Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo The big showdown: M40 vs M50 vs M80 (VERY LONG)

Blind test of the youngin?

Don't know about that, but I can certainly post a Q n' D review of the M3s through the eyes of my son (the M3s augment our family room TV, whose internal amps were smoked years ago):

The M3s are remarkably resilient. Many times have they been knocked off their stands with only minimal damage to the finish, however the grill has seen better days. It can stay in place with only two pins if you happen to break two of them, but the grill doesn't taste very good covered in cat hair. The sharp edges on the sides of the speaker haven't damaged the hardwood floor a heck of a lot either. I'd also like to note that you can make all kinds of dents in both the tweeter and dust cap, without any apparent loss in sound quality.

Getting to music, on the "Yummy Yummy" album by the Wiggles, the M3s sounded great. There's a fairly deep baseline on the big hit "Fruit Salad", and even in the big room the M3s had good impact. The M3s also really showed off their clarity and detail on "Where is Thumbkin?", and listening you can hear the plucking of every string.

As far as movies go, the M3s are terrific. We watched Barney's "Now I Know my ABC's", and dialogue was always clear and never fatiguing. In my house, everybody gets choked up hearing "I love you, you love me" through the M3s.

Thanks for the reply Bridgman,

I suspected the cabinet height had something to do with imaging. That's one thing the older speakers I've heard didn't do very well. I assume that smaller diameter drivers are more desirable than larger ones because of faster response?

St_PatGuy made a good comment about the HTIB. I think they're decent enough for watching TV and movies, relatively compact, and they're light years better than those crumby little speakers that come with TV's. For people that just want surround sound without worrying about the details, HTIB is probably the best solution. In fact, they probably shake their head at people who spend ridiculous amounts of money and time on their audio equipment : )

And the Axioms are *great* for children's music. We listened to the Cookie Monster's rendition of 'C' is for Cookie, and it never sounded so good.

Question? How come you didn't try the M50's. They are smaller then M60's and have more drivers than the M40.

A good question about the m50's. I loved many things about the m40's but found them too laid back for my taste, was pleased with the midrange detail of the m22's but didn't want to deal with stands and a sub, so the m60's seemed logical and I decided to skip the m50's. I figured that if I had to go above the m40 in size, I wanted as much midrange detail as possible, and the m50 has often been said to be a bit laid back compared to the m60.

I do like the way the m60's are a bit forward. It would have been nice to compare all of the towers though, especially since I've heard a few people say that the m50 is a nice compromise between the laid-back m40 and the forward m60. I'd like to give the m50's a listen some day and find out what I've been missing.

Very funny, fhw. Sounds almost like my house. BTW, Elmo's Favorite Songs DVD is very poorly mastered and sounds like crap on the Axioms - particularly Rosita.

And many modern speakers are so heavy, I'm guessing, due to the use of big fat slabs of MDF. That stuff is VERY heavy in quantity.

well, since we are on the subject..

the whole 'Baby Einstein' series sounds fantastic on DVD. they are all in DD, and are extremely clear and robust, im not kidding. they have several DVD's in the series, but my favorite are the music ones. they have 'baby bach', 'baby mozart', and 'baby beethoven'. the tracks are well recorded, and are as entertaining for me as they are for my 7 month old.

bigjohn

bigjohn,
I was thinking the same thing. My son was watching the 'Baby Bach' DVD the other day and I had it running through the stereo. The M60's and VP100 sounded awesome! I wished that I had thought of those first few Baby Einstein episodes. What a cash grab those are!!!!!

Shaun

Those Baby Einstein discs are great.
We also have the Baby Genius ones but the songs are done in about a 4 key synthesizer kiddy fashion. I much prefer having our daughter hear the real deal.

Jeez, you guys make me wanna get Joyce pregnant so I have an excuse for new listening material!

just babysit your nieces and nephews... its MUCH cheaper..

bigjohn