Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners QS4 or QS8

Since there is already a thread on QS4 vs QS8s.. I might as well ask here the experts..

My room for HT will be a 14' x 24' room. However, the HT setup will basically reside at one one end of this (ie. in an area 14' x 12'. The other half of the room will be for some other purpose tbd (dining perhaps)..

I'm trying to decide if I really need the QS8s. Overall the room is good sized, but the listening area where people will be sitting isn't. Also, given that the main listening position would a couch on one side against the wall, with TV against opposite wall (ie. Couch approx. 14' feet from TV), and these Surrounds would be located on the wall behind the couch.. The distance from where I'd mount the surrounds to the couch's ends would probably be about 2 feet to the left and right. Do I need QS8s if they only need to carry a few feet or so to where people are sitting?

A more generic question: does the room size matter if the surround position to the main listening position isn't any different.. ie. if theoretically I had a 60'x60' room, but the surrounds are still only a few feet from the listening position, does the size of the surround speaker matter?

Thanks for any help/advice!!

No, really only the listening size matters.

Why people upgrade to the QS8's is that they need them to play louder in bigger rooms (since they are further away) without distorting. QS4's will suit just fine in your situation. I have them and don't regret a thing. They are fine speakers. My room is 13x12

Well, most of us, at some point in time, ask do we need thus and so or do we want thus and so???

You may not need the QS8s, but at some time I think that you will ask yourself why you didn't get the QS8s to begin with and have the best!

Just get the QS8s and be done with it.

JR, a little comment on your "generic question". No, the size of the room has no significance for the direct sound from a speaker; e.g. a speaker 5' away in your 13'x14' room wouldn't have direct sound any louder than if the same speaker was 5' away in that 60'x60' room. The difference lies in the indirect reverberent sound level which results from reflections. At typical listening distances in typical rooms the reverberent sound level actually accounts for a little over 50% of the sound reaching the listener, and the bigger rooms need more speaker output to create a given reverberent level than do smaller rooms. This was discussed here in some detail a while ago in the context of demonstrating why less amplifier power than sometimes stated was needed for a given sound level at the listening position after the reverberent sound is added in. So yes, the total sound level at the listening position would be lower in a bigger room if other things remained equal, but in rooms of typical size the effect isn't enormous.

Thanks for the advice all. Johnk, I'm guessing that there even more reverberent contributions with quadpolar designs like the QS series, since there is very little 'direct' sound to begin with, no?

Given that one whole side of my ht area will be open (ie. the other half of the room), I'm still unsure whether I can get away with the QS4s, although if I could I would as I really do want the smaller size.

OT, anyone ever done their surrounds in the "eggshell white" color with eggshell grills? Goal is to make them disappear against the wall..

Just a thought... One of my reason for going with the QS8's was simply to get the best and be done with it. The second is I plan on having these speakers for years. And since I don't plan on spending 10 years in my current townhome, I planned on having the speakers that would be a great fit for my next house which may go in a larger room than what I have now. I made this choice for the M80's as well. Did I need to get the best of everything? Probably not.

The M80's, VP150 and QS8's I bought will sound great in a smaller room and sound great in a bigger room. You can't make the same assumption bying speakers for a smaller room, then move to a new house and try putting what you got into a bigger room and regret not having bought bigger when you had the chance.

My issue is the EP350. I'm happy/content with it right now. I've decided I won't upgrade that until I move into a larger home. Then I will get the EP600 or whatever happens to be the best when I move.

I hear ya.. I would go for the QS8s as overall they really don't cost much more (in the grand scheme of things).. It's just I'm trying to avoid a "What are those things" exclamation from the spouse when I hang them up on the wall.. the QS4s are a nice size, and that's really the only reason I want to be able to get away using them.

I'll probably try the QS4s out. Does the 30-day return policy also apply when you get a custom finish? I couldn't find any mention of it not being applicable.

Quote:

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Your Axiom CustomShop Loudspeakers and Surround Stands take 6 weeks or less to deliver. Custom color charges are non-refundable.

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This is from the CustomShop pages and the way I read and understand it, you may be able to return the product during the 30- day trail, but not regain the cost of the custom color. This is just my take, you should call Axiom and verify with them.

Hi Jrain;

Dennis is right - you can return the products within the 30-days but the custom finish charge isn't refundable. We do have samples available which should help with that choice.

I went with QS8 since the crossover spec is similar to the other speakers with 5.5" drivers, and in my opinion that would make the speaker sound closer to the M22s, and VP150 in my system.

If you would like them to disapear I would check out the in wall version of the M2, or M3. you probably wouldn't get the same surround effect, but it would look good.