Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Looking for Axiom QS4 v3 wall mount suggestions

How well will they integrate with as a 7.1.2 channel if I use them with KEF R11 for L/R, KEF R2C Center, and 2 KEF R3 as the rear surround?

If you were trying to integrate them into that array. I would do the r11 for L/R the R2C for the center, the r3 as your left and right surround and the QS4 as rears. The side speakers in the 7.1 will get more of the sound than the rears in most applications. I switched mine from 5.1.6 to 7.1.4 and the bulk of the sound was always from the side surrounds more than rear in both layouts. Axiom makes floor stands for the QS series speakers if you want to place them in a more traditional 7.1 arrangement if you have room for stands. If they are going on the back wall i would experiment with height placement.

Shandoeluna, KEF is making decent albeit pricey products nowadays, something that wasn't true 10 years ago. Loudspeaker measurements are publicly available, and the layman is now equipped to call out manufacturers that don't deliver.

You'll be fine with any of the surround speakers from Axiom if they're positioned according to Dolby's recommendations. I'm not sold on 7.1 as a meaningful upgrade over 5.1, but it doesn't hurt to try it before hardwiring it into a permanent setup.

I agree with you on 5.1/7.1. Most titles I’ve experienced use the surrounds for general ambient … rain,thunder, explosions and such …. 5.1/7.1 does this very well. With 7.1 giving a bit more control in general direction (which doesn’t get used too often). Very few ATMOS movies, even today, really do much more.

Would a 5.1.4 set up be better than? There is no room for them to be put directly behind the sofa in either the family room or the game room if I was to move the set up there. The wall would be 14 feet from the TV in the game room. The family room has 20 feet of space from the TV, but the issue is that due to the awkward placement of where the master bedroom hallway door and fire place means I can't move the sofa up any more or either the sofa or the speakers at floor level will block the walkway. I can't mount them on the wall behind as there are windows and curtains covering the entire wall. I can mount them on the side, but the side near the fire place would be much farther away than the other wall side which is very short before it opens up into the breakfast room and back door. Upstairs the game room opens up to a 40 foot long entrance hallway to the front door with 21 foot high ceilings before it becomes 10 foot in the game room at the balcony so can't side mount them on the wall.

I am kind of considering buying some KEF R8a though as it seems easier to have them mounted on top of the R11 and R3 to bounce off the ceiling.

Before buying any equipment, it's probably best to decide on a permanent room configuration before poking holes in spots you'll later regret.

Directional speakers like the R3 are not as ideal as surround speakers that radiant across 180º and provide a non-localizable ambience. Mine are sitting on the floor rather than above ear level, and it works fine for my situation without having to mount or even look at them.

I have 5.1 in the family room. The surrounds are on the back wall only because of aesthetics. They are distanced asymmetrically from the MLP since 1/2 the room is taken up by the ping pong table and because the entrance will eventually have a barn door… but it works … 5.1 with QS surrounds is very forgiving… so do the best you can