Nice to hear a comparison with the MA Golds. I seriously considered those when I looked at Axioms. Granted I would've only been able to afford a stereo config...
I really liked the MA sound too. Hmm, maybe my Xmas week should be spent A/B'ing my M22's and Von Schweikert VR1's...
Yea, it was obvious the MA's were "better" speakers. But, guitars, cool electronica sounds, and instruments just didn't have any impact. The highs were more "velvety" and if you sat there an listened things kind of came to you...but it was like when you switched to the MA golds from the axioms, it was like something went missing and you had to re listen for it.
They didn't sound bad by any stretch, it's just that...the axioms were more fun, I guess. I'm pretty sure if any audiophile reviewist sat down they would "prefer" the MA's because of the quality therin (again, the transperancy of the highs was a lot better, it didn't feel as "in your face" as the axioms) but sometimes it's just the overall sound of the speaker, not how good they are. It was just a different sound.
I'm sure if we put on some classical music everything would sound a lot more pure on the MA's...sometimes when switching to the Axioms, things sounded a little bloated.
There was one defining characteristic I loved about the axioms that wasn't the MA's - separation of instruments. I was playing a band that has a pretty crazy studio recording style where they add a lot of cool distorted sounds and effects in with the music. With the axioms, I could pick out the accoustic guitar right away amongst all of the sounds and instruments (drums, electric guitars, violin, etc). With the MA's, I couldn't pick out the guitar as well, besides the "clickity click" of the guitar pick hitting the strings (the mic was probably very close to the strings). The sounds of the actual guitar strings were almost lost in the recording.
My dad also pointed out that he liked the vocals much better on the axioms than he did on the MA's. I preferred the MA's a little bit more.
The Axioms were a LOT more in your face than the MA's, and the axioms had a lot more midrange.
Overall, it felt like the MA's had a bit more "upper shelf" where the things up there sounded a little more pure, which is why they sounded like an expensive speaker. But, the midrange was really a disappointment. I'm sure if I listened to them for long enough I would find lots of little things that the MA's did better than the axioms...but that isn't my listening style.
I didn't pay much attention to the sound stage. I did notice that the sounds from the axioms sounded about a foot behind the speakers, while the MA's had much more depth where the sound was coming from way behind the speakers. However, that isn't important to me, especially with my setup. If I had two stands in the middle of a room where the speakers were about 10 feet apart, the difference would probably become a lot more evident and I would care more about the sound stage.
I probably could have spent a lot longer listening to them, but I thought an hour or so was enough :-)
To me, a speaker should just sound good, and have a fun impact to them when playing music. The axioms had that more than the MA's.
