Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Speaker Face Off!!

In reply to:

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If I were someone looking to buy speakers, I would look at what Curtis' says with a grain of salt, and do more research. I am skeptical of something that only has customer reviews.

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I guess that depends on how much you trust the self-proclaimed professional/audiophiless or pros influenced by the almighty dollar and publishers.
I'm sure Alan could relate a ton of stories having edited the S&V mag for some years.

If an item has a relatively good number of reviews (for example audioreview.com on the VTF2 sub which has 100 reviews), i would tend to still believe the customers.
You certainly need to read between the lines a fair bit to sort out the consistently good points and bad points for both customer or professional opinions.

chesseroo,

Agreed....very much...it is a combination of both, and being able to read between the lines. Let the buyer beware.

curtis

Yes, Curtis, I meant by the "internet community" all kinds of information/opinions/testimonials available online as a whole. The truly great thing about the internet is, behind one sushi who constantly blurbs about his Axioms, there usually are ten people who try to "trash" the Axioms in a (sometimes ) constructive manner. I mean, as long as you do your homework carefully, you'll always get upfront opinions, both positive and negative. That way, you can get a fairly accurate and "honest" summary on both the strengths and weaknesses of the speakers in a short period of time.

As for the MCACC, yes, it does automatic level/delay/EQ adjustments for all channels (level/delay only on the sub), using a dedicated measurement mic placed at the "sweetspot" listening position. Most importantly, you can defeat the EQ by one-click on the remote (without affecting the level/delay settings), allowing you to listen to the "native" sound of the speakers. I guess it will be very nifty for these comparison sessions.

Sushi,

When we get around to doing an A/B comparison between the Axiom M22 and the Ascend 340 and are using MCACC, would I just save the MCACC configs to Custom 1 and Custom 2 respectively and then just toggle back and forth between them?
We are trying in these sessions to equalize the listening parameters as much as we possibly can, realizing full well they will be very unscientific at best.

Mark

I think I would do it with MCACC turned off.

Well, Mark, that would be VERY interesting. Please do that in addition to the "formal" comparison with the EQ turned off. And please report here how much of an effect, if any, the MCACC has to make the two brands of speakers sound more similar to each other.

I can tell you that MCACC definitely makes my VP150 sound even more similar to my Hales (as I said here before, the Hales and Axioms are surprisingly similar-sounding to start with).