Hi all,

I'm trying to decide whether to use 4 QS8's for my surround channels or go with 4 m22's. My room is decent sized (16x22x12) and I have prewired for 7.1. I will primarily use the system for music (SACD and DVD-A), but a fair use will also involve video games. What would you all advise?

I've heard that the common wisdom is that the direct firing speakers are better for music, but then again, Mr. Loft stated that blind testing revealed no significant difference.

Does anyone have any experience with using the two speakers for music? I'd appreciate all of your opinions and thoughts.

Thanks!

if its in your budget to afford either or, then i would get the QS8's, and use them as surrounds(side). then get the M22's, and use them as rears.

although i have never heard them, i think you might be able to get away with M3's or M2's as rears. but, i know most prefer direct or front firing speakers as rears when used in a 7.1 set-up.

good luck, and be sure and post us some pics of your system when you get it finished!

bigjohn

I agree with bigjohn. Direct-radiating speakers cannot compete with the surround experience the QS8s will provide. And a pair of M22s in the back will work wonderfully.

You get the best of both worlds!

Just checking... are you saying that the ONLY applications will be music and video games (no DVDs) or just "mostly music and video games" ?

I would second QS8 surrounds and M2/M22 rears.

I switched from M2 surrounds to QS8 surrounds a few weeks ago. Going entirely from memory, I believe I liked the M2s a bit better for music, although I have not had time to (a) switch back and forth to confirm that, or (b) determine exactly why I liked M2s better.

The best setup seems to be QS sides and M2/22 rears, with a receiver which allows you to use the rears rather than the surrounds for 5.1 music. The QS8s will IMO be better for video games and DVDs.

*laughs* Yes... I'd say that my application use will be 50% music, 40% video games, and maybe 10% movies. I'll be watching movies in my dedicated HT.

Both are within my budget, but I'm struggling with which way to go for the best "musicality." Based on suggestions from others, I picked up a Denon 2900 and a SVS sub to match with my future axiom speakers.

Are the QS8's really that good? Would you mate them with the 22's, or would you all prefer to use just the QS8's?

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

The general trend seems to be QS8 surrounds and direct rears unless the rears have to go in some kind of odd place... the QS8s are nearly as good as directs for music but you can hang them up pretty much anywhere and they still seem to give you a good surround effect.

I was surprised by the QS8s. They give you a very subtle surround effect but manage to make your room feel much larger. When I switched off the M2 surrounds I just stopped hearing things beside & behind me, but when I switched off the QS8s it was like the room suddenly got real small. Wierd.

Sorry, one more point. QS8s are felt to be extraordinary for DVD surround (maybe the best you can get) and pretty good for music, while dipole surrounds are pretty good for DVD surround and downright crappy for music.

I'm thinking that for video games the QS8s would be the way to go (based on a bit of experimentation with Doom3) but I don't really know for sure.

Is your dedicated HT system a different system from this one ? That's where you really want the QS8s

Peter:

I'm thinking that the imminent release of HD-DVD and Blue ray will spark the audio side as well and make 7.1 sound a very real option. After all, they have just devised a new version of SACD (2.0). In addition, new release SACDs have pretty much vanished. I wouldn't be surprised if they are planning to release a "newer, better" version sometime soon. All that said, I'd really like all my surround speakers to be the same, so I don't hear imaging differences in them a year or so down the road. If you were building a system to meet needs similar to mine, would you go with straight QS8's or would you go with the M22's?


Bridgman:

About 6 months or so after my house is finished, I'm planning on building a HT in my basement. I'll pretty much use it exclusively for movies and big sports events. Down there, the choice is pretty simple M60's with QS8's all around. Upstairs (and the immediate future) is much harder for me to decide on.

Thanks again all!

Hmmm. I think I understand your plans better now.

First question, I guess, would be "why bother with 7.1 for the upstairs system ?". I'm not running a 7.1 system (yet ) but my understanding is that the primary benefit is with movies. Music and games are both 5.1 at best today AFAIK.

If I was in your shoes I would start with a pair of QS8s at the side, forget the rears for now, and re-evaluate after a couple of months.

What I can tell you is that when I had cheap surrounds I could not listen to music in 5 channels and kept switching back to "surround off". With the QS8s I leave the receiver in a surround mode pretty much all the time (usually Neo:6) and the only times I switch surround off are for situations where I would have switched it off with M2 surrounds as well.

Bridgman,

Thanks for your insight. That's exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. I decided to go with 7.1 because everything I have read has suggested that the Xbox next (or 360) will support 7.1 and the same is true of the PS3. In fact, there is a much stronger argument that the PS3 will support in game 7.1, as it will have the blue ray discs which support "up to 8 channels of discrete sound."

So, in a nutshell, it's an abundance of caution that is making me go the 7.1 route (and the 5% off).

Out of curiousity, are there any noticable sonic differences between the M22s and the Qs8s (besides soundstage)?