GT-AXE16000 (main) + GT-AX11000 (node) and AC-5300 (node) speed issues?

[SupremeNorth]

Hello SNB! Long time lurker over the years for lots of helpful information with my home AiMesh router system. Looking for more support to optimize my new setup.

ISP: Bell Fibre 3gb internet - ISP modem speedtest shows 3.25gb download/3.25gb upload.

My previous setup:
ROG GT-AX11000 (main, stock FW) - QOS speedtest shows 2.5gb down/1.2gb upload
AC-5300 (wireless bedroom node, stock FW) - wireless device speedtests show 600/550

My new setup:
ROG GT-AXE16000 (main, Merlin) - QOS speedtest shows 3.2gb download/1.5gb upload
ROG GT-AX11000 (wireless bedroom node, stock FW) - wireless device speedtests show 280/220
AC-5300 (wireless basement node, stock FW) wireless device speedtests show 290/270

My previous setup had higher 5g speeds through the AC-5300 node than my new setup which the AX11000 shows slower speeds as a node (specified above).
My question is: what can I do to "max out" speeds through my nodes (or bring speeds comparable to my previous setup)?

Few additional details:
GT-AXE16000: PPPoE connection. All 4 bands are enabled. Smart Connect mode enabled. WIFI 6 ax mode enabled. WPS disabled. 5G-2 as dedicated backhaul (this part is bugging me, as I look in the network map and see all devices connected to either 2.4g or 5g-2, no devices show connection to 5g-1. The nodes show connection to 5g. What seems to be causing this conflicting information?

Overall my setup seems stable, devices are functioning fine, just at slower speeds than expected. I would appreciate any insights or tweaks I can attempt.
Attached some screenshots of pertinent information that may be helpful, and thank you for reading!

 

[SupremeNorth]

Posting again, as max picture upload is 5 per post.

 

[SupremeNorth]

Last few screenshots. Hopefully I covered everything that may be relevant.

 

[Adooni]

when you combine AX and AC node you will get only AC wi-fi

please change position of ROG GT-AX11000 and AC-5300 - it is possible that AC-5300 have better wi-fi strength and overal internet speed will be better. To have good nodes speed you need to have good quality signal between router and nodes.

not sure what is QoS - it is not Quality of Service as this router cannot generate 2.5Gbit

please disconnect AC-5300 and check speed

 

[SupremeNorth]

when you combine AX and AC node you will get only AC wi-fi

please change position of ROG GT-AX11000 and AC-5300 - it is possible that AC-5300 have better wi-fi strength and overal internet speed will be better. To have good nodes speed you need to have good quality signal between router and nodes.

not sure what is QoS - it is not Quality of Service as this router cannot generate 2.5Gbit

please disconnect AC-5300 and check speed

Thank you for your reply

I currently have Wifi 6 mode enabled even though I have the AC-5300 unit. Should I disable this? (I did disable this earlier to improve my speeds but since there was no improvement, I enabled it again)

Both nodes have "great" strength via 5g indicated in the UI. I don't believe connection strength is a concern as I have used this node placement prior to my new setup and things worked flawlessly.

QOS is the in-app feature which can also run speed tests to the main router from the ISP modem, which does not seem to be a concern, rather highlighting the main router is picking up the fastest speeds possible (just not pushing it through the WIFI nodes).

I disconnected the AC-5300 unit and unfortunately did not see any improvement to my AX-11000 sadly.

Any other suggestions I'd love to hear! Thanks once again, appreciate you replying.