Hello to everyone. I'm posting here looking for some speaker purchase advice. I think my situation is pretty standard, but my goals might not be.

I have a 14x18x8 living room that is going to be as close as I can get to home theater (some very off-axis viewing and listening.) My days of routinely listening loud are over (oh, maybe every now and then.) And I'm a big believer in "less is more." So I no longer wish to have mega-sound anymore, but still want sweet tunes and good LFE.

I'm getting rid of my Carver/Klipsch stereo and moving up to 5.1. My speaker research has led me to internet speakers in general and Axiom speakers in particular.

So that's where I'm coming from. Where I'm at is that I've become convinced that I dont need big front LR speakers anymore, just a very solid center (VP150). I started out thinking that I need the M22s and QS8s, but now I'm thinking the M3s and QS4s would work every bit as well in my size room.

What does the group think? I expect to use the smallest SVS subwoofer cube and a Pioneer Elite vsx-53tx receiver.

BTW, has anybody ever even tried running 5.1 with 4 QS8s and a VP150?

I think you are on the right track with your speaker choices. The VP150 is an excellent center with good off-axis dispersion. I wouldn't use the QS4 or 8s as front L/R speakers,however. They aren't designed for that and would probably "wash out" your front imaging -- especially when you're listening to stereo material.

That being said, M22s would be your best choice for non-tower front speakers, but if you wanted to save some money -- and especially since you're getting a great sub -- you can easily go with M2s instead of M3s. The M2s and M22s have a flatter response, and are therefore more accurate. Not everyone likes an accurate speaker, though, since they can sound bright and somewhat harsh in certain environments.

The main reason to go with M3s over M2s or M22s is if you like a bit more warmth in your sound, or if your room can be characterized at "bright" or "lively" (i.e. lots of hard, reflective surfaces).

The ideal setup, in your sutuation would be M22, VP150, and QS8s. You could easily step down to M2, VP150, and QS4 without a significant sacrifice in sound quality.

Hi Les, welcome.

What size Klipsch are you coming from? My opinion is that some floorstanders provide a bigger, fuller soundstage. If that is what you are used to, then going to much smaller boxes might leave you feeling a little empty. Likewise, if you've been listening to La Scala's or something for the last 20 years, you're going to have a distinctive frame of reference.

The Axiom tweeters are great - very clear, neutral and transparent. But if you are used to the sound of horn tweeters at high volumes, even the allegedly-bright Axiom "sound" may not make you feel happy. Personally, I long ago owned and recently auditioned Klipsch speakers, and I really like how smooth the Axioms sound in comparison.

Most folks around here will probably recommend the M22's as your front mains if you are looking specifically for a bookshelf. Oh, people adore the M3 and they are by all accounts a wonderful little speaker. However, since you already wisely plan on a SVS PB1-ISD, the somewhat flatter frequency response of the M22 might be a better match.

I'd be remiss if I did not tell you how much I love my M60's. I am very, very satisfied.

I've not heard the QS4's, but I love my QS8's. They are a bit bigger box, so might go a touch lower. This may not be necessary for you. I spent the extra $ on them for a couple reasons; first, I did not want to have a case of the "what ifs" and second, if I get involved in 5.1 channel music (DVD-A/SACD), I wanted to have the surrounds be a bit more full-range-capable. I did NOT want to have direct-radiating surround speakers, because I mostly view movies and liked the flexible placement of the QS surrounds.

Have you considered just keeping your Klipsch mains and getting a VP150 to see if the timbre match is adequate?

I don't think ANYBODY is going to like the idea of using QS8's as main front speakers. They are great surrounds, though.

Talk to the folks at Axiom. They will steer you right.

welcome larry-

well, from what you have posted, looks like you are looking for a good(but not grand) sound, that is on the smaller size. my advice would be to go with the M22s. they offer the greatest mids and highs for a bookshelf speaker, and with a good SVS sub to bring in the bottom half, you should have no problems. you would be surprised to know that the VP100 might do you just as good a job as the VP150. you can save a little money there, but definitely go with the QS8's for surround. their size is not much larger than the QS4's, but you will need their xtra kick to help fill in the rest of the room with sound.

i have never heard of anyone trying to use 4 QS8's with a center?? i would think you would be missing a lot on the mids by doing that, not to mention, it fires up and down, and sitting in front, you would miss a lot of the volume. i would say to scratch this idea.. but then again.. you could be the first and give us your opinion on how they sound!! but i dont think you would like it!?!

bigjohn

Must admit, I love my M80s. They have a FULL sound (atleast to my ears), compared to a lot of crappy speakers I've owned in the past.

I have QS8s and think they're awesome, but in a small room I think you could easily be happy with QS4s. Combined w/M22s or M2s you would then have identical mids and tweets all the way around. If you're not going to be listening to much music, maybe M2s would be adequate?

Les,

I can fully understand the "less is more" philosophy - my mulleted, air guitar playing days are over, too. I've got QS4s and M3s in a space roughly your size (slightly bigger actually) and while I can't liquify my organs, they'll definately play at a volume loud enough to cause tinnitus in a short period of time. Up to you on the M22s or M3s for mains (the M22s are a little flatter in the frequency response, but the M3s are fine, fine speakers and provide some serious bass on their own for being bookshelves).

Bren R.

Thank you all very much for your advice. My sense of what was said is that while the M22-VP150-QS8 combo is the ideal, the M2-VP150-QS4 combo would give up very little in my small (14x18) room.

Except perhaps for music.

Would I lose musically going with the step down? I do still listen to a lot of music, and I wouldn't consider the step down if it meant too big of a sacrifice in music quality.

I have M22's, VP100 and 3QS8's in a 12x16 room and the wife swears she can see the piano's in the cd's she listens to. I find it gets extremely loud and the timbre is matched across the board. The QS4's now have the same tweeter as the rest, so I would bet it now sounds the same too. I think the M2 and M22 sound closer to the QS series than the M3's (due to same Driver size?). Good Luck with your choices. You really can't go wrong.

I had a small season there where I used my M2s as my front speakers in a bigger room such as yours les9596. I personally would not recommend going with a speaker that small to fill that amount of space. It doesn't sound like it's working hard, it's just that it doesn't cover a large enough sound spectrum to be satisfying when trying to fill a room as big as that. I'd probably go for the M22s if you don't want to jump to towers.