Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater QS8 or M3 for surrounds?

Help! Can't decide between quadpolar or direct radiating for my surround and surround back speakers (7.1 setup).

1. Am I correct to understand that in a rectangular / shoebox type of room, four of the QS8's would produce a better surround field than four M3's?

Unfortunately my room is L shaped where the area behind my seating opens up on one side (small kitchenette).

2. Would direct radiating speakers do a better job of keeping the sound field "out" of the kitchenette and focus it more towards the seating area?

3. What about a combination of two QS8's for the surrounds and two M3's for the surround backs or vice versa?

4. How much clearance from the ceiling and adjacent side wall will I need for the QS8? Actually, this alone may force me to use the M3 instead since one of the surrounds would need to be mounted in a small recess putting the speaker only 1-2inches below the ceiling and 3inches away from the adjacent wall. I don't think a QS8 would like that tight of a space...

Any and all feedback welcome as usual, thanks in advance.

If you have room behind you to mount the rear surrounds say 4-6' back then direct radiators like the M3s would be best IMO and for side surrounds I would still go with the QS8's if they are mounted within 4-6' of the listening position and in my experience they usually are. Other wise the extra distance to the listener will allow a direct raditor to work nearly as well, if not better than the QS8s. The lack of height won't matter too much for the QS8s, I had mine about 2-3" below the ceiling and they worked great, as they are designed to bounce sound around the room.

I think axiom reccomends about 4" between the qs8 drivers and the ceiling. I think you could get by with a little less. I agree the qs8's for sides and the m3's or qs 8's for back surround duty would be fine. Either way, I would try to go with 1set of qs8's since they truly are a great surround speaker

For your recessed area, is it possible to build a small wooden box to place between the wall and the speaker? You might also consider a ceiling mount.

Do you have any pictures or a floor plan of your room you could upload?

1) No, I would say this is not correct. My theater setup is in one corner of a larger 8,000 cu ft room. I have 4 Qs8's and they work perfect. The purpose of the surround speaker is to wrap or envelope you in the experience. For a direct radiating speaker this experience only comes for the person in the sweet spot. With the Q's, everyone is in the sweet spot.

Your room is not unusual, and actually more common.


2) No matter what speakers you use, your going to hear them throughout the house, direct or not. Again, the purpose of the surround channels is to envelope you in the sound, not be to a pinpoint location. In theaters, the walls are "lined" with many direct radiating speakers, the Q's simulate these many speakers in one package.

3) I don't have a problem with 4 Qs8's, but some people will go with Q's for the "side" surrounds, and use direct radiating for the "back" surrounds because they say they are better for muli channel music listening. Personally, I think the Q's do great for both music and movies.

4) It is best if the top/bottom driver have at least 4+ inches to breath a little. Maybe if you provide a drawing/picture of your situation we can give you options. The Q's are very forgiving on placement, because they "do" wrap you in the sound, so they are not as picky on placement. They don't have to be symetric with each other. They can be wall or ceiling mounted with the right bracket...

Yes, I do have more than 6ft. from my seating to the back wall. As for the side surrounds, one would be within 6ft. but the other would be around 13ft. away.

I'm itching to give the QS8's a shot with all the positive things everyone has to say about them.

Yes! I could do that! That might just solve it for me...

I new someone would ask, LOL. I'll try and draw one up today and upload it.