I gotta be honest--I would love to get the QS4's but right now the way my setup is, it's just not gonna work (my left surround speaker now sits on a shelf, the right surround is on a mount at the same height, works nicely). Maybe when I move, but I am not sure when that is going to be and I am hating the current surrounds I have right now. I was thinking of using the M2's for my l/r surrounds and then, once I move, move them to my back SBR/SBL when I get the QS4's.

Are the M2's overkill for surround speakers? They certainly seem quite nice and are a good price.

thanks!
mike

I couldn't help it--I bought them just now. I figure I have the 30 day trial...I just really needed better surrounds, my Cambridge Soundworks were just not doing the trick.

Well, that was easy. Congrats on the purchase. I'm sure they will work out great. Keep us posted.

Ha, definitely merchman. I have some leeway in the bookshelf--it's on the top shelf, so it's not enclosed, and I can bring it out a bit from the wall, which is good, too. I just figure it was time, you know? I am thrilled that at least 5 speakers in my 7.1 system are axiom...

the worst part is the waiting, though...ah, well.

What are your main speakers?
M2s should work well for that setup.
Welcome aboard!

Did you go factory outlet?

The M2's are not going to offer that enveloping surround experience to the degree of the QS4/QS8 (due to their quadpolar design) but certainly the M2's can be used for surround speakers.

For A-stock items especially 1 pair, they usually ship out within 48 hours or less so the wait shouldn't be too long. If you ordered from the factory outlet, there is waiting period.

Congrats and enjoy! Looking forward to your impressions.

hi guys!
I totally understand that I am not getting the FULL surround experience from axiom, but right now, just the way my room is, I gotta hold off. The good news is that we are looking to move, so hopefully I can rock the QS4's eventually and use the M2s either in another room or just as my back surrounds. Regardless, they are going to kick the pants off of the Newton whatevers I was using from Cambridge Soundworks!

I am using M60v2s for my mains and a VT100v2 for my center. It should be a pretty solid configuration with SVS sub (Axiom sub eventually!).

I just ordered them new, not from the outlet. I was...impatient.

thanks guys, full report with pics when I get them!!

Congratulations on your purchase. Your situation is unique so please let us know how it works out as it may help other who have similar room constraints.

Ha, Cambridge Soundworks Newton series surrounds eh? Cool, you are the only other person I've met here that also had these speakers. When I had my fire these speakers literally melted from their positions. Actually Cambridge Soundworks has changed quite a bit since I first bought from them. I had two kinds of surrounds from them. The Newtons sat directly beside the main seating position. And I had 4 square, dipole surround speakers placed behind the seating area. At the time I really thought my HT system sounded terrific!!!

So after the fire I was planning on going with a complete Cambridge Soundworks HT, but they no longer carried their towers with the built in power subs on the side (I thought they looked like the SHIT back in the day), so my internet hunt began... this is when I stumbled across the M80's.

Needless to say the QS8's blow the doors off the Newtons in a shocking and complete fashion. Absolutely no contest. And while I haven't heard the M2's, I have not a doubt in my mind they will also do a better job, as the Axioms are in another realm of audio performance from the Cambridge Soundworks. Good choice!

Wow, I keep seeing these systems with the M80s and the VT150s...your rooms must sound aMAZING. I live in an apartment with a very long, rectangular living room (my measurements for my surrounds are 9' and 11' from the main listening area, the mains are about 9' away) so the M60s seemed to be the way to go. All in good time, I guess.

hey Micah, how does the Emotiva XPA-3 work for you? I don't really have the room for it but it looks intriguing ..

Brother, when you want to listen to LOUD, DISTORTION FREE music with all the headroom you could ever dream of, add an XPA-3 or similar amp to the mix and fear not the volume knob...

...wait, what am I saying... FEAR THE VOLUME KNOB IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOUR BLOODY EARS!!!!!!!!


External amps (not just the Emotiva) rock hard. They aren't meant for normal listening levels (not that they won't play at normal levels. But it's kind of like buying a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 to putt 3 doors down the block to the corner store for milk), they thrive on juice. In short, they are wild stallions that want to run. So if you're the sort of cat who likes the occasional 'blast' through the sonic barrier, get an external amp!

Wyld Stallyns!

San Dimas High School Football Rules!

The speakers have arrived! I am at my office now and I can't leave but hopefully I can get the mounted and installed tonight. My wife's home--total disaster, she wasn't supposed to be--so there might be a delay in my reporting, but I am very excited...!

Congrats! Very exiting.

Also, I'm amazed that you were able to post a thread last night that includes both the words wife and mount and Mark still hasn't come along to put the two together in some fashion I wouldn't get cause I'm obviously much less prone to using such humor......

Good thing you're not prone, or Mark may be tempted to do something to you instead of to the wife.

Touche, burned by my own methodologies.

I tried pulling something similar off, much to no avail...lol Anyways, now I just suck up and ask her, like I did when I ordered my 4's. FWIW...in my short time with them, they've really change the dynamics of my entire room. The sound has become more alive and open, instead of coming directly at you as it did with bookshelf speakers. I guess its always exciting buying new stuff and even when you move into your new place and think you have finally arrived it will happen again...lol .
Regards, Bill.... & BTW CONGRATS!!

hey guys!

I installed them--one on a shelf, the other using the Axiom mounting bracket. They are basically at ear level, 12' to my left 9' to my right. Ran the axiom setup with 8 positions, adjust the crossover and speaker sizes, ran a few demos, then just finished Wall-E.

WHOA!!!!!!

it sounds SO FREAKING GOOD. Like, I am stunned. The M2's totally brought this room ALIVE, like there is a lightness and a real great, full middle texture to whole thing--it's really quite fantastic.

Oh, wife will be fine with it---I am honestly not sure how long we will be in the apartment anyway (looking at a new one tomorrow) so I just gotta soak this up while I got it.

And wouldn't you know I am going to be gone through Monday, then off to NY for a work trip Tue-Thursday? And I am supposed to go out tonight?!! Killing me!

Anyway, more testing to do...thanks so much for the advice, so far, I think I can highly recommend using the M2's as surrounds if you can't support the QS series due to your room. Really full sound from these guys, just really a pleasure.

Thanks to all the folks at Axiom for another fantastic product!

..now...what to listen to next.

-m

Hey, I'm glad you're finding them worthwhile. Come back and report some more whenever your schedule allows.

I have M2's for rear surrounds and they work great. I think, imho, that for SACD's and DVD-A's that the sound field is more true with direct firing speakers.

Statements like that make me want to have both kinds of speakers set up as surrounds, maybe have them on some kind of switch so I can change where the surround info is routed depending on content. Is anyone actually already doing that?

Charles, the Denon receivers have provision for A and B side surround speakers. So, the side surround channel information could be sent to either, for example, QS8s or M2s, or both, at the press of a button. Doubt that very many are set up that way, but the option is there.

Just curious, but are the A and B side surrounds also calibrated separately? I'd assume they'd have to be, which would of course make it better than an external switcher.

No; it's just an internal splitter making a parallel connection of the side surround output to either or both sets of surround speakers.

That's unfortunate.

I have many SACDs and DVD-As and used my Denon to A/B compare my QS8s and M22s. On some studio recordings like DSOTM the M22s kept up with the QS8s and in a few cases might have sounded better but it certainly wasn‘t a slam dunk. On the majority of my 5.1 material which is live concert/club recordings the QS8s beat the crap out of the M22s for sounding more realistic. This is just my experience in just one room but it was so convincing to me that I have no intention to retest this again in my house.

Also note that my QS8s are on Axiom stands and not wall or ceiling mounted so pans are level and I can angle them to get the side/rear soundstage right. I did prefer the M22s on stands over QS8s mounted a couple feet above ear level for most studio recordings. Though the QS8s still won mounted up high for the ambient sounds of a venue.

That said, some people prefer direct radiating speakers especially for music and even for movies. I would never say they are wrong and think this is a perfect excuse for you to pick up a set of M22s and report back.

I was planning on M22s at some point to try them as a center channel, so I may as well play with them as surrounds at the same time. Thanks for sharing your findings.

hey guys!

So far, so good. I can't wait to eventually get the QS4's or QS8's but at least folks in the position I am have a good Axiom alternative. The QS4's are super rugged, but I definitely have to keep working with a fairly high WAF...

I have been testing this on a lot of material using the Odyssey setup, and I do feel like the material I am watching is just taken to a higher, clearer, fuller level. I need to go get some DVD-As and SACDs (once I get that Oppo player)-- I was going to go pick up a few concert blu-rays to see what happens, but I have been blown away by the music, say, at the of Mad Men. My whole system just feels so so much more full and vibrant; I really just need a sick day at work so I can just demo like crazy.

Oh, by the way, we got to about 11 days before my wife realized that I had installed the new speakers! These were a bit larger than I thought they would be (I mean, I read the measurements, but, you know, I didn't really care), but so far, I haven't had to sleep on the couch. (Which wouldn't be such a bad thing since I could watch more stuff...)

talk to you soon!!
-mike

Gotta love it when you sneak one in! I'm glad the M2s are working out for you.

The best trick I saw was to run a 7.1 setup with QS-type surrounds and M2-type rear surrounds. Run 5.1 analog cables from your multichannel audio player, but connect the "surround" cables to the rear surround inputs on your amplifier/receiver.

If you use a digital input for DVDs and the analog inputs for music, then music surround info automatically goes to the rear M2s. The neat thing is that the recommended *rear* position for 7.1 and the recommended *surround* position for 5.1 music are pretty much the same.

Yeah, John; but then the 7.1 surround for music(e.g., using DPLIIx)is lost. I'd prefer to just use the digital connections for both the DVDs and the 5.1 music disks.

Good point.

You can tell I haven't gotten around to upgrading the firmware on my receiver yet