gem,
Your comments are well placed. I certainly agree with your thoughts on the reviews.
One major problem with a speaker face off with multiple people over a weekend can be quite hard to accomplish properly. Considering the time it takes for the brain to break into the new sound of each speaker, a single day with several people may not be enough time for you to decide whether this sound is better or worse. You can easily define how other speakers sound in comparison to the original reference that the listener is used to hearing, however, that original reference is just that, the point at which the listener feels is often the best to begin with (biased towards what you know well).
Although the Axioms have been reported as being bright (and they are) very few people report on how clear or precise that also makes them. I think the descriptions of tinny and metallic are coming from those who researched the tweeter materials ahead of time. It looks to me like at least 2 of the other tweeters are not pure metals and hence get the reputation of producing a 'softer' sound (silk vs. aluminum...it must be 'softer' right?).
That being said, the different materials can produce a different frequency curve, different spikes or dips, or rolloff quicker at the upper end. My Tannoys employ the soft dome (silK) tweeter and i find them to be really smooth in their delivery but a bit less detailed than the Axioms. I have yet to hook them up to my system that powers the Axioms though so this is not quite apples to apples.
So which do people prefer then?
Accuracy in sound from a flatter frequency response curve with a metal tweeter?
Or the rolled off upper end that may sound 'less harsh' to the ears but then 'less accurate' reproduction of sound?
Perhaps you can post the link to the AVS forum talk on this. I would enjoy reading it i'm sure.
