Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater New Axiom System - Initial Impressions

My Axioms (M60's,VP150,QS8's) arrived Friday moring on New Years Eve. Packaging was great....no noticeable damage to the speakers nor the ouside of the boxes.

I have to say these speakers look better than I expected...the website pic's just don't do them enough justice. The seems are perfect. I only found one minor flaw with a QS8 woofer grille....it appears to be glue that bled through the grille cloth and shows as a white crusty substance.

I haven't listened to much music yet...only parts of two CD's and some satellite radio. What I did notice immediately when listening to the CD's was how much better vocals sounded and how low bass notes now had a punch instead of a boom. Also, I can hear more detail than I am used to hearing. I expected all of these things considering my old mains are Sony's purchased back in 95'.

DVD's on the new system are fantastic. I have watched SW - Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones a few times. Several times I have listened in awe at the beginning of the DVD when the THX intro is played. Wow...it brought a big smile to my face. The pod racing and seismic charges scenes are simply amazing. The QS8's are wonderfully good. I haven't heard those scenes sound so good since I heard them on my buddy's Paradigm Reference system....which is hooked up to some serious gear (Carver Research amps, Lexicon MC12B, etc.).

I just watched SW - Attack of the Clones again today and it seems the M60's are sounding better with time. Call me crazy, but I would swear the mains are cranking out more/better/something? bass than they did when I first hooked them up. They just seemed to have opened up a little after a weekend of playing time. Perhaps it is just my perception and nothing has changed since the minute I hooked them up? In any event, this system rattles the house when my NAD T752 is at +5 and sounds ultra-clean while doing so. At times, you would think I was running a sub (dont have one yet). The M60's can really pound out the bass...more than I thought they would.

I didn't have a center before and my previous surrounds were 8 ohms. For this reason, I decided to experimented a little to see how far I could push the NAD. I clipped the receiver once when the volume was at +6....right as an explosion began to rip off on Attack of the Clones. Thankfully, NAD has the soft clipping. In my room, -5 seems to be about the right volume for casual listening. On action DVD's like Phantom Menace, between -4 and 0 seemed to be about the right volume for those like me who want it loud. Anything above that is 'show off to friends' volume. If I ever do show off my Axioms in the future, I won't go past +5.

I still have to AB these against the Wharfedale Evo's. Hopefully, that will come this weekend.

Congrats on the setup (same as mine). Contact Axiom's Customer Service about the QS8 glue issue. They are great to deal with.

Congradulations on the new speakers. I have the same except with M80's. How many watts is your receiver putting out? Seems like if I turned mine up to +5 it would be so loud as to be unlistenable. I usually am at a max of -15 and that seems pretty much the limit if you want to keep your hearing intact.

Terrific Mike! Isn't it fun to take a nice step up in your listening experience? I've had my Axioms about 10 months now. And, while I, now and then, still find myself marveling at how good things can sound, for the most part, I take them for granted and just lose myself, completely satisfied, in the music or movie. And that, after all, is what good audio is about, isn't it? Enjoy, Mike.

Congrats man! Being able to watch those two films alone in all their DD-EX glory is more than enough reason to justify a speaker purchase. Enjoy!

The receiver is rated at 80w/channel w/ all 5 channels driven throughout the frequency range. It's an honest 80. Acutally, before I purchased the receiver, I read an article that tested the T752 and found it actually produced 88w/channel with all channels driven at all frequencies. At the time I bought the T752, the new NAD's were about to be released but I got a very good price on the T752 from the local dealer ($725). Not bad considering MSRP was $899.

I watch TV around -15....if people are over and we are talking, I might notch it up to -12 or -10. When the DVD's are in, -2 to -3 seems to be the highest level I could tolerate for an extended period of time. I only had the receiver at +5 to see how clean the Axoims played at very loud volumes.

Congrats. I'm interested in your comparison w/ the Evo's. I was VERY close to getting an Evo 20 system, but opted w/ Axioms (Epic Grand Master w/ Hst VTF2). Glad I did.

I really liked the Evo's though.