Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater QS8s at ear level for surround only in ATMOS setup

howdy people, it's been a while since i last posted here, hope everyone is doing great. i currently have a 7.1 and my four surround channel speakers are QS8's mounted close to the ceiling height around 6'8" to center of speaker. i'm going to upgrade to ATMOS to a 7.1.4 configuration by the end of this year or by/before end of quarter one 2016.

my thought is this, use the existing wiring i have for current surrounds and use them for ATMOS speakers, run new wires to re-use the QS8's. so, my question is, how do the QS8's sound at the seated ear level? the closest listening position to the physical speaker would be about 4'+.

i've never heard the QS8's at ear level so, i don't know how they would sound. i expect they will sound just as good, but, i want to have some folks who currently have theirs mounted at seated ear level heights.

i plan on having 4 ceiling mounted speakers for ATMOS but i want to keep my QS8's for surround no question, i love the huge surround field they produce and have for years!

thank you in advance to everyone who chimes in. please, please i really want to hear from folks who either currently do have their speakers (QS8's) at seated ear level height or those who don't, but, have actually heard them (QS8's) at seated ear level. and yes, i'd like to know if you like it or don't like it at that height.

again, thanks to everyone who responds and as usual, lets keep it civil.

Welcome back SD!!

Axiom's stands for the QS speakers are 38" tall....

I see what you did there!

thanks for your response.

Welcome back SD,
I'll throw in my $0.02. My QS8's are mounted on the Axiom stands at ear level. The surround field they produce is excellent. To be honest, I have never heard the QS8's setup in a different arrangement. I wouldn't be too worried about their performance at your new configuration. I recently purchased a new AVR (Denon AVR-X2200W) and TV (70" LG 70UF7700). The Audyssey setup on the Denon is fabulous. I am hearing passages in music I have never heard before with the QS8's.
Cheers,
Shaun

thank you so much for your response. I'm glad to hear from someone who has them mounted at ear level and in your case using the axiom stands made for them. I do hope to hear from some others who listen or have listened to them at a seated ear height and what they thought of them like that.

again, thank you Shaun!

Just keep in mind that Atmos and DTS:X really need direct radiating speakers and not bi/di/quad-pole speakers in order to image properly. Not saying that you can't try QS8s with Atmos or the upcoming DTS:X, but you won't get as precise of imaging as you could with monopole speakers.

Dolby reps told me this specifically last year at CEDIA 2014, and this year at CEDIA 2015, everyone was using monopole speakers for surrounds.

nick, thanks for your response and the info, but, if you read my OP, i never intended to use the QS8 speakers as ATMOS speakers. re-read my OP and it will be clear, i hope. i am stating that i'm upgrading to ATMOS and i will have 4 ceiling mounted speakers for ATMOS heights, i wanted to know from people who used QS8 speakers how they sounded at ear level since mine are currently mounted close to the ceiling. the QS8's would still do what they are doing now, channels 4-7 they will not be transmitting ATMOS speaker info. hope that cleared it up for you.

again, thanks for your response and that's great info for folks to know. just not what i was planning or asking.

Maybe I am still missing something. There is more to an Atmos setup that just adding ceiling speakers. The traditional "surround" speakers that are on the wall (not ceiling) should be monopole too. That is what I was getting at, so my statements still stand.

Bi/di/quad-pole speakers are considerably less than ideal (per Dolby, I have not personally experienced this, but it was convincing enough for me to replace my QS8s with on-wall M3s a year ago) in the side and rear surround positions for any immersive audio format like Atmos or DTS:X.

I can't answer your question about ear height, but like others have stated, the stands are at ear height, and I am sure that a number of people have done it. The QS speakers are very forgiving in their placement (which in the end is actually counter productive to precise imaging for Atmos and DTS:X).

With all of that said, just try them and if you aren't getting "wowed" by Atmos, then I woudl suggest changing out to monopole surrounds at that point. Maybe you will feel that the effect is "good enough" to not worry about swapping the surround speakers...

ok, i gotcha now. when that time comes, i'll let you know. to your point, for me, i paid a lot for these QS8 speakers so, in surround duty in an atmos environment, yeah, i'm gonna give them a try. when i get to it, i'll be sure to post here what i think.

thanks for clarifying things for me.

A part that you have to consider. Atmos has been around for a while now but I will say that the adoption rate is not the greatest.

If I agree with Dolby that directional monopole speakers are far better for Atmos (and DTS-X) then you need to decide. I personally believe that the omni di-polar speaker design is far better for Dolby Digital 5.1/7.1 and DTS 5.1/7.1.

Ask then what you are going to get the most use of? If your movie collection / source is going to be Atmos / DTS-X then it would make more sense to get all directional speakers. However, if the Atmos/DTS-X is going to be a small percentage of the viewing, then I'd stick with the QS8s.