Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions m60 sound

Whoa there Saki!

Lando was just trying to help by giving his advice.

Hi Lee, Randyman, Saki:

Yes, we may develop different tastes in tonal balance, but God gave us all the same hearing equipment--our ears and brains. Barring major job-induced hearing losses, we do in fact hear the same way. That, along with much other research, was revealed by Dr. Toole's long-term research into the correlation of objective speaker measurements with controlled double-blind subjective listening tests:all people with normal hearing will, when the price and brand of the speakers is concealed, agree on the best-sounding and worst-sounding speakers. And anyone can learn to discriminate like this with a few hours of training.

No two speakers ever sound exactly alike. But in the many blind-screen tests I participated in, along with Floyd Toole, there were lots of occasions when the tests included brands that you mentioned (and Axiom as well) and the speakers were so alike that I (and my colleagues) would often write down "similarly good". On certain cuts of music, you might prefer one over the other, but when the scores were averaged, those speakers were so closely rated that you could not say one of them was better than the other.

I concur totally with Ian's judgment on bass "punch". Paradigm has for years added a 2 to 3-dB boost in the 120 Hz region to its compact speakers (and some of the top models as well). While it initially will impress naive consumers in a store (dealers love it), it isn't natural. Over time it horribly colors all male vocals and FM announcers with a fat, plump, coloration. Have you listened to live kick drum (not miked by some stoned-out soundman EQing the bass to absurd levels) in a club? It's solid but it doesn't have that phony "punch" you hear from lots of speakers.

Good advice from Randyman. The aforementioned fat coloration in some speakers can be nicely reduced or attenuated by turning down the bass control by about 3 dB. On many receivers or preamps, this might be about the "10:00 a.m" position of the bass control.

There's every reason to worry about musical accuracy. That's what advances great speaker design. I know that what all of us seek in our living rooms is a "plausible illusion" of the real thing. But when the latter has fat, fruity coloration on male vocals and speaking voices--that ain't real! No guy sounds like that talking or singing.

You're certainly correct in one respect, Lee. When you stop trying to criticize the speakers and hear flaws, and simply get off on the music, it's likely the speakers are really good. That's what we mean by "transparent" sound. It's a window to the sound of real-sounding instruments and vocals.

Regards,

No, I am still the same name.
I have not had any time to stay current on the board. I have also been playing with some newer equipment that has been taking my spare time.

Is there anything specific you are looking for from me? This is not me posting in "alias mode" if that is what you are wondering!

My favorite way of satisying the craving for bass slam is driving on the highway blasting "Woke Up This Morning" from the Sopranos soundtrack 5-6 times in a row...with the bass cranked way up, naturally.

I might add this solution is very spouse-friendly if he or she listens to 99% classical and jazz.

Alan;
As you and Ian have suggested, I checked all of the settings on my receiver and used the subwoofer.
I think that what Randyman stated is true. After listening to low quality speakers for so long, I just need to get used to the new sound. I am enjoying different types of music now just to be able to hear the crisp and clean
sound from these M60's.
I would like to thank everyone for their help. These 'open' forums are a testimony to your belief and commitment in your products. I find it quite refreshing, if
not a little bizzar, to be able to communicate directly with
'the owner'.

KUDOS

Maybe you should make sure the speaker wires are not hooked up out of phase. If the terminals on your amplifier are color coded red and black and the binding posts on the speakers are also color coded then you want to make sure red goes to red and black to black. With some speaker wire its easy to twist one of the wires and get the connection on one speaker reversed. Then the bass from the two speakers will be out of phase and tend to cancel.