So my wife and I finally agree that it's time to get some surround speakers for our home theater / stereo setup. We currently have M22s and a VP100 up front, plus a Velodyne ct-120. Probably half of the a/v usage is for CDs, and the other half DVDs and occasional TV shows. CDs play in stereo-only mode.

To be honest, I was considering getting some cheap surround speakers that would be small and not very noticeable. Then I returned to Axiom's website and the W2 speakers caught my eye. Right now I'm considering the W2s, T2s, and QS4s, but leaning heavily to W2. Will the W2 be an effective surround speaker if they are mounted directly above the couch?

Here's some info about the room. The ceiling height is 7.5 ft and it's 14 ft front to back; however the back wall is only 9 feet wide because it has the hallway entrance on one side, and a connected dining room on the other; mounting on side walls is not possible. Basically the first floor is about 50% dining room / family room in an L shape. The couch is hard up against the 9 foot wall. Even if we went with QS4s, would they really work well when the listeners are sitting directly below the speakers? Perhaps direct radiating speakers would be more appropriate here. Honestly, my wife has a hard time accepting the QS4s aesthetically anyway.

Any opinions on W2 vs. T2? Better bass and imaging?

thanks,
Cooper

When you say above the couch are you saying flush ceiling mounted. A direct radiating speaker will work, but won't give you the same "surround" experience as the Q series speakers. For surround purposes, they are hard to beat. The point is you want to be enveloped in the sound, not have to be sitting in the sweet spot to enjoy a bookshelf design.

So it sounds like your wanting to mount the speakers on the back wall, above the couch? If so I would think the Q's spread out would do a much better job. They have woofers firing up/down and two tweeters firing left/right. If they were spread out they shoud work fine.

I would also consider the Qs8's over the 4's for the extra woofer size and power ability.

Hello cblake,

I certainly agree with sirquack about the fact the QS4/QS8 will give you the best "enveloping" surround experience. However due to your WAF issues I would go with the inwall M2's like you suggested above.

In response to sirquack: I should have said they will be wall-mounted directly above the couch.

Assuming W2 or T2, should the speaker be mounted 5-6 ft from the floor? And has anyone been able to compare T2 to W2?

If my visual image is correct, I think a W-2 will just shoot the sound out straight over your head!

Another vote for QS4s or QS8s...

I thought the point was you didn't want the drivers pointing directly at the listener for surround speakers. Conversely, if people are sitting two feet below QS4s, won't they get blasted with the direct woofer output? I would think that could be both distracting and problematic for volume adjustment.

Are these supposed to be side surrounds or rear surrounds?

They will be the only "surround" speakers in the setup, and they will be on the rear wall.

If they have to be on the rear wall, I would still probably go with QS4s. I would have them spread apart as much as possible to minimize how many people the woofers are directly blasting and to get as close as possible to side surround positioning. I would also run this question by someone from Axiom and see what they recommend.

But now I am leaning further away from the QS4s because they are so much more expensive and still not ideal when the couch is against the wall.

It sounds like people generally recommend that monopole surround speakers face each other rather than face forward; this is now what concerns me the most. If both the T2 and the W2 can only fire forward, will they produce a good but somewhat diffuse surround effect, or will they go unnoticed?

If it is the latter, is it better to just get M2s and have them face each other?

You'd probably like either QS model more than a direct speaker for a surround, even with your oddly shaped room.

Have you considered ceiling mount? You could either have M2's hanging from the ceiling or I think (you better check with Axiom on that one), the T2s can be put inside the ceiling. That way, you could have them more on the side than at the back.

Long time no see, Cooper. Your description of your room was pretty clear and indicates that the QS4s would be the better choice. Operating in rather close quarters it's even more important to select surround speakers with wide dispersion. If you mount them on the rear wall separated as widely as possible(they'll still be playing side surround material although they're on the back wall), say about 8' apart on the 9' wall, and 2-3' above ear level, you should get a nice mix of direct sound plus reflections from the ceiling and side walls.

One further suggestion once you get the surrounds set up is to make full use of them with all source materials. I never limit myself to using only the front speakers. Most of the sound reaching us at a concert comes as reflected ambience from directions other than the front. When the microphones picked this up it had to be mixed into the front channels in a 2-channel source. There was no choice as there was no place else to put it. Now, however, processing such as DPLII detects the phase differences in the mixed-in surround ambience, extracts it from the front speakers and sends it to the surrounds where it belongs, making the home listening experience a little more realistic. The degree of improvement varies with the amount of ambience mixed into each recording.

Well these are all compelling arguments, but I still can't get past the price difference. I did a little experimentation at home with some other bookshelf speakers to hear the difference between inward-facing and forward-facing speakers, both well above ear level.

They both sound acceptable, but I think I prefer the forward-facing direction because it sounds more diffuse. It's odd to me that the general opinion is that it's better for monopole surrounds to face the listener; perhaps this is because the original pro logic was analog and imprecise.

cblake, I would go with the QS4. I had a pair of paradigm bookshelf speakers on the back wall, They sounded good but about 1 1/2 months I bought a pair of QS8's and all I can say is wow. The Q's do a wonderful job with music and movies. The Q's are truely a great speaker.

Hehe... I should have known everyone would say "get the QSx!" My wife and I just can't justify the expense for QS rear speakers that are only used 10% of the time we're watching a movie, which is only 5% of the time.

Now that I'm looking closer at the specs of the T2, it looks like it is actually pretty comparable to the W2. I was expecting to get less bass on the T2 due to lack of ports, but that is not the case according to the measurements. Isn't it still better to get the drivers a few inches out from the wall to avoid reflections? Otherwise why buy the W2 except for looks?

-Cooper

If you're anticipating that little use out of surround speakers, why buy any at all? Going without is the ultimate in savings and WAF.

Why buy at all? Because I think quality surround speakers for $300 is worth it, especially when the drivers match the fronts. The QS4s are $430 and produce much less bass with a 4" driver.

In that case, just skip the surrounds. Doesn't sound like you really need them, not to mention your wife sounds INSANE if color-matched wall-mounted QSx don't make the decor cut.

Hey Cooper,

I’m going to break with tradition and suggest you go with one of the 2 series (M, T, or W) depending on which you think will best suit your needs. I recently had my speakers set up in a bedroom with the listening position against the wall and tried out both my QS8 and M22 speakers as surrounds. While the QS8s did a mostly fantastic job under the circumstances they just didn’t quite shine the same as when I had 5-6 feet behind me in other rooms.

The M22s didn’t quite do as well as the QS8s as I expected but IMO the difference probably wouldn’t be worth the price, especially if you chose the M2 (or variant).

So based on my limited experience with my listening position against the back wall I would the best bang for your buck is either going without surrounds or getting the least expensive option. While the QS(x) will perform best in close quarters if you’re willing to spare no expense, I’m not convinced they’re worth the improvement if you’re cost conscious

As for positioning I found that putting them pretty far apart and facing forward worked the best but your room will likely dictate what sounds better for you.

Cheers,
Dean

As already mentioned by a couple of people, I would personally stick with the Qs but really it's up to you(and wifey), as it's your $.

Thanks Dean for the sanity check. I just wanted to make sure it would work to have forward firing "side" surrounds. I've already used traditional bookshelf speakers in the recommended side surround locations, pointing toward the listener but a couple feet up, and I felt that the sound was too directional.

Obviously a QS series speaker would help that problem, but within my constraints I suspect that forward-firing will work the best. I could buy M2s on the rear wall and point them toward each other, but I'm afraid it would hit the listeners too directly, plus the extra back wall reflections.

-Cooper

No problem Cooper. In the end for me it’s mostly about cost vs returns. I really wanted some Focal or B&W speakers but after hearing the Axioms I bought I didn’t think the small incremental improvement (IMO) of the other 2 brands justified the cost for me at the time. I’m presently wrestling with the same issue in trying to decide on buying an amp.

One thing you might want to try if it’s aesthetically acceptable is to get the M2s and rather than directly wall mounting them make a couple small shelves to sit them on. That would give you a little flexibility in angling them for the best performance. Since you already experimented with another set of speakers I wasn’t sure if you tried this as an option. It gives you the added advantage of having a regular set of speakers to use in another role should you ever rearrange your system and find you want to try the QS(x) speakers.

Cheers,
Dean

Yeah I just realized that before I order new speakers and tear a hole in the wall, I may as well try mounting an existing inexpensive pair of Polk speakers in the same spot to see how they sound. Shelves might be an option...

-Cooper

are you planning on ordering from the outlet and get 10% off, that may help sway your decision. Get the Q's for music AND movies.