Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners V2/V3 Question, plus Surround Selection

I have M22s with a VP100 and some very old mini-Advents as surrounds. I love the Axioms, but bold truth, many times the tweeter detail from the Advents sounds “crisper” than the Axioms. So my first question is, I think I have the M22 v2, does the v3 improve the tweeter imaging?

Secondly, I’ve had the Advents a long time (20+ years) and they won’t last forever, so I’m planning for the inevitable. While I would love to get the M2s, I need a smaller non-ported surround for placement in this room. Does anyone have any comments on the PSB Image B4. I realize this is somewhat of an obnoxious question on the Axiom site, but I’m asking here because I like the Axiom sound so am looking for a comparison. (It would be even better if anyone has inside information that Axiom is coming out with a non-ported speaker!)

FWIW, I primarily use this system for music (all channel stereo), and I have the surrounds set at a lower gain than they would normally be set through calibration. Also, I had the crossover set at 100hz (to reduce the stress on the Advents), but recently dropped it to 80hz.

I think Ian has said on numerous occasions that the family of curves was noticeably improved with the v3 changes.

As to the surrounds, what about the inwall or onwall models?

Cork, in the past Alan has discussed the difference the new tweeter makes on M22s. If he sees this he may comment, but he especially noted a wider soundstage.

"Crisper" is open to various interpretations, but may have nothing to do with the construction of the tweeter itself, but rather that the crossover raises the tweeter level to give a sense(unrealistic?)of greater treble detail.

As to the surrounds, of course the present QS4 and QS8 are non-ported for mounting on or very near the wall. These would appear to be a logical choice for your use.

I also listen to 2-channel music sources with the surrounds in use, but I'd strongly suggest using a mode such as DPLII(my preference)or Neo:6, which are designed for that purpose, rather than using an all channel stereo mode. All channel stereo simply duplicates the main channels in the surrounds, while DPLII extracts only the surround ambience imprisoned in the main channels and sends it to the surrounds where it belongs. The effect is more realistic compared to simply having all the speakers play the same material(which is okay for a party, etc., to give a more uniform sound throughout the room).

Thanks for the responses. I remembered this being discussed before, but couldn't find anything using forum search. But after I posted I used Google search and found these links:

http://axiomaudio.com/version3

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=311302

JohnK, interesting information, thanks doubly. I realized that "crisp" meat almost nothing, but it was the best I could do. I didn't know about the effects of crossovers. I also realized I might be in the situation of liking less accurate reproduction, I was hoping someone had experience with the Advent and could comment.

I hadn't considered the QSs, as I had the impression they were best for movie application. I'm not sure my room supports them, but I'll research it more intently.

I'll also play around with the modes you suggested, at this point I forget why I settled on all-channel stereo.

QS series speakers are really excellent; the only reasons NOT to use them are cost and form factor (i.e. you require a bookshelf rather than a wall- or ceiling-mount).