Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M50 to M5HP upgrade expectations

Mojo, within the first 5 minutes of listening to the M5's I knew the right decision had been made. All of my apprehension about giving up the M50's was gone. Like you said the detail, prescence, clarity, soundstage, everything about them is better. And they play loud perfectly.
I do still find vocals collapsing to the left speaker due to my seating position but not quite as drastically. Now that the M50'S are gone the decorator is talking about putting a small chair in that room. When that happens I'll be able to move it to the sweet spot when I'm just sitting listening.
I appreciate all of your assistance and advice with this move.

I suppose now we know why Axiom discontinued the M50. I still like the M50v4 a lot but I can't really recommend it over the M5. I hope you continue to enjoy them.

Having the M5OWs as the rear surrounds is a sound improvement over the QS10s in my room. I went through several movies last night and having the monopole speakers firing right at the listening position was a major boost in directional sound. In all fairness the QS10s don't have the optimal set up in my room because the walls aren't up and there is nothing for the sound to reflect off of. I should have an opportunity to hook them up as rears this weekend.

Some people have reported liking the monopoles better than a diffuse sound. Those hyped on Atmos trying to follow the prescripted format would have to do so. Unfortunately for our situation, the back surrounds would sit within 20" of seated locations so a direct firing speaker would not work well in this setup. Our side surrounds could possibly work better except one side wall is not perpendicular to the back wall (it angles out) so unless i had some kind of on-wall shim block to reset the angle, a monopole would not fire towards the seating area but rather 45 degree into the middle of the room.
I like the fact that the QS10s have that direct driver out front which the QS8s do not.
It will be something to consider when we get QS10s and decide to replace or keep QS8s or replace them with QS10s.
Some sound tests will be in order at that time.

I think it really comes down to room acoustics. I've been swapping out the QS10s, M5ow's, and M80ow's, plus several other units from other manufactures including SVS's Ultra surrounds, and a few others. I really like the QS10's as it works best in my environment but i'm finding myself going back to the M80ows. They don't go as low as the 10's but they have incredible imagining, better than anything else i've heard so far. it's just hard to give up that low bass the QS10's have. I've not heard the m5 bookshelves, but with the cabinet volume those are probably the best choice around.

The mounting location of the m5s is significantly closer than where I had to mount the qs10s. I also think that plays a factor only running them off of the avr. I left them mounted in their original positions because I’m curious if the 1500 will help drive them better. It should be an enormous difference given the extra power they will have available even at low volumes. This would make sense with the qs10s needing a little more power to make the same volume as the m5s. With the room being torn down for the next few months I’ll have plenty of time to experiment and move things around but ultimately I’ll end up with Atmos and using the m5s as the surrounds. Still waiting on my isoacoustic dampeners to arrive too.

You all know this but I’ll state it anyway ...

QS10s are directional in a very limited way, They are diffuse by design giving only a general sense of direction. They are great for ambient sounds that surround you like rain or cheering in a stadium. A single speaker creates a large area of sound in its general area ... I.e. somewhere left, right or behind. If you have angled ceilings or walls you might have trouble discerning even that (depending on the room).

A direct firing speaker creates a point of sound. Several direct fire speakers are needed to create the same ambient effect as the QSs. If you have enough of them then you can place a sound in 3d space. Something the QS series can’t do.

So, The QS series is great for the 5.1 or 7.1 formats where the surround effect is intend to be diffuse. The newer 3d formats require direct.

And a monopole will deliver more sound per watt directly to the listener. So, if you have a reasonably damped room (as you all should) a monopole is the way to go all around. A live room is better suited to diffuse surrounds.

Only case where a good idea is if you are within 3’ of a speaker. Otherwise monopoles and just bump up higher and angle down on brackets. My strategy anyway.

I think I knew that rrlev, but you laid it out so precisely that I think I'm smarter having read it. I won't know for sure until after the test.
Seriously, you guys are very good at written explanations; you should team up and do textbooks. Or maybe the more detailed versions of Andrews video blogs.

(Removed the thread hijack.)

Well said... I very much agree!!!