Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M22 Ti Surround ?

Iam aching for new speakers with my new television, my amp has collected dust for a year and mourns for usage, iam thinking of getting the m22ti as fronts for now, but was wondering how would they sound as rears later on. I dunno i have an idea of running the two m22ti's as two surrounds, and a qs8 as a surrounb back speaker down the road.

Any thoughts, any one already doing this?(i think someone here is running them as surrounds but how do they sound? i dont know.)
Please help me solve dilemma.

I'm not a fan of using bookshelf speakers for surrounds or rear channels, however, if your going to use direct radiating (bookshelf) speakers for surround or rears, you have it reversed. You would want to use Qs8's for the left/right surrounds, and then m22's for the rears. Most surround information comes from the left/right channels, so why waste good speakers like the Qs8's on the rear channel, which produces less information? Some people like to use bookshelf speakers for rears and surrounds becuase they listen to a lot of SACD's or DVD-A's. Actually, the Qs8's do a great job for music as well, in addition to home theater effects.

I guess if your set on using 22's at some point, I would use them for the rear channels. For me, I prefer Qs8's all the way around.

Randy makes a good arguement as usual. If your primarily using your home theater for movie watching, then qs8's will fit the bill nicely. Throw them in as side surrounds, and be prepared to be enveloped in sound.

I've listened to direct radiators, as side surrounds, and much prefer quadpole (or dipole) because I feel that they are more engaging. I don't think you could go wrong either way. It all depends on what your intentions are, as Randy stated above.

Michael is short, sweet, and to the point, as usual....

I think I've mentioned this at least three times already, but a near "Religious Experience" comes along so rarely that ya gotta keep mentioning it!

One last time!(I, sorta, promise) But,... "I was sitting there on the computer, which is just below the right rear surround channel, not watching the movies....."

....when, during "Polar Express", "IT" happened!

I was ON the train, in an open vestibule between the cars, goin' thru the yards, clickin thru the switches on the tracks, just like back in the 60s!! It was magic!!

That little old M3 sittin' up there, crossed at 60hz(with only a little help from the sub and mains)turned into a time machine!!

Maybe one day Axiom will produce a QS10; but until then, give me a near full-range speaker(an M22 comes close!)for the rears!! Incredible!
Rich.

My thoughts on this subject were posted way back here.

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My thoughts on this subject were posted way back here

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It's nice to have you tenured members remind us of previous discussions.

Your review was well done.

I am considering an M22 as a center.

Yep, the search feature is wonderful.

Unfortunately the pictures were removed from the server long ago.
But that's ok. I'm in a new place now so new tests begin.

Michael - I currently use M60s as mains and M22s as surround speakers and I think that they sound great. I would not be surprised if the QS8s might sound a little better as surrounds (I have heard them, but not in my room) but for my listening tastes the M22s work great. I listen to mostly music, SACDs, concert DVDs and occasionally movies. I sit too near the back wall to use rear surrounds. I would not shy away from getting the M22s now because you fear that they won't be useful later. They are great speakers. Just my two cents.

I suppose i must wait for the money, for the epic 60 500. Its just soo hard, i crave quality sound, and my surround sound now is lacking in soo many ways.
This is alright.

Long awaited waits pay off in the end, thanks for the comments guys.

So, if I understand you correctly, while having a pair of QS8's as surrounds, I am wasting my money by placing a second pair of QS8's as rears?

Jeff, Randy actually said the opposite, i.e. that he "prefers QS8s all around".

Well I am one of the few who prefer the direct radiating speaker for surround sound on both music and movies. Although I did not test nearly as thorough as chesseroo, I did have the QS4's and M22's in my house and ran multiple tests to see which we (wife and I) prefered.

My opinion is this. There are diffuse sounds in surround movie soundtracks such as rain, applause, traffic etc and there are direct sounds in surround movie soundtracks such as a car zooming past, arrows, gunshots, off screen action events and dialoge etc. It seems like a diffuse speaker like the QS series is better for the diffuse sounds and a direct speaker like M22 is better for direct sounds. For me the choice was fairly easy. When an arrow shot across the room from right rear to left rear the M22 made the sound such that you were nearly ducking on the couch to avoid being hit. The QS4's did its job of producing the sound without localization.. . .but that is not what was intended with that particular sound.

So there is, in my opinion, no hands down winner. But for me the 22's emphasized the direct surround effects in such a way that it was a more enjoyable movie experience whereas the QS seemed to disappear into the background (its job).

Don't know if this helps or makes any sense. I love my axioms and love the 22's as surrounds. In the future, only when I have a different room to play with, I will try a 7.1 setup with QS's and M22's to see what works best but for now in the room that I have it's 22's all the way.

And for music. . . oh my goodness. The 22's paired with the 60's all crossed over at 60hz. . . the sound experience for DVDaudio and SACD's is absolutely spectacular!! It is amazing that people don't know anything about this technology for music listening. It is revolutionary in my ears. . ..too bad they had to have competeing formats though.

That is interesting, I find just the opposite results. With direct radiating, unless your in the sweet spot, the arrows/gunshots fly by you. However, after switching to Qs8's, they go right through you. The nice thing about the Q series is that you don't have to be in the sweet spot. They simulate what the Dolby and others have been doing in theaters for years, lining the walls with multiple direct radiating speakers. Because of their design, this is not needed. Also, are they really considered diffuse speakers? I thought Bi/Di pole speakers were considered diffuse speakers. Are the quadpolar (4 drivers in phase) also diffuse?

I forgot to mention that Q's do a great job for music as well!

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The nice thing about the Q series is that you don't have to be in the sweet spot. They simulate what the Dolby and others have been doing in theaters for years, lining the walls with multiple direct radiating speakers. Because of their design, this is not needed.

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I agree with ya bud, the Q's are sweeeeeeeeet!!!



Sutter