Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo hello, intro from nervous possible M3 buyer

Hi folks,
my finger has been hovering over the "add to cart" button or "buy" button or whatever they call it on here, all day.

I've had the worst time over the last few years, trying to get good sound. (the best I've been able to do is headphones with a small headphone amp) Part of it is that I no longer partake as much of adult beverages which I suppose can make music sound or seem to sound better.

Or maybe its my ears. Not sure. I crave clarity and openness and a sense of dynamism (is that a word?).

My room is very small @ approx 13 by 15. Had a pair of Klipsch Synergy speakers that I thought were supposed to be good, but they sure didn't sound clear or musical to me. Sold 'em. Stuck with headphones for awhile.
Then bought a small pair of Polk bookshelf speakers, used. Something happened to them...but they now have tweeters that don't work and one has a rattle. They sound like someone buried them underground. They are broken!

So instead of getting them fixed...I thought I'd finally get myself a pair of nice, well rated speakers - and the M3's or maybe M2's are what I'm coming up with...along with maybe Epos' and or maybe Paradigms of comparable size. The Epos are a bit out of my price range.

Using an Onkyo 100 watt per channel power amp with a newly purchased Gemini pre-amp.
OR I could switch back to an early 70's Sansui integrated amp and radio dial receiver.
Will try the Axioms with both set-ups.
No surround for now....I have a little faux-surround gizmo for my TV called a Z-vox mini, that does nicely for movies and sports and anything I watch on my TV.

I just want to enjoy MUSIC again. Mainly I want to run music from iTunes from one of my Macs, but to be honest I'm not impressed with the sound that way. Too bad. I guess I'll be looking into a CD player soon.

Anyway, if you got through this, thanks for reading...
I'll be pushing that "buy" button any second now, I think. Just need to decide between the M2's and M3's.

Wish me luck! and I wish you luck in all your listening endeavours.
I look forward to reading more of your postings here in this forum.

Em
Tampa FL

Go with the M3s. They're excellent speakers, slightly more forgiving than other Axioms, and with better bass than the M2s.

Done! Boston Cherry M3's ordered!

holding breath....

Emz, remember you're not obligated to keep the speakers either...give them a trial and see how you like them. I'm sure you'll enjoy either of these speakers(M3 would also be my first choice, though) but if they're not for you, you can return them and just pay the shipping. Axiom could tell you how much the return shipping would be if that's an issue, but I'm sure you'll love these speakers esp for the $$.

Lol, you just ordered.

Congrats, now exhale. You'll love your Axioms.

Another congrats on your purchase. Did you buy from the factory outlet or A stock? I think you will be very pleased with them. I have mine hooked up as the B set along with my M80's. I still enjoy just how good they do sound when you put the power to them. Enjoy them and let us know what you think.

hey thanks, you all! ordered them from here on the Axiom website. Looking forward to this new adventure!

I was pretty scared when I ordered the biggins (M80's) sight unheard. Within an hour of getting them set up, you would have to pry 'em out of my cold dead hands. I think you will enjoy your new speakers. Welcome to the club!

I would have suggested pushing the budget a bit more for the M22s as he was looking for clarity etc and the M22s excell in that respect, but the M3s are a great choice as well.

in this cluttered little room, size of the enclosures was kind of an issue, too, so that was one more reason for the M3's. I'd love to hear the M22's someday, though.
(It's "she", btw).

Down the road I hope to add a sub.

Ed (merchman) was asking if you ordered from the Factory Outlet on this website, which would saved you 10%. Anyway, welcome and enjoy your new toyz...

oh OK I get it...no, I had no idea... oh well!
If I get an Axiom sub I will know to check Factory Outlet. thanks!

Emz, give Axiom a call, I'm sure if this is something you'd prefer they'll change the order for you. If you go through the FO though, you'd likely have to wait approx 3-4 wks for your speakers.

Emz, I have or had M50s, M22s, M3s, M2s, and have auditioned M60s and compared the M60s to M3s and Michaura M55s. The M3s are my favorites among the Axiom speakers auditioned and owned. There was very little difference between the M3s and M60s (both auditioned with a sub as I recall, though not what kind of sub - Big Will?)

The m3s are also a great match with low output SET tube amps.

Nice choice. You will find the M3 a definate step up from the polks and Klipsch you had.

Wow, that was one fast and easy sell.

What if Ken would have said to buy the M2s instead?

Let me just say, "Welcome to the Sausagefest."

How many months have you been waiting to say that?

Ha ha. I honestly never thought I'd have the opportunity!

Welcome to the forum Emzdogz.

Congrats on taking the plunge.

To clear that thought....

I'll take a mango chorizo

I'll try the Ligurian Pesto.

Call me a slut, but I'll try them all.

hehh, thank you all, for the welcomes.
"sausage fest"...I'm pretty used to it as I also hang out on a football forum and a couple of motorcycle forums. Definitely "sausage fests".
I know some other ladies who love their stereo's too, though.
thx again!

Mmm... bacon fest



Wait... that's not it.

This may be a contender for best post of the month...

Emz, I'm sure you will be pleased with the M3's, especially if you are running them without a sub. For the first month of ownership I had the M3's running without a sub, and thoguht they did a great job with music!

HaHa!! Joe, is that luggage made by Hamsonite?

That's really bad.... but thanks for the laugh!

We all like to ham it up once in a while.

you know I'm almost tempted to try and call Axiom and get the M22 instead. I will be listening at what I guess you'd call "near field". Speakers will be maybe 6 ft apart and me about 7-8 back from them. (room is very small)
I read that the M22 is appropriate for medium to large rooms...so is the M3 in fact the better speaker for close listening?
thanks again!

It all depends on how loud you like to listen, but the M22's are a step up as far as range and power over the 3's. You'll love the M3's, I'm sure, but if the M22's are within your budget, by all means consider them...if you ever add a sub along with the 22's, they are almost indistinguishable from the M60/M80 towers.

thx Adrian...now I'm thinking I'll stick with the M3's. And maybe later get some M22' and use the M3'as rear speakers when I get a surround system.
thx....

go for something like the Axiom Q's for surround purposes, versus a bookshelf speaker.

ahhh...I'm thinking stick with the M3's for now and spend some extra $$ on some good cables, instead of maxing out with the more expensive speakers and staying with crappy cables (speaker cables AND amp connector cables).
I'll have to remind myself to come back as a rich person in my next lifetime!
thanks...and sorry to have extended this thread with pure wishy-washiness!

you do know that buying expensive speaker wire accomplishes nothing? Just get the correct gauge for the length run you need. Most home improvement stores let you buy off the role per/ft. Or, you can order online from places like Monoprice.

Yeah, don't waste any money on snake oil cables.

wow....so brown lamp cord is fine? that's what I currently have....
what about for connection like say between the CD player and pre-amp or from pre-amp to amp?

omg this is freaking me out...but in a good way...

Look for some bulk wire from Monoprice in 12 to 16 gauge. I am using 14 gauge for all my speakers terminated with banana plugs. Axioms are easy to hook up "bare wire" if you prefer.

I'll qoute JohnK..."God only made one type of copper."

But He also made a whole bunch of alloys to "spice it up".

Em - another strong vote to say save your money on cables! Lamp wire works fine, but if you really want to get something new and designed for speaker cables, you can't go wrong ordering from Monoprice. I've got Monoprice run all over my house (one 80' run of 12 gauge to the deck and several 12-20' runs of 14 gauge in the media room). It all sounds flawless. Definitely save your pennies for something else you'll appreciate more than "better" cables.

Also, welcome to the Axiom club. I have a pair of Algonquins (M3s in a weatherproof body) on my deck and love them. I actually kept them inside for close to 3 weeks because I made the mistake of setting them up in my game room to test them out. It was very hard to move them outside.

That was about a year ago and I managed to live without them inside for that long... but as of a week ago I put down an order for another set to go in my game room. You won't be disappointed.

Jason

hi Jason, nice to meet ya..good to hear how much you liked the Algonqiuns indoors!

Another vote for getting ALL of your cables from Monoprice.com!

(And welcome to the forums!)

Hi Mark, thanks for the welcome!

Em, I'm late, but another welcome, another vote for the really excellent M22s, still another to stay with the lamp cord(it's all I use)and get any connecting cable needed from a low cost, no-nonsense source such as MonoPrice.

Another 12g Monoprice user here... Stuff is only about 25 cents a foot for the CL2 in - wall rated, the non CL2 is probably even less.

Another Monoprice customer here. There is also Blue Jeans cables. A little more expensive, but a reputable company as well.

I use Blue Jeans exclusively for my cable supplies. They source and assemble as much of their cable as possible in the US. But they did start Tartan Cable to provide lower prices to those who don't mind Chinese parts. That allows them to compete pretty well against Monoprice.

Radio Shack silver coated copper wire. Love it

$3.99



50-Ft. Red Insulated Wrapping Wire (30AWG)
Model: 278-501 | Catalog #: 278-501

This 30-gauge wrapping wire provides a solid conductor with easy-to-strip insulation.
Product Rating
3.7 stars
(3 Ratings)

You use 30AWG wire for your speakers? At that gauge, even with the less resistive silver coating, I'm fairly certain you're experiencing signal (dB) loss and dips in the frequency response of your speakers.

Bailiff, slap his peepee and take away his mancard! I expected better from a man with nothing but a broken hammer and a bent screwdriver...

Nothing but Home depot cable is allowed in my theater...

my personal favorite speaker wire is the mapleshade clearview helix which is also very thin.

Wait, the Mapleshade Records site isn't a parody? Don't look at their A/C Power Conditioning page while you're drinking unless you want it to come out your nose.

No. Amazingly enough, they're absolutely serious about their products -- and their claims.

Yes, sorry, Mapleshade Clearview Double Golden Helix speaker cable. I won't get into a discussion as to why I like these cables, since I'm just not in a breach the peace kind of mood today.

Check out Pierre Sprey, the man behaind mapleshade.

He certainly has an interesting history.

I like this comment taken from this site:

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/iviews/psprey.htm

"In fairness, if you compare the cost of a CD with what LPs cost in the 1950's and 1960's taking into account inflation, CDs are actually cheaper. But that's a good economic argument and doesn't help much when most people have just so much money they can spend on music. But still there is no reason why CDs should cost $15 to $17. One reason that the major companies have to charge this amount is to support their large bureaucracies. I assure you that problem does not exist at Mapleshade. That's one reason we charge $9.50 per CD, if you buy four. A good deal."

He just charges ridiculous amounts of money for things that really make little difference to SQ to cover for his "low cost CD's", as long as you buy in quantity, what a joke. I will agree he is brilliant and I wish I could come up with money making schemes like these guys(Monster, Mapleshade, etc.) did.

That 'splains the pricing. Them wires is combat ready!!

Come on, who does not want a speaker wire that can jump start your A-10 in a jam. That's just good planning.

And they even go to the trouble of producing a printed catalog as well. I know because I get it. I'm not sure how, but I ended up on their mailing list.

It's as awesome as the website.

Man, I'm kind of jealous. I may have to try for their catalog sometime. Maybe I'll purchase one of their cheaper products.

You don't have to have purchased something to get their catalog. I never have.

As I said, I have no idea how I got on their mailing list. But it appears that you can sign yourself up...

http://www8.mailordercentral.com/mapleshade/Inforequest.asp

I started getting the catalogs right after I subscribed to Stereophile... but I told them to stop because it wasn't worth the tree slaughter....

I was thinking that was probably why I started getting their catalogs as well. I can't say that I have ever been tempted to buy anything from them except CDs.

Another fine thread hijack

lol, no prob....

If the thread ain't hijacked, you ain't on the Axiom forum!

so!
My order has shipped!
yay.... I guess it took a couple days longer to ship that I'd expected, but what the heck. Truth be told, I need to figure out how I'm going to configure my listening area. My TV watching area is tiny - basically the size of a large "booth" in a restaurant.

Thinking the niftiest thing I could do is go ahead integrate the new speakers plus amp and pre-amp into my TV watching experience, too. Even though it won't be surround, for now.

So I need to remove this little surround sound thingy I've been using
http://www.macworld.com/article/51727/2006/07/zvoxmini.html
and hook the TV up to my stereo pre-amp instead.

Only thing is, the pre-amp only has one AUX in, which I use with my computer. Wondering if the TV could go into the Tape In, and then I could use it/be able to hear it with Tape Monitor button pushed.
Anybody know if TV sound can go in through Tape In? or, CD in?
I play CD's through my computer, so that goes through the AUX, like I mentioned.

Hate to make the Z Vox be "unemployed". Maybe I could give it to my Mom for her bedroom TV. hmmm....
The Z vox has some distortion and vibration of its cabinet when deep bass tries to be there. So I won't miss that aspect of it. I will miss the surround effect during sports, mostly.
I love the surround, though fake, during football.

Anyway, in a sense its good that the Axioms took a few days longer to ship, as that will give me this weekend to reconfigure that area. I just can't BELIEVE the number of electrical plugs required for cable box, router, phone and internet modem, power adapter for laptop, regular desktop 'puter, etc etc...plus one more if I want to stream music from puter to pre amp wirelessly - for the Airport Express. sheesh. Not to mention AC window unit, a lamp, the TV and now power amp plus pre-amp!

So, lots to do to get ready for the new babies to arrive.

Just thinking out loud here...

If anyone knows about whether or not I can run the TV into the pre-amp via either Tape IN or CD inputs, I'd appreciate the info.
Thanks!

Either will work fine. The only line-level input which is sometimes special is "phono". I'd use the CD input, if as you said, you'd have to enable the tape-loop button to hear it's input. Just seems like extra stuff which could be avoided by using the other.

thanks, Chris!