Yeah, I kind of get the feeling that all of us Axiomites are kind of going a little knee jerk here. Maybe the ERD-1s are better than the QS8s. I find it hard to believe, but I've never heard them.
This post pains me a great deal.
Were is the knee jerk? I’ve been the most vocal critic of Emo in this thread but even I said:
My gut instinct tells me that for most people the extra cost of the QS8s wouldn’t be justified especially if you could get the ERD-1s on sale, but w/o a direct comparison that’s just supposition.
Nor has anyone take Dana to task for preferring the PL-200 to the EP350.
My issue with this is based on reading Emo fanboys citing that original Audioholics review for two years w/o any other corroboration. This particular line from the review has been quoted by Emo fanboys for a couple years now:
While I've always found the Axioms to be a fine surround speaker, the ERDs are in an entirely different class.
Even the excellent review linked by Dana doesn’t seem to rave about the ERD-1s the same way. Like I said in a previous post if they are really that good then why after this long aren’t all the review sites raving about them?
Note I almost bought a set of the original Emo speakers based on that review but decided it would be prudent to wait and see what others had to say and for the longest time there was only silence. I even recommended them on several forums based on that review but as time when on and no one else was reviewing them I pulled back from doing that. Since then the best thing’s said about them seem to indicate that they are a good value and nothing more.
Maybe I’m projecting from one of the various dust ups I’ve had with Emo fanboys over this issue, but I can say that in each instance they couldn’t back up the hyperbole they were posting about the ERD-1s.
I’m inclined to agree with what case01 seems to be saying that with surround speakers you reach a point of diminishing returns quickly, and for the original sale price which was usually under $300/pair I imagine it would be hard to justify the QS8s or anything else for that matter.
