Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Aluminum cone resonance

Someone at the AVS forum named John Ashman has posted that Axiom speakers are bright because the aluminum midrange material resonates at the high midrange frequencies (where at 3KHz to 6KHz there is a slight peak anyway).

He says this is why Axiom's are considered "bright", because the tweeter isn't crossed over low enough to cover the resonance of the midrange cones.

Is any of this true? Also, wouldn't a spectral decay waterfall plot show/disprove this? I wonder if there are any available of Axiom speakers.

I have heard this a couple of times, but I don't give it a lot of credence. Most of the Axiom speakers cross over around 2.2 KHz and would be ~12 dB down at 5 KHz, so unless the resonance is very dramatic there wouldn't be much effect at the 5-ish KHz where the Axiom speakers tend to peak up a bit.

John Ashman (Alimentall) is a audio dealer in competition with Axiom. He sells NHT speakers from a store in New Mexico, and is not fond of the internet direct sales model. Axioms are his pet peeve.

He strongly feels that Axioms are over-hyped, and he's been in numerous arguments with those of us who like and enjoy Axioms, and this has only served to fuel his anger. He has openly declared it his personal crusade to offset this perceived over-hype by appearing in any thread where Axioms are mentioned, and running them down as being ear bleeding bright. While Axioms are accurate and revealing, he claims are grossly overstated, and belie his agenda.

The Axiom sound isn't for everybody. The same could be said for the sound of any and all speaker brands, including John's beloved NHTs. Only you can decide if the Axiom sound is for you.

So is most of the brightness probably attributed to what we can see in the FR graph? (Aka the 3-6KHz peak and the tweeter peak at around 18-19KHz?)

Kobe, there are a lot of Axiom bashers on AVSforum, not sure why, that is one reason I don't hang there as much anymore. Everyone hears things differently, and I have found most on AVS, haven't even heard Axioms before, it is just hearsay.

Anyway, I find them very accurate and neutral. They will produce the music failthfully, and true to the recording. If the recording is poor, the output will suffer.

If possible, try to find someone in your area that will let you listen to Axioms. Check the Hearing Things forum...

I like what Jack said.

Such claims are practically impossible to substantiate; the denegrator certainly does NOT have access to the production and design specifications of either the drivers or the crossovers. He is speculating and using pseudo-science to steer the unsuspecting towards a plausible but utterly baseless conclusion.

Decide for yourself using music rather than hyperbole.

If it's any importance at all, I listened to NHT before buying my Axioms. Didn't care for them.

John Ashman (aka: Alimetall)
He is a B&M speaker dealer out of NM that seems very threatened by Axioms cost to sound and positive review ratio.

I would take what John Ashman says, with a very very small grain of salt.


Edit: That will teach me to go to the can in the middle of a post.

Oh that guy, I think and Craigsub and Ajax have had some heated battles.. I've even back Axiom against his biased opinions. You don't see people bashing his speakers.

Like Spiff, I preferred Axiom over NHT, as well as B&W and Paradigm.

How amusing. Did Mr. Ashman post a chart PROVING his claims? Did he disclose his status as an audio retail store owner? Ah, the internet... sometimes the bullsh!t piles up so fast you need wings to stay above it. If someone told you "never buy a Mac, they underperform and here's why" with no proof you might think one thing. And if his assistant said "Mr. Gates, the jet is fueled and we need to go if we are going to make Tahiti by midnight" you might think another.