vol. level (on display of 1909) at -35, -30, -20 and -15 (very loud!). the drums with the Q's hanging out in the air were very thin to the point of sounding pretty bad. I plugged the subs in to see if that would make this a non-issue. The bass from the subs was nice, but the thin high pitched drums from the back Q's was still imposing itself onto the sound stage. The drums sounded harsh and still dominant even with the subs. Putting the Bic V52's back onto stands, the base w/o subs was noticeably improved. With the sub added, it sounded very good. Except that the two speaker locations were noticeable. The QS8' sound GREAT flush mounted for my sides. (I got 4 QS8's)
It is not an easy choice to make: Thin but with a good back sound stage that the subs don't 'fix', or two DF speakers with the localization that they come with. I should note that during this backs only test, Audyssey was run with the DF spkrs and x-over was set at 120Hz, not the 150Hz, the Q's would be set at.
My neighbor is a drummer. He will come over tomorrow morning to give a listen. I look forward to his more discerning ear for a second opinion.
Te V52's are a decent $75 speaker, but I wish I had ordered a pair of M2's to try for backs. I may order some new ones to see if I can get them in time to test with Q's before the 30 day deadline passes.
Does anyone have experience with having had decent DF speakers (M2's???) for 7.1 backs mounted mid ceiling with no reflective walls any where near? Some one who has also tried QS8's in this type of location would be great to hear from. My room is pretty large (31x23x 9'), so the Qs are being absorbed into the ethers back there. :o(
Last edited by davekro; 04/18/09 09:39 AM.
