As for QS4s for fronts danmagicman7 did a big review a while back which included a 4 vs 8 as mains faceoff:
QS4’s vs. QS8’s
This one was over quick.
I did a direct A/B comparison between the QS4’s and QS8’s playing as “mains” in stereo with no sub on. First, I turned on the QS8’s, which sounded great. Then, I turned on the QS4’s.
They were much quieter. That surprised me. So, I turned up the volume so they were close to what the QS8’s were playing at. To get to that point, they started to sound strained to produce that sound.
That was disappointing. Whatever I did, they just sounded strained and weaker than the QS8’s. I thought there would be a difference, but not such a big one as that. I really couldn’t believe it.
Could it be that since the QS8’s use the same 5.25” woofer as almost all the other speakers in the Axiom lineup, the QS4’s 4 incher got neglected? I was thinking some sort of tonality change would be present, but there is a serious difference between the QS8 and the QS4. The QS4’s are by no means a crappy speaker they perform their quadpolar surround duties well in my experiences, but compared to the QS8’s…they…well…don’t really compare, especially for direct “non surround” sounds.
My reason for buying the QS4’s is that they are small and more easily transportable, which I doubt is reasoning for many other buyers. For such a small difference in price (~$100), I would have a very hard time recommending the QS4 to any buyer, as sad as I am to say it. Were my QS4’s part of a bad batch or something? Who knows. They were just not up to snuff as the QS8’s. I’d like to give a little recommendation to Axiom to perhaps...look over the 4” woofer again or at least the QS4.
For curiosity’s sake, I did a direct comparison between the QS8’s and M22’s…
QS8’s vs. M22’s
Surprisingly, the QS8 and M22 almost sounded exactly the same. Exact same tonal and sound signature. The QS8’s had a little more high end (two tweeters), less low end, and a diffuse sound. The QS8’s actually sounded pretty good as mains!
