Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Trigger pulled!!!

The QS10s will take everything an ADA-1500 can dish out. LOL!

OK, after lots of listening (and some watching today), I am ready to provide early impressions of M100v4s+VP180v3+4xWS10HPv4s. First thing first, NOTHING sounded worse than before! Always the minimum bar for an upgrade!

For some reason, the first word that came to mind, both for the first music experience and video one is "intense." Not sure why, but for some reason, it still feels like the right one. First attempts where: Pire Organ (in large venue), String Quartet (in smaller venue), Sacred music recorded in a church. Then I went for true MC records (ex: Berlioz' requiem with the four brass orchestras in 4 corners, a mass by Biber recorded in Salzburg cathedral, which is one of the few remaining one still laid out as per prior-1900s with orchestra and choirs on the sides rather than the front, and some other music written with for instruments all around the listeners). Impressive.

The QS10 brings a very stable room reproduction. I always found the QS8 to be a little bit "airy" for music. Not fundamentally bad, but maybe more appropriate for movies than music. The QS10 are THERE. Even if they disappear and you don't actually "hear" them, you know you are surrounded by virtual walls that feels just as real as the gyproc ones. In a church, the walls feel so far away. For small chamber music, the room becomes very intimate. For MC music with actual instruments in the back, it's still not as good as having "regular" speakers (I would likely have M100s as surrounds in a music-only setup, or use that for an excuse to get a pair of M5s), but the QS10 are a significantly better compromise for a multi-purpose room.

My neighbors left early this morning so I was able to crank it up quite a bit for a little while (still have to work...). OMG! There were fortissimos that litterally exploded on the ceiling! And I still don't have my subwoofer back. The M100s generate so much powerful and clean bass, it's uncanny. And I could feel air displacement coming from all directions. Those QS10 sure ain't scare of the ADA-1500 (as Mojo mentioned). So for music, appreciation goes: probably better, better, impressive and quite a few WOW here and there. Sometimes you feel like the music is just "grabbing you" and so spacious at the same time.

Now, for video, I had watched a few episodes of Startrek Enterprise (just because I have finally decided to finish that series) last night. Once again "intense" was the first word that came to mind. But today I check some specific stuff (like the car race in Cars). In general, all the action and interactions seem more "immediate" as they were happening for real. Quite a few helicopers moving a round. D-Day in Band of Brothers was so "intense" that I stopped watching after just a minute or two. Just too real for "testing." Then I watched the opening sequence of Lost. The bass was almost defeaning. I watched a few more scenes as it was mesmerizing, almost like seeing it for the first time all over again.

I think next upgrade might be to tackle center channel, but low appetite for now. My setup is tough because I am using a short throw projections in a room with 5'8" ceiling. That causes the VP180 to be only 6.5" from the ground, which is a bit low. I was actually toying with the idea of eventually replacing the VP180 by 2 M5s (Mojo?) that could be put higher and on the side of the projector. I'm not sure. Might try something out with M3s first. My D2v supports 2-centers and I have a spare channel on my ADA-1500.

That's all for me now.
Pretty happy with the results. Not a cheap upgrade, but it allowed me to get 2 rooms surround, one my M80 (and moving the M22 as Front Heights).

I know you bought a house back in 2012 I think and your HT room is 14 x 17? But I didn't know the ceiling was so low.

Regarding the M5 as a center, it depends on how far back you are going to sit from it. I tried it and at 14 feet back, I didn't like it. Don't get me wrong. As I've written many times, I love the M5 sound. It just doesn't work as a center for me at that distance. Your results of course may vary. Try one of your M22s or M3s. If one of those work, the M5 is a sure bet.

As for dual M5s as a center, I'd shy away from that.

Unfortunately Mojo, i had some very dark years and had to sell the house. I'm impressed you remember the dimensions of my ht room. Now it's smaller but hopefully in a year or two it will be big again

I am very sorry to hear about your situation.

I have uploaded the QS10 images into my bucket: https://app.photobucket.com/u/efalarde/a/e0ef8b63-6525-4e97-b9a4-233af71a336b

That Boston Cherry is very nice. It goes well with that booze I bet.

Yeah, and almost the same price!

QS10s look great! I moved to M5HPs for my surrounds, but QS10s look like they also would have been a great upgrade from the QS8s I was using previously.

As pretty much a final set of thoughts. Had the chance the be without the neighbors for a whole day so I could give it a tougher run. I watched things like San Andreas with lots of earthquake and helicopters time (always great to test surrounds). Then I watched Godzilla (the one in 3D), more of Cars and many other "Catastrophe" movies or with heavy dynamics like some Star Wars scenes.

So many times I almost got on my feet to "dial down the sub a bit in case neighbors are coming back"... Just to pause and remember that my EP800's amp is actually in Axiom's facilities at the moment. The bass output of those M100s is quite simply astonishing. During the earthquakes the walls were shaking and I could have sworn someone had installed an butt-kicker to my chair! And not some bloated bass either. No, very deep, clean and sustained.

Well... let's just say that all those movies and scenes have gotten more... Intense!
Now I can't wait to add the EP800 and see how it behaves... when the neighbors will be gone again!