Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners PSB or not to PSB?

My son has a HT speakers setup consisting of PSB 5Ts as fronts, the 8C center and a PSB sub, but needs rears in a 5.1 setup. His BA rears are going bye-bye. Would he be better off staying with PSB or would a pair of Axiom M3ti or QS4 or 8 be a better option?

Tough call. I listened to PSB Image 5s before buying my Axioms and I did like the sound of the Axioms better. Also, for a home theater system, the QS4 and QS8s are tough to beat because they do a fantastic job of giving you the "large room" sensation of a movie theater and still do a good job on directional sounds / special effects.

On the other hand there is an argument for matching the sound between fronts and surrounds, but I find that is a bigger issue for 5.1 music than for movies.

I would say if he listens to a lot of music in 5.1 (rather than just using the mains as a lot of people do) he should look at the matching PSB surrounds... but if he is mostly using the system for home theater then go with the QS4s.

We had a talk. He really wants the QS8s. His intention is to use the system mainly to listen to DVD-A and SACD discs. I've often heard that a normal bookshelf, such as the M3 or the PSB B15 would be preferable to a dipole speaker in this application. Wall mountable is a must since he is limited spacewise. It's a small room, so I told him QS4s would be plenty. The PSB dipole is quite a bit more expensive than the QS4s. Maybe the new wall mountable line could be a consideration. I wonder when they will be available???

I'm just guessing here, but IF the QS4s do sound any different from QS8s (rather than just power handling / sound output) then the QS4s would probably be a closer sonic match to the PSBs than QS8s. Axiom tends to pair up the QS4s with the M3/M40/M50 class speakers which do sound a BIT closer to the PSBs than the mains which get paired with QS8s.

Again, this is just a guess. I have not heard QS4 vs. QS8 together and I don't know anyone who has... just extrapolating wildly from the Axiom "Epic" system lists.

For music I would expect the QS to be quite a bit better than the PSB dipoles.

In reply to:

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I've often heard that a normal bookshelf, such as the M3 or the PSB B15 would be preferable to a dipole speaker in this application.

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Is QS4 and 8 dipole or bipole?

Skerdi, all four of the drivers in the QSs operate in phase, so they're not dipolar, in which the opposing speakers are connected out-of-phase. Axiom uses the term "Quadpolar" to describe its four-way variation on the bipolar theme.

Thanks John! So I thougt.

John,

Thanks for the reply. He purchased the PSB S50s today, which are are a bipolar design. They better rock since he could have purchased 2 pairs of QS4s for what he paid for these.

HELP!! While I was looking around for surround possibilities for the boy, I happened to walk by a pair of PSB T45s. I thought to myself, 'man those sound darn nice,' and after I got home I started to think some evil thoughts. The most prevalent being, 'would these be an upgrade to my Axioms?' Now these small floorstanders are haunting me, giving me some urges. If the Mrs. finds out what is in my devilish little mind, there could be trouble. HELP ME!

The T45s are pretty much the elusive "M22 in a larger enclosure" that several people have wondered about, particularly after the demise of the M40. For pure music listening without a sub that would be a real nice speaker.

On the other hand, they would not play any more loudly or clearly than your M22s, and if you are using them with a sub there would not be a lot of practical difference since the M22s are nice and flat down to typical crossover frequencies. This last point is why Axiom didn't sell a lot of M40s -- for a music speaker they are fantastic but the big enclosure doesn't benefit you if you already have a sub.

I have not heard the latest PSBs but I did listen to the previous Image line (2T, 5T) before getting the Axioms. I didn't get a chance to directly A/B them but I did find the PSBs a bit bass heavy and midrange-light compared to the Axioms.