Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater QS8 Placement

In a small room with the listening position against the back wall, where would the "ideal" position be for wall-mounting a pair of QS8s? Along the outside part of the back wall or along the side walls near the back wall? The latter position is likely to place the speakers even with or just slightly in front of the listener.

on the side wall, slightly in front or slightly behind the listener is optimal. if they can be i think about 1-5 feet above the listener that is optimal too.

Kore

Hi GLH,
Yes, good advice from yacmed. At the side, 3 or 4 feet above seated listener's heads, and a bit forward of the listening area, to keep the QS8s out of the corner. If you don't find that the corner causes too much tonal coloration (in my room, it does), try them there.

Experimentation is the key.

Regards,

Thanks. I'll give the sides a try. Sorry Alan, but, I'm not quite sure what you mean by tonal coloration. What should I be listening for?

listen for too much bass, odd sounding mid's when the speaker is in the corner.

Mounting the QS8's close to the corner (5 in from) was not a good choice. There wasn't a problem with coloration but with "holes" in the sound for certain listening positions. So now I'll need to move them, again.

In testing a speaker position, I don't have someone to hold the speakers but actually have to mount them. To minimize my drilling unnecessary holes could you suggest a distance from the corner for testing - 12, 18, 24"? I just need a starting point that will save some experimentation.

Is the distance between the surround mounting and the listener known, that the "enveloping sound" effect begins to diminish?

Hi GLH,

As I said in my earlier post, corners are not desirable locations for surround speakers. Indeed, corners are a lousy location for virtually any speaker except a subwoofer, or speakers with very poor bass response. Even then, the bass reinforcement offered by corners tends to be rather uneven.

Forward, well above and to the sides of the listening position is a good place to start with your QS8s. The sense of envelopment generally improves the further away the surrounds are from your listening seat.

Can't you borrow a couple of stepladders or friends to hold the QS8s in different positions while you listen to the results? That is the best way to locate any surround speaker--every room is different and produces a different combination of reflected and direct sound.

Regards,

Thanks for the tips, Alan. We've not been in the area very long and I feel a bit awkward asking such new aquaintances over for this. I have, in fact, used a step ladder for the surrounds but with the QS8 also firing downward and, thus, partially blocked by the ladder, I didn't think that was a good test. Perhaps, as my wife would say, I'm overthinking the problem. But it is fun.

Hey excellent suggestion.
Friends and step ladders.
Only one problem, when the friends are over the beer drinking begins. Ladders and beer don't mix, unless of course you are a first year university frosh doing a stunt in such case they don't mix but it seems alot more acceptable.

Just my two cents.

But i will try some of the suggestions with the surrounds. Further out, higher up and they are already a touch forward.

So here's a thought then, if you can't place your QSx on a wall for mounting, is your only option for a speaker stand the Axiom version?

Personally i'm not a fan of black or that tubular stuff and the Axiom stand is only 3 feet high. I can't easily get a surround speaker "above" the listening position with that limitation. Would it be possible to mount a QSx on another brand of speaker stand?

Maybe put 2-4 inch steel bars (or thick MDF) underneath the QSx on either side of the bottom woofer and then place it on the speaker stand?

Anyone got engineering or design thoughts on this?

Hey chesseroo,

I know this is a little off the wall but have you considered suspending them from the ceiling.

CAV104

I haven't considered a ceiling suspension offhand, no.
I'm not sure that would be the easiest solution for me. I have a drop ceiling in the basement as it is which may only complicate things in order to mount the speaker in a solid fashion. I have no available walls for mounting either.

Geez if only i could levitate things....