Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Thoughts or Experiences With Providing Auditions?

I always suggest they bring their own music/movies, but of course I've always got a couple of music tracks and movie chapters that I enjoy showing off as well.

The sessions last anywhere from 30 minutes to 2+ hours. But an hour or so is generally normal.

So far the most common thing people have been impressed with is the soundstage. I've had numerous people check the center channel and QS8's to see if I had the system in a surround mode when we were actually only playing in 2 channel.

Tom...call me crazy, but I tend to trust people. So far I've had some very cool people stop by for a visit.

Craig, I'm pretty much where you are. Someone will likely find out about the audition opportunity from this site and because they are looking for speakers. Combine that with the amount of money they are planning to part with and you probably end up with an aficionado whose interest is in audio.

I borrowed a friend's copy of an interesting demo CD. There are no markings on it and the case label was produced on an inkjet printer, so I don't know much about it's origins. It has 29 eclectic music selections that play about 2 minutes each and this is what I used in my audition rounds. I expect it would work if someone wants a broad spectrum.

Ray
I think that disc came from an HT show. One of my auditioners used a similar disc that he got from a San Francisco HT show. He gave me an extra copy. It has a FANTASTIC drum solo that demonstrates great soundstage and separation in 2 channel on my M22's. You can "fee" the drummer going around his drum set. It is a great demo disc. However, I always warn audtioners that it is recorded well, so it'll sound great on a good system. If auditioners bring bad recordings, it'll make the Axioms sound bad. You have to explain that it's the detail of the Axioms and not that the Axioms sound bad.

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If auditioners bring bad recordings, it'll make the Axioms sound bad. You have to explain that it's the detail of the Axioms and not that the Axioms sound bad.
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I agree with that, i judged axioms using a old album from U2. I tried to explain this to a co worker, he would not agree with me, he was like 'what the heck, a 2000$ system shld make anyting sound good'. I did some explaining and he was not buying any of my points. A simple example did the trick, i told him that its like taking a picture of sand using a real good SLR and complaining the picture is grainy.....a stupid analogy i know , hey but it did shut him up!!

That's true. I alway encourage people to bring their own music, but I always have some well engineered stuff on hand, in case they've brought something that sounds horrible. Those old U2 albums are notoriously bad.

Great idea. This will also give me a chance to show off my Kate Smith and Spike Jones victrola collection. Kate can bring some serious LFE!

tom,

Definitely have a phone conversation with a potential guest before giving out your home address. Also, being 6'4" and 225 lbs. helps a lot.

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its like taking a picture of sand using a real good SLR and complaining the picture is grainy
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That's a GREAT analogy.

"being 6'4" and 225 lbs. helps a lot."

I knew you'd never fit through that hole. Rats!

Agreed about the music quality situation..

when i was auditoning we played a few selections from pink floyd and some of this and that and there wasnt much that really made him say whoa! that was.. until i put in the mapleshade music festival. The first thing he said was.. it sounds like theyre right there. This is one of. if not my best sounding discs and it really shows what the axioms can do with good source material.