Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo My Current Speakers vs. Axiom M50s?

Hi all,

I’m going to be buying new front speakers, but I know very little about how they work. Currently, I have Technics SB-CR77. The specs for these speakers are:

Woofer: 12" cone
Watts: 200
Midrange: 10cm cone
tweeter: 5.5cm cone
Impedance: 8ohms
FR: 22hz - 40hz

I’m looking at getting the M50s or M60s. Can someone explain to me why these Axioms will be better than my Technics (besides the fact that they are Axioms)?

I don’t really understand the difference between my Technics’ “22hz- 40hz” and the Axiom’s “39 - 22kHz.”

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. If it helps, you can find the Technics specs here: http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/SBCR33.PDF

dont worry too much about the specs. I can almost certainly guarantee that the axioms will sound better without knowing anything about your current speakers simply because techniques doesnt and probbly hasnt ever made a high end speaker. I would probbably upgrad to the M60 over the 50. You will probably notice seemingly less bass output because the techniques likely have overemphasised bass response.

the frequency response is rated at 16db below average level. Which traslates in my mind to + or - 16 db..... That is...very poor to say the least. What a frequency response is, is the range of audio frequencies a speaker can reproduce, they are graphed by the amount of output in deibels. I believe the axioms are rated at + or - 3db which means that there might be a frequency on the graph that responds 3db lower than the rest. or higher than the rest. If i read techniques one their speaker responds with some frequencies being as low as 16db less or more. This is ALOT. A flat frequency response is much more desirable than one that is not flat.

The axioms are a speaker made for music with sound in mind, they weight more, use better parts and have been engineered. The techniques are a speaker used to produce sound. accurate sound. no. they probbably havent even been engineered, rather throwin in a box with off the shelf drivers and sold. The average person is perfectly happy with this. But i think once you hear the axioms compared to what you have now you will never look back.

One thing that stands out in their specs are - 16 db below average level and - 10 db below average level. Meaning at those referance points these specs are meaningless.

I am willing to bet the Axioms will sound clearer and go lower than your current speaker set up. I don't mean to be rude but Technics is not really known for quailty speakers. They make some decent electronics but speakers, no.

You guys don’t have to worry about offending me. I understand that technics aren't great. I own Axiom rears and a center, so I know how good they are.

I just keep hearing people talk about midrange, frequency range, etc. and I don’t really know how to read those kinds of specs. And now you’re telling me not to worry about the specs.

I’m confused.

A speaker's characterstic doesnt have to relate to its specs, although it often does. Dont worry if you dont understand all the technical sides of the hobby, you will eventually if your really insterested in it. Of course no speakers sound alike, but I had a set of speakers somewhat like yours a few years back before I really got into the hobby, although they had a real tweeter rather than a more cone type that you have. The difference in sound quality, detail and smoothness is astounding.

What axioms do you currently have and what reciever? If your happy with what you have now then theres no reason to talk yourself into buying something new, but if you do. Like i said i think you will be impressed.

You could see if there is someone in your area and then do a side by side with the Technics and Axioms. There would be no guessing which one you liked then. If you are in the greater ChicagoLand area my home is open to you.

Have you considered an EP500 or 600 from Axiom, man those babies really blow me away.

Techniques, wow I didn't even realize they were still in business, nor did I know they made speakers. I used to have a Techniques turntable back in the college days.

For me it was important for all my speakers to have the same finish, mansfield beech. So my sub is also the same color. SVS makes good subs also.

I’ve actually been doing home theatre for about 7 years, I just know more about video than audio. I’m just now getting to the point where I’m catching my audio up to my video.

The Technics have been great speakers and I’ve had them for about 10 years, so they do last.

To answer your question, the Axioms will extend lower, playing deeper bass and the midrange and highs will definitely be more clear and accurate. I would guess the difference for music would be quite noticable.

The Technics are rated at 40Hz - 22,000Hz 16 dB below average. Which means that as they play lower bass, the output at a given frequency starts to fall off. 40Hz would be the point at 16dB below the average of all the other higher frequencies. This is about half as loud compared to the rest of the frequencies the speaker is playing. *If* these were spec'd using a +/- 3dB tolerance, the rating might be somthing like 55Hz - 18,000.

The +/- dB reference is basically the window of tolerance for how well the speaker can play all frequencies within the range at the same volume level. Idealy, you want a linear response thru the entire range. The Axioms do very well with this at +/- 3dB. +/- 2dB would be better, and the Technics are not so good at something like +?/-16 dB.

I hope this helps

I recently hooked up an old pair of Cerwin Vegas I used many years ago in a stereo set up. They are the LS15's and I swear I thought the tweeters were blown, they really do sound that bad. When I first started using my Axiom's I didnt notice the quality of the sound they produced was so much better, I needed a little time to get used to the new sound. The M80's will absolutely blow them away in terms of sheer volume as well. Not as much bass, (thats what the sub is for) but still what an improvement in sound. The specs on the Vega's only say 25-20,000hz. Hey that is better than the Axiom, goes lower!! Maybe it does hit 25 hz, but you probably couldn't hear it anyway. They dont give a +/- 3db or anything else to go by. I am sure if Axiom chose to rate their speakers the same way they could rate them as 20hz to 20,000hz as well, it just would not mean anything.

Now whenever I go to peoples houses and they crank up their little Sony mini-system I feel like smashing those little speakers and urinating on them, they really bother me now. I never noticed before.

Maybe I could convert those Cerwin Vegas into subs, they certainly aren't going to see any use as full range speakers anymore, not in my house. They might make good garage speakers. I wonder what everyone else did with their cheap speakers once they stepped up to some good ones.

I could donate them to Goodwill, or sell them in a garage sale. Maybe convert it to a subwoofer for my SUV. Any suggestions? They do weigh like 70LBS each.

LOL at your story.

I have a similar story, in that I have these Cerwin-Vega D1 speakers (2-way, 100W rated, about 25 lb each) from the 1980s that have been sitting in my basement for years. Man, back in the day, I thought they were the BOMB! I'd crank up the Rush and think that Power Windows sounded like I was in the studio with them.

Craig, I'll trade you some speakers for that artwork!

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The real issue for me is making sure that whatever fronts I buy will be able to reproduce everything the new audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD throw at them.

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As long as your source is up to the task the speakers will have no problems at all. No matter the format.

Your dvd player would be your "source".

Really I guess it's the player AND the receiver. The player needs to be able to pull the data off the disk and get it out to the coax or optical port without mucking it up, and then the receiver needs to be able to decode it into all the right channels.

That's the nice thing about speakers. Their job never changes and they don't care about formats. They also don't care about whether the source is digital or analog, despite the "digital-ready" plaques on many inexpensive speakers

I had a pair of 70's vintage 10" 2-ways for many years, paper cone tweeters and all. I looked a number of times but never found anything I liked better enough to spend the money to upgrade.Then the woofer surrounds disintigrated from old age so I bought some 8" 3-ways from a pawn shop for $60. Lost a little bass, picked up some midrange but the sound was about the same. Finaly, in 2000, I bought a pair of NHT super ones (similar to m3's). Lost far less bass than I was expecting and gained an obsene amount of detail. I would never go back.
The other thing I gained was placement flexibility. Those big-ass boxes have a huge footprint and in my case they were placed where they would fit- filed like cardboard boxes of crap. When I got the nht's they were like 20% the size of my first pair- I was now able to put them in the optimum spot(well, almost). Placement alone made as big of improvement as the speakers did.
Have a look at the basic shape of all the Axiom line- they ain't cubes. Now look at the shape of other brands- Paradigm for example. The lower priced models are all cubes- the higher the price the more like axioms they look. I think once you get your M50's dialed in you will just "know".
The 50's will be less of a jolt than 22's,60's,or 80's, but I predict you will feel a jolt of improvement.