Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M60 vs M80 dilemna

I'm not saying that there is nothing coming from my QS8s, its that most of the time the sound is not distinctly audible. It is only occasionally that they seem to get major duty (like the scene in the latest Bond movie where he goes from the casino to the street and all of a sudden you get that sound behind and around you effect.

Even then, it is the effect on the overall sound field, not specifically the QS8s that is impressive (though I guess by implication it is the QS8s that are impressive).

You could always bump up the Q's a few db from your receiver.

I could, but I always though the purpose of surrounds was to blend in and add ambiance/dimensionallity to the sound field, not stand out.

Sometime I increase mine a little... not to the point where they seem too loud or out of place, but just enough to make them a little more enveloping.

I always end up setting them back to the 75 db calibrated settign though, because that is the ideal volume for much of the material I watch/play. However, If I feel like the surround levels are low or lacking on a movie I don't hesitate to take them from +1 db to +4 db on my receiver.

Again, I do the same with my sub.

I never turn the sub or surround below the calibrated level though...

I guess the center button on the 3808 remote just makes it so easy to adjust channel levels o the fly.

OK, that makes sense. I'm not sure if I can adjust channel levels with my remote.

That's right, Fred; unless a sound was specifically intended to be located in the surround speaker, as occasionally is the case in movies or in a multi-channel music disc that has a performer located there, the surround sound should be relatively subtle general ambience that doesn't draw attention to itself. For example, in classical music there are very few compositions(e.g., the Berlioz Requiem)that have performers at the side or back of the listeners, but the reflected sounds that make up more than half of the sound for a listener at a typical distance come from directions other than the front. Using DPLII, etc. to extract this sound from the front channels in stereo material and send it to the surrounds makes the listening experience a little more realistic, but isn't intended to be all that apparent, and isn't, until it's suddenly switched back to straight stereo and the sound field collapses toward the front.

Thanks John. That is exactly what I experienced when I auditione speakers at Axiom. It was easy to test with a receiver that flipped back and forth between stereo and multi channel easily.

I think there is a temptation to set the surrounds a little hot because you want to hear something from those speakers you just paid so much for. I know thats what I did before I picked up the ratshack meter.

I admit to bumping my surrounds by 1.5 db over the calibrated match. I like to be surprised by whizzing bullets and off camber dark barks, etc. However, they still seem to blend really well. Surround effects still come from various places along the wall and behind. Sometimes there is even the illusion of sound on the ceiling, (Master and Commander.)

The creeking boards above your head are really cool on Master and Commander!

<-- looks at avatar. You sure it was in the movie?

I gotta rent that movie again. It seems to be a reference sound track.