Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater QS4's or Direct Radiating surrounds, and sub

My first post-
I recently have come down with a case of upgraditus. I have replaced all 6 channels with axiom units.

M22 mains
vp100
qs4 surrounds

I am quite pleased with the front setup but the qs4's (2 side, and 1 center) have not blown me away. The living room is 18' wide by 12' deep. Our couch sits against the back wall which is open on either side leading to the kitchen and hall. The qs4's sides are mounted directly to the sides of the couch on the walls
which are 5' from the couch, and about 2' above listening level with t-brackets. The center surround is directly behind us on the wall. I can't help but think some of the effects are being bounced into the kitchen and hall way. would the qs8's do a better job, or should I try some direct radiating units like the m2's for my side surrounds?

Also, my sub is an Infinity PS28 (8") which puts out plenty of bass in my opinion for this small room. what improvements would I notice from a Hsu, Axiom, or SVS sub? bass is bass- right?

Thanks for your advice.

This will probably sound like a sin posting this suggestion here, but I too felt the same and wondered... so I experimented by turning my QS8s so the woofer fires sideways and the tweeters aim doward/upward. I found a cleaner presentation that was startling.
I enables more a direct placment of the channel by aiming the tweeter downward toward the viewer, yet at the same time upward.
Every room is different and has it own needs, I suggest you try it and see if it works for you. If you wish I will post a pic.
Good luck and don't give up.

That's pretty cool. I know that SirQuack experimented with that a little bit.

Josh, welcome. Yes, if I follow your description, a fair amount of the QS4 output is going into the hallway and kitchen and not reflecting back into the listening room. You haven't mentioned how wide the section of back wall behind the couch is, but if it's wide enough to extend beyond the edge of the couch on each side, I'd think that a better mounting position for the QS4 side surrounds would be on the back wall, separated as widely as possible.

Thanks for your reply. The couch is right to the edge of the wall on one side and there is maybe 3' on the other side, so I would end up with the side surrounds being 3'-4' from the center surround.

could I mount them vertically? hmmm

thanks for the suggestion. that might just be the ticket . I'll try that out.

Since you said that the room was 18' wide, I was guessing that the back wall was maybe 10' wide(allowing for the entrances to the hall and kitchen). That center back speaker may not be adding much if it's nearly right behind your head, and having QS4 sides separated about 8-9' on the back wall should produce a better effect instead.

I tried that John and it works great. Furthermore that center EX channel was useless right above the couch, and it also stole signal from the other 2 surround channels. When I turned it off, the left and right surrounds were considerably louder. The surrounds are being processed by my Outlaw 1050 which has a 6.1 zoran processor. Now that I have turned it off, I can't believe what I was missing. Something must be off with that processor, as it is not true EX.
Now the qs4's are shining, but the question now is, do I upgrade to qs8's with the money from the center qs4 return?
Thanks for the help!

It has been written on this board that the QS8 is superior to the QS4's in informal testing. I have the 8's and they are great. The driver sizes are the same ones used in the majority of Axiom's products, so I believe it matches up even better.

well, I may I have to try them. thanks for the input. i can't decide

Just a follow up. Well, after auditioning the M2's as rear surrounds in my 6.1 system, I have decided to keep the Qs4's. I was having difficulty placing them directly to the sides since my couch sits against the back wall and is open on both sides. I ended up moving the Qs4 up the wall to 6.5' and slightly forward of the couch, so the null is aimed at the front edge of the couch and they reflect off the back wall. The result has been excellent and feels more like theatre sound from above. Discrete sounds still sound as if they are coming from behind. I did away with the 6th ex channel mounted directly above the couch on the back wall, as the sound was too obvious and distracting. This also increased the ouput from the two side surrounds as the signal for the Ex channel is a matrix of the two sides. I did a demo of Fellowship of the Ring were the cave troll is swinging the chain around and grunting and such. Awesome- the soundstage was seamless and the chain could be heard as it swung 360 through the sequence and the troll sounded as if he was right behind me, despite the lack of the EX channel. This is what surround sound is supposed to be!

Thanks for the update. I’m experimenting with various 6.1 speaker options so it helps to hear what others have tried.

that is awesome Josh, I'm sure you will enjoy them greatly now that you've zeroed in on a location...

Well, this is what I ended up with. I almost sent the QS4's back for the 8's, but it really would be overkill for a 1700cubic foot space. I have an Outlaw LFM-2 on the way, and I may consider getting a couple more m2200's for the surrounds, but that may have to wait until I move and upgrade to the QS8's. Overall, am really impressed with the axiom product.

Pics below:


[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/10298588@N07/?saved=1[/img]

I liked your solution to go above the venetian. It all looks good.

Thanks. Not quite as clean as I would like it but you can only go so far in an apartment.

Link Fix And Preview

much better. thanks