Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater surrounds direct or diffuse?

Does anybody out there think that the direct sound of bookshelf speakers sounds better for surround than the quadpole sound of the axiom QS4 or 8's. I purchased both QS4 and M22ti and when I hooked them up for surround sound I had some dramatic differences. With the QS4's I was never really sure they were going until I would walk right up under them. I kept checking the sound levels with both ear and db meter to make sure I had them up loud enough. But they were anything but dramatic. I tried the M22ti's and I was like, ahhhh there we go. Ducking, dodging, and giggling at the cooless of surround. I realize that surround is supposed to be diffuse, but I keep reading about all these posts of people saying they duck and dodge with the QS4 and 8's. Is it just preference or what?

My room is fairly large with the surrounds placed about a couple feet behind the listening position and a little higher than the listening position.

The 22's do sound a bit too direct in some instances but I would rather hear them than not.

Comments appreciated.

ONKYO 601 receiver, digital hookups, M60's front, VP100 center, M22 or QS4 surround, VTF-3 MK2 Hsu research sub.

I think the normal recommendation for surrounds is "beside the listener and up a bit" rather than behind. That might have something to do with what you're hearing...

My QS8s won't be here until Monday or Tuesday so this is just a guess

In reply to:

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The 22's do sound a bit too direct in some instances but I would rather hear them than not.

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If you can make out where your surrounds are, they're not doing their job.

It's a weird feeling... I replaced my direct radiating surrounds with QS4s and what the hell... I spent over $400 on speakers that don't reach out and grab me by the fly? Now that I'm used to it, it sounds a lot more natural, it may not give you that whiz-bang feeling of them being "in your face" but that's not really the point of mixing for surround, is it? I can no longer reach out with my eyes closed and point directly at the drivers in my surrounds.

It's kind of like watching a band "mix" their own album... bassist walks in and pumps his track up 3db, singer gives himself a nudge up in the mix, then the guitarists start pecking at their levels like those perpetual motion drinking birds.

Bren R.

BOTH............ My Qs-8s are side positioned about 2 ft in front, of the listening (couch) on each side. 7 ft up from the floor - 9 ft ceilings, approximatly 10 ft away from the center (sweet spot) of the counch if you pulled a string on them = straight line. I find the QS-8s to be the most dynamic part of my HT experience as far as surrrounds. I have (2) m-22s rear wall mounted (FMB) about 8 ft from the rear of the couch. (2) m-60s as mains. With certain material the 22s are a great 7.1 (or rear if you use 5.1) experience, bad boys 2, saving private ryan, matrix. I guess alot of gunfire (LOL) It would depend on:

1. room/layout/size
2. material-encoding
3. equipment (decoding capibilities)

All that said I have used the QS-8s as rears only, and now as side surrounds. They are gems. If I HAD to pick, for surround only..... hands down the QS-8s or QS-4s, I believe they have the "same" sound, just depends on room size.

My QS8's sound amazing. Maybe you accidently switched the polarity when you plugged them in. That can cause them to sound much worse. Also, when I got one of my QS8's, one of the tweeters was not working. A quick call to Axiom yielded that it had unplugged internally. 5 minutes later, I had it fixed and the sound was there.

Yes, the speakers are not supposed to call attention to themselves, but I sure think they sound great when I try to listen to them.

My QS8s are about 10" forward of the listening position, and they sound great, and I get "Ducking, dodging, and giggling at the cooless of surround.".

Is there a wall somewhere behind your listening position? If not, the rearward firing tweeters may just be shooting the sound back into nowhere. Without a wall back there, the top & bottom firing drivers might be doing some of the same. The QSs need reflecting surfaces to get the sound to where you are. None of the drivers point directly at you. In order for the sound waves to get to your ears, they have to reflect off of something first.

Can you temporarily hang them about 1' in front of your listening position, and 6-7' high to see if it works better for you? I think it will help.