Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners How are your factory outlet speakers?

I wanted an idea of what an extra $80 would get me for a new pair of M60ti speakers, opposed to the factory outlet ones.

So, how are yours? Is it big blemishes, small scratches, small blemishes? If you could provice pics, that'd be helpful too.

Thanks.

Thasp, I know there are way too many posts to wade through, but most posters have stated that the imperfections were minor. In fact, alot have stated that they COULDN'T find the defect.

My FO M60 and QS8 are virtually flawless. I mean really, I live in the real world, so it is highly likely that I will eventually damage them more MYSELF than the absolutely miniscule flaws they came with. Honest, I had to look really really hard and finally found a very tiny mark in a very inconspicuous place.

Thasp,

I've received 5 speakers from the Outlet, and I've yet to find the flaws. Admittedly, I haven't pulled out my magnifying glass and examined closely.

I take it back. I just remembered that one of my M60s had a flaw. I'm going to use highly technical terminology here, so I hope you can follow.

The grill on the M60 has 6 little plastic male body part thingys that fit into 6 little plastic female body part thingys which are mounted (pardon my French) in the M60. Two of the little plastic female body part thingys were distorted, so that the opening, rather than being circular, was shaped like a kidney (more body parts), or kidney BEAN, if you prefer. However, being made of a relatively SOFT plastic, a light tap with a rubber mallet was all that was necessary to achieve insertion (no lubricant necessary). I've removed the grill once since the above act, and lo and behold, the little plastic female body part thingy is now circular, and reinsertion of the little plastic male body part thingy was achieved without the necessity of physical violence. TA DA!

GEE jack.. i didnt know you were directing pornos now!!

bigjohn

Moi? Did I say anything about porno? I used highly technical laguage there. C'mon!

reference above post..

"male body part", "female body", "circular opening", "insertion", "reinsertion"..

i can read between the lines..

and i like it!!

bigjohn

This post is rapidly appoaching NSFW (Not Safe For Work) status...

I haven't found any blemishes. I would consider mine pristine.

Oh John, you can't even read ON the lines, let alone between them. Look up any of those "highly technical terms" in the dictionary. You won't find anything prurient about any of them. You just have a dirty mind. (You too, Peter.) While I, of course, am highly above such base thinking.

Just so I am not misunderstood. The above story of the M60 and it's grill is absolutely the truth.

Jack, you crack me up!

I'm truly glad. We could use a little laughter around here these days. Thanks for saying so, Tom.

I've bought the following from the factory outlet: M2s, M3Tis, M22Tis, M50Tis, QS8s. I can't find a blemish on any. Maybe the color of the maple QS8s' veneer is a bit off, dunno, looks great to me. Functionally, each speaker is flawless and wonderful.

Ok, so aside from the fact that the M60tis can be used in porno.. it seems the factory outlet'd be a pretty good value. Thanks people.

Knock knock knock.
Hello Maam. I'm your speaker repair man. I'm here to fix your triple vortex port....

jr

Unfortunately, I am one of those that has had experiences w/ the blemishes. I think that all of my speakers came with some kind of very small and negligible wear marks on the veneer, usually at junction points. But, those are only visible upon close inspection. However, one of my M60s that came this week has a significant blemish across the top. It almost looks like someone left something wet on top of the speaker and didn't remove it until it had left a mark from corner to corner (diagonally). Another way of thinking about it would be to envision leaving packing tape secured to a finished surface for too long....I think that this has the same result. Either way, this one is visible from further away. The mark is still black, but it's a bit lighter black than the rest of the speaker and the surface is not very smooth. I wasn't particularly happy with this level of damage, but I also have to admit that I would not pay $80 to have it fixed. These are, after all, factory outlet speakers. Some of them are bound to have damage that goes beyond simple wear marks in the veneer. I just happen to get one of those....not sweatin' it.

is that the true meaning of B stock? really reaching on this one

Turbodog,
That is the speaker you try to hide away in the corner side of room while you leave the other unblemished speaker stand out more where people may walk closer up for inspection.
My own speakers have subtle damage but the QS8 with the biggest flaw goes on my far wall. Everyone stops to look at the other QS8 since you pass by it on the way into the room.

Looks fine to me. The bottom line is if you want unblemished speakers, shell out the cash for new ones. You are buying a product where the rules for quality are subjective whereas if you buy a new product, you know exactly what you are getting. This is pretty clear.

I also think you overestimate the average person's observational qualities. I bet most people wouldn't notice it, only you. Of course, I could be completely wrong.

In reply to:

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I bet most people wouldn't notice it, only you.

---

True enough Plinko.
When ppl do not know when to look for a flaw, they may not even realize it is there.
Kinda like how blind studies work...coincidence? or no?

You know for damage like you see in that picture, a color matched crayola crayon will work wonders. You can just scrape some wax into the gap and smooth it out. You can even texture it with a pencil tip or something if you want to get fancy

"Dammit ringmir, I'm a scientist, not an artist."
(a cheap take on Dr. Mccoy to Kirk "Dammit Jim, i'm a doctor, not a...{place word here}")

Or, a slightly more expensive route (actually I don't know what crayons cost today): Check with your local hardware store for a Minwax Wood Finish Stain Marker. Kinda looks like a longer thinner version of a magic marker. It comes it an enormous variety of shades, and is real easy to use. Don't hold me to this, but I think mine was under 5 dollars.

Yeah they work as well for surface blemishes, but my suggestion was more aimed at actually filling the empty space where the vinyl is missing. There are Minwax wood-fill crayons for this too, but Crayola makes more colors

Or how about putting something on top of it, like a plant or a bowl, or some other "chotchky" (sp?) This wouldn't effect the sound would it?

No can do. There's a driver on top.

I'm sorry - were you talking about the QS? I thought we were discussing the 60 or 22. My bad.

Chess, I'm with you on the blind studies.

If worst comes to worst, you can always respond with - "What speaker?"

Allow me to enter the camp of "no flaw noticed". I got all of my Axioms at the outlet (M60s, VP100, M2s), and they are all absolutely perfect. Physically and acoustically. I would not hesitate to order outlet again.

i forgot.. i took a pics of my M80's flaws... here they are.

first one,.. remember this was taken at very closeup. this is the top left corner of my right speaker.



This one is on my left speaker, at the bottom right. You can barely see it, i didnt even notice until i had my speakers for a couple months. cant even see it unless the light is just right. slight bubbling in the veneer near the corner...

Sorry for the noob question, and I hate that this is my FIRST post here, but where does one order the b-stock?

on the home page, if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you will see "CLICK HERE FOR FACTORY OUTLET".

or, you can click here and it will go there for you.

damn newbies..

bigjohn

Click on the "Axiom Luodspeakers" logo to return to the homepage. Click on "Store". At the bottom it says "Factory Outlet". Click that and voila!

No worries, from the "store" link, if you look at the main image with all the different speakers, in the bottom right it says "factory outlet". That's where you want to be.

HA, beat ya'll..

bigjohn

Big whup. I've had my M60s et al for over a year now - where's your stuff??? Beat ya there by a year!!!

OH YEA!!! well my daddys gotta bass boat!!

bigjohn

Oh yeah? Well my dad has a working amiga and an AS400 that my step mom programs for fun!

jr

NERDS!

What the hell is an "amiga"? A female friend? I've had a few of those.

You don't know what an AMIGA is?

Okay, I'm a computer geek too...

It's a brand of computer...not as prolific as they once were...

Used to be used for LIGHTWAVE 3D animation in more recent years...I don't work in TV anymore so I am unsure about their use in that capacity anymore...

Anyone please correct my information...

I had a buddy that had one and swore it ran circles around any Windoze machine...

WhatFurrer

Oh yeah well I am on the cover of an Amiga magazine....beat that one folks!

In reply to:

---

Used to be used for LIGHTWAVE 3D animation in more recent years...I don't work in TV anymore so I am unsure about their use in that capacity anymore...

Anyone please correct my information...

---

Lightwave is now mainly run on PCs and Macs - you just get a lot more processor per dollar.. still a good midrange package, above Studio and TrueSpace and below Maya, definately not the choice for character animation, but the new versions have added a new render engine and real radiosity effects.

Bren R.

Not trying to one up you...

I worked in TV (NBC affiliate) for over 6 years...

My voice as well as my likeness have been in numerous TV commercials...

Aren't we a diverse group...?

WhatFurrer

A computer magazine with you on the cover... and you're asking us to beat it?

yeah ya got me beat easily, amiga magazine is really not all that impressive. Plus if you saw that the issue was "kids on computers" or something to that effect and noticed that I was, oh, maybe 8 at the time, the humor value would take over rather quickly. My mother was the head of graphic design for commodore magazine back in the late 80s, maybe into early 90s, I don't recall the exact dates. She used to bring home out of date commodores and amigas all the time. They used them as doorstops... That's where I got my introduction to computers really, entering programs from the "program page" into my commodore and trying to figure out how it actually did what it ended up doing. BBS gaming was also kinda tedious on a 300 baud modem... thank god for broadband.

Could you elaborate as to where we might have seen your likeness or heard your voice WhatFurrer?

This doesn't one up either of you but when I was a kid Princess Ann was in my town on her tour accross Canada. She was doing a tour of the large company that my Dad worked for and they wanted a little boy and little girl to present her with some gifts. I don't know how but Presto! Me = little boy. And that ladies and gents is my pathetic claim to fame.

Huffer,

As you live in Canada, and the TV station (small market) I worked for was in Northeast Louisiana, it is highly doubtful that you ever saw or heard any of my commercials.

Unless you had the misfortune of being in El Dorado, Arkansas or Monroe, Louisiana in the early 90's...

WhatFurrer

I used to dabble in 3D computer graphics. After an extensive Google search, I found a site on the web that is hosting a bunch of my old pics -- in Venezuela, of all places.

These were all created at some point during the first few years of my college career (1996 - 1998, probably). The site's a little slow.

http://intranet.logiconline.org.ve/art/art/compuart/

I don't know this for fact, but it is in my head that the video toaster was based on the amiga and was used to create all the Special FX for Babylon 5. Today I think it’s PC based.
Oh, yes. I'm a geek. I tried to break from it and got an advanced degree in Germanic Languages and Literature (yeah, that makes me highly employable), but it's in my blood.
Dad designs/programs embedded systems, step mom is super AS400 programmer, Mom taught how to use Word Perfect (yes, word perfect) and did testing/documentation for IBM RAID arrays. I ran, but could not run far enough away to escape.
I finally just gave in the inevitable!

jr

So when your mom has to use MS Word, does she enable the "Word Pefect look-alike" feature, the one that turns the screen blue with white text?

Nah. She is blind in one eye and says that is too hard to see.

Btw. Were those pictures made with Bryce? They look very familar (esp the water and sky renders).

jr

james_r,

You sir are correct!

That was what my Lightwave reference referred to...I knew that fact because the buddy who had the AMIGA touted that fact all the time...

WhatFurrer

Neat!
I remember the first time I saw an amiga was at my Dad's house. There was a large ball bouncing around (with shadow I think) in a room. All rendered in real time with sound and I was soooo impressed.
Impressed by a bouncing ball that went 'boing'.
(Am I really about to write this?)
Kids these days have no idea what amazing graphics they are taking for granted....
/curmudgeonlyness

jr

yup. all Bryce.

So, anyone have any comments about their outlet models, or are we gonna banter on about F*cking amiga computers (which I've never even heard of) all day...

In fact, James... "the Amiga Demo" was entitled "Boing"... that along with the utterly disturbing "Bingo" (Maya) and Pixar's Luxo and Luxo Jr. are among the best known pieces of CG.

Bren R.

Hey, only the person who started the thread is allowed to get pissed when it goes off topic.

Maybe true - But I really do want to hear what people have to say about their factory outlet stuff. And this thread is so far off topic, that it's a complete non sequitor to jump back in with soem informative anecdote or even better, illustrative photos of people's B-stock...

Sorry - Maybe I'm just having a tough day here at the "officia," amigos...

James R a geek? Just because your avatar is a pictograph of the caffeine molecule? Obviously, you're a coffee guy!

alright then, I'll try to help out.

I have factory outlet M22s. One of them appears to be flawless. The only thing that I was able to find after looking REALLY hard was a slight slight gap (more like a sliver), where the vinyl doesn'y quite meet up exactly in the top left corner near the back of the speaker. On the other M22, the vortex port was improperly glued, so the ridges inside don't line up exactly.

I posted already about the distorted grille inputs on one of my M60s, which are no longer distorted. Yesterday, quite by accident, I found the flaw on the other one.

It's a flaw in the finish on one side about 2 inches from the back edge, and halfway between the top and the bottom edges. It's about 2 inches long and maybe an eighth of an inch wide, and kinda shaped like a boomerang. I can't tell if it was a flaw incurred in the vinyl manufacturing process, or if it was scratched at a later time. Either way, it was beautifully repaired.

I would never have noticed it were it not for the fact that I was sitting just at the right angle for some light coming in a window, to reflect off the slightly different shine of the repair. I've tried to take a photo of it, but the flash just washes out the visibility of the repair. I can barely feel it when I run my fingers across the speaker. Nobody will ever notice this, and it doesn't bother me in the least.

If I come across any other flaws, I'll let you know. Sonically they are perfecto.

HAH! I just found an identical, and I mean IDENTICAL, flaw in the finish of the other M60. This leads me to believe that something happened during the vinyl's manufacturing process. Again, nobody will ever notice these flaws, unless REALLY looking for them.

Quick Question along the lines of this thread...

When I ordered my factory outlet speakers, the wait was 13 weeks. That was three weeks ago. Now, the wait is ten weeks. What does this mean? Will I get them in 10 weeks, or will my total wait time move down to 10 weeks?

I understand that the wait time is approximate, but I am just curious if any of you have experience with this?

Your wait time will be what was stated when you ordered them. In your case, 13 weeks total, 10 weeks from now.

shucks...

Hang in there, Adrien. The longest I had to wait was 6 weeks and that seemed an eternity, so I sympathize with you.

I've got until around the 2nd week of June for:
M60s
QS8s
VP100

My Hsu just arrived in the mail... I honestly can't wait.

I don't know how you guys can wait. I had to order and receive as quick as possible. It drove me nuts just researching.

lucky for me, the factory outlet wasn't as popular when I ordered last year. I received my FO M22tis and my new VP100 at the same time (two days after ordering).

as most of ya'll know, i ordered custom cabinets, and was expecting a 6 week wait. luckily, they arrived in exactly 27 days, so i was pleasantly surprised. the very first week after ordering was the worse, then it just became part of the routine. but look on the bright side, all this wait will give you the proper amount of time to research your set-up and study your receiver and dvd player manuals. i used them as bathroom readers, so by the time my speakers got here, set-up was quick and easy with no surprises.

other than having to run the speaker wires thru the attic, i had a rather flawless set-up experience.

your speakers are coming just around the corner.. stay positive.

bigjohn

I got my M50s, VP150, and QS4s (Black Oak) within 2 weeks when the wait was posted as 3, so there is hope for early arrival. I have been all over them and can not find a flaw anywhere.

alright, the Axiom gods are mocking me now. I ordered my speakers 4 week ago, when the wait time was 13 weeks. Now, it's down to 9....Like I ordered them today. I should stop checking that stupid wait time chart. It's too frustrating.

I don't understand what's confusing. Your speakers are probably one pair among many in the next B-stock batch. So until that batch is all ordered, the wait-time will continue to decrease in step with your order.

They probably use some sort of flaw prediction algorithm based on defect rates in their production history.

Its less confusion - more frustration. That's all....I'll feel differently when they get here, then I just sit back and life will be good again.

I see now. You could try taking sleeping pills. You know -- time flies when you're asleep.