Hi,

I've taken over a section of my basement for a HT setup. The basement is an open layout with the rest being used as an office and play area for the kids. The total dimensions are round 25' by 30'with 7.5'ceilings. My system is coming from another room and includes a pair of paradigm studio 40's, paradigm studio 20's and an SVS 12+ sub.

I was generally pretty happy with the old configuration with the only issue being the seating was pushed up against the back wall. With the studio 20's used as surrounds to the side the sound was pretty directional.

For my new setup there will be plenty of room behind the seating ( about 15 feet) and I'm planing on doing a 7.1 setup and use the studio 20's as the rear. For the sides I was going to move away from monopole speakers and was looking at the QS4 and QS8. One of the surrounds will be mounted on the wall directly to the left of the seating. The other will get hung from a soffet that runs the length of the basement. Both surrounds will be close to the seating (3 to 6 feet).

Should I be considering the entire volume of the basement when deciding between the QS4 and the QS8 or should I also consider how close they will be placed to the seats?

The only reason I ask is because I can pickup a pair of used QS4's with stands for about $200. If I was buying new I'd probably just spend the extra hundred and get the QS8's.

Thanks,

Mike

Hi mikes781, welcome to the forum. Of the two I believe the QS8v3 would have a bit better frequency response, especially in the mid and lower ranges, due to the larger woofers. This would lead to slightly better dynamic effects in those action scenes, in one's movie experience. The used QS4's you could get, do you know are they Gen.v2, or Gen.v3, as Axiom almost two years ago made some slight enhancements to their speaker line up.

Thanks Gary,

I'm not sure what generation they are but I will ask when they were made.

Mike, welcome. Although room volume and listening distance are both factors which affect the acoustic output(and power input)needed from speakers, the listening distance is far more significant in rooms of the sizes found in typical homes. The general magnitude of the effect, as determined from measurements by Dr. Toole and others, is that sound levels drop off about 3dB per doubling of listener distance(i.e., requiring a doubling of power input for a doubling of distance).

In your described setup, the listening distance would be just a bit longer than the basic one meter standard distance for sensitivity ratings. The QS4s would likely satisfy your listening needs, unless you wanted to listen at dangerously(to your hearing)high levels.

If possible, the QSs in a 7.1 setup should be placed directly to the side of the listening position and 2-3' above ear level.

Sounds like what my room was like prior to enclosing the theater area. The recroom/theater was 30ft x 31ft x 9ft. All my Qs8's hung from a boxed in soffet about 7-8 ft hight. Worked out pretty good.

Thanks for the responses. For the price i'm going to give them a shot and see how it goes. I can always use them for my smaller system in my family room.

For brackets you could use something Axiom offers, or come up with your own DIY idea. I found some shelf brackets at menards that had a nice gloss black plastic cover to hide the wiring.

For years I only had QS4's, I just recently added some QS8's in my new HT room. I haven't had a chance to really put them thru the paces yet but so far I wouldn't say the difference between them is gigantic. I think the QS4's are probably the most underrated speaker Axiom sells.