Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Pictures of real wood speakers

Here's my M3s in Cherry/Chestnut/Semi-Gloss.

Sorry about the photo size being so large but I just got home to find my 48"TV dead so I guess I'm just in a sulky mood . Due to the flash the colour appears more red than it really is. I love the semi gloss finish, easy to look after and appears very rich.

We built a house back in 2004 - at the age of 46 - I think I might be an idiot....anyway originally I was going to have the home theater in the great room. It is 2 stories tall with a wide opening into the dining/kitchen area on one side and the entrance hall on another. Nice fireplace on one wall - hardwood floors...My wife's cousin installs communication systems for a living - he came and helped me wire the house. Home runs from all the rooms to the main board for phone (using CAT6), Internet (CAT6 again) and Cable (RG6). He just gave me the wire He is really a great guy. We wired for speakers with 12ga speaker wire. The thing I did not account for was the accoustics. Horrible....I could probably fix it with traps or rugs hanging on the wall - but that does not clear the WAF. Now - enter the bonus room over the garage. Carpeted long room about 18*30 with knee walls ~ 4 feet up from the floor and sloped at about 50 degrees to the ceiling. Excellent acoustics. THIS is the pseudo man cave. Of course, all the money went into the house so I am having to scrape together the money for the speakers. Long story to get to this point....over the years, I / we have sort of morphed towards Cherry and Oak. The staircase and Mantel are Oak where as all the furniture - both dining and bedroom are Cherry. I like the cherry - SO I was looking at the wood veneer in either natural Cherry or maybe the nutmeg. Problem is that I have enough now to almost buy the Epic 60 500 5.1 from the factory outlet in one of those finishes....my head says DO IT....but my gut says hold out for the wood......Dang, I hate decisions like this!.....Rob

I love real wood, but I have been pretty damn impressed with the High Gloss Cherry (in vinyl). The real wood adds a significant premium. I priced a pair of M60s in High Gloss Rosewood, and the price went up almost 100%. Ouch. But, you should know that real wood veneers can be added over the cheaper vinyl later. So perhaps you order the speakers now in a simple finish, and get a nice real wood veneer added later when a few hundred bucks seems like a great deal for nicer veneers. Just a thought.

Oh, and sorry to hear about the ill conceived home theater. I think your experience is the more the norm than the exception. Few people know anything about room design, and fewer want to learn. I know contractors that build homes that often construct HT rooms that don't know anything about wires, speakers, reflections, etc. Glad found another man cave. I had to steal the dining room.

Thats already on my project list. Maybe later this year I can try one of the M2s to see how it goes.

I did a recent upgrade of this type, so drop me a line if want two cents of advise. But generally speaking, get the PSA paperbacked veneers (many options) and the project is pretty easy. Dramatic change is appearance.

I would hold out for the real wood. My Axioms in vinyl are very nice and all, but I don't think they even allow speakers in North Carolina that aren't real wood.

Yep....that is my tendency. I don't buy a lot of "stuff" (my wife would scoff at that comment) but when I do, I usually save til I can get what I perceive to be the best. The only thing that causes me to sway back and forth here is the fact that the outside of the cabinet does not change the sound. SO now the question is the definition of "best".......Rob

The reason I came to Axiom is after reading 100s of reviews of different speakers I liked what people were saying about the Axioms, that they were first an incredible speaker, and then unbelievably inexpensive for what one actually gets.

I love piano black, all of my gear has that finish, but when it came down to it, I decided that paying more for form over function just didn't make sense to me. It was like removing the second most mentioned "feature" of Axioms. But if you (or a loved one) is really set on having a speaker that looks as good as it sounds, then maybe a real wood (or custom vinyl) finish may have some value; it just didn't for me.

Axiom, can you respond to this issue? Maybe you have a good reason (though I cannot imagine one).

Zimm, HUGE 'second that'! ! ! It simply amazes me too that their photos just DO NOT convey how good (all) these finishes look in person! I know not having good full screen pictures of the stock colors, for me has been a real guessing game on what would fit best in my living room. It is very time consuming and frustrating to try to find owners with real world photos. When you do, they are usually better than the stock photos on the site. Making it worse, I feel stupid having to ask very subjective questions of how people describe their finishes. As someone who just placed an order for 9 speakers, finish color choice was a real challenge. Axiom, why make your potential customers go through this! IMHO, you would be doing yourself a huge favor by MUCH better showcasing the beauty of these speakers. Listening to the 'choir' of owners here, only goes so far with potential customers. Many are not as OCD as I willing to 'feel stupid' asking others to tell me what colors/finishes that 'I' would like. Pretty weak question, don't you think!

I anxiously await my speakers and service has been incredible, but this finish factor has been challenging. I am required to make a guess and hope it looks like what I 'think' I imagined.
(rant over)
Boy Zimm, I did not know I was so affected by this.

Ford,
NO! This size is much better. People want to see the finish up close! Awesome photos.

Axiom, I am very enamored with your product and the excellent service that your great employees provide. BUT, do all of the owners with a digital camera, a tripod and some spare time need to send you photos to post on your site? Mark is a professional photographer (I believe). Maybe you could contract with him to send you at least good close ups of his Beech finish. Just sayin'...