Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo My visit to the dealer.

Welp, i went in to audition the m40's. i have to say, im glad i did. I was dissapointed with them unfortunately they didn't have the definition, and especially the smoothness in the vocals i need. Vocals were all off i thought, and after listening to some other speakers, they sure sounded thin. I listened to some NHT ST4's as well, and i could have got them, but they were more about detail and accuracy then warmth and inviting music. not for me. what i ended up getting, were Wharfedale 8.3's. they have the nicest vocals i have heard... in a long time. realistic voices, acoustic stuff, but im having a little trouble with the low end. its pretty quick, but there is alot of it. right now my left speaker is about an inch away (at the side) from a mini fridge of similar size, will this be affecting my bass? if they had a bit more room would the bass... disperse more? anyway im loving the vocals with these... really clear, moreso then the m40's, much better imaging and everything is clearer... anyway, i encourage anyone looking for budget speakers to check these out, i even liked them more than the high priced nht's. i would appreciate any help you can give me about placement and such even though it isn't exactly an axiom product... i hope this isn't the kind of place where my post will get deleted

Nah, the worst that will happen is that your critical listening and decision-making techniques will get dissected in public. Don't worry about the late-nite phone calls or the cars parked in front of your house, those will just be co-incidence

Wharfedale seems to be putting out some nice speakers recently. I haven't had a chance to hear them myself but the comments are certainly positive. I'm surprised you're getting better imaging than from the Axioms though...

The only way to be sure with minibar fridge etc... is to pull the speakers way out in the room (a few feet from any of the walls) and listen to them again. I realize you won't be able to leave them there but at least you'll know what the impact from placement is.

EDIT -- just curious, where did you find a dealer who carried Axiom, NHT and Wharfedale ?

I also recently bought the new Wharfedale 9.6 and along with my M60's, they are slightly ahead I have to admit. Like you said the vocals are very nice and the bass is very present with 2 8" woofers. I do like them both however but the M60's are quite thin compared to the Wharfe's. Also, fit and finish is light years ahead of anything in this price class. This is one place AXIOM will have to increase as I had some experiences that were questionable and when I tried to screw in my spikes, the holes were so crooked I decided to keep the rubber feet. BUT............don't jump on me here, I like them very much just the 9.6's are better for my ears.

Isn't it funny how different people can have different results, I guess that is what makes the world interesting. I actually had to opposite feelings. I demoed m60's against B&W 703's, NHT, and the Wharfdale 8.3's...just my 2 cents, but I personally like the detail out of the Axioms a little better. I do also think the Wharfedale's are great looking though...

That's more in line with what I would expect from reading other Wharfedale reviews. Not sure what questions to ask muffinman about the dealer setup to understand why he heard what he did...

I guess it could be the difference between M40 and M60 midrange but from the soundstage/NRC plots the response of the M40 and M3 in that range were pretty much identical and the M3s are very highly regarded.

its no shock you thought the 60's were more detailed then the wharfedales... the ones you were listening to cost like 300 bux

^^^ the setup was pretty simple but now that i have them home, i hear the same things. they don't get all caught up, ive set up a bit of a more ideal listening setup here, and the bass is just fine. i love the seperation though, the vocals are so smooth and you can hear them no matter what else is going on. i was thinking about looking at the 9.4's just because i can afford a bit more. i never like spending less then i intend too but i can't believe these things. i listened to my princess mononoke cd... omg the imaging and soundstage was insane! some really beautiful music. these things are so smooth guys one thing i really do miss is my low frequencies im not sure how far these go down, but they cant do my spiffy bass effects on some cds that are super super low. i guess thats another thing i can miss about headphones, they were usually under 20hz and over 20khz

more editing: The place is Number One Sound at like 850 college in toronto. axiom recomended them, but when i called back to cancel my order (because i thought i was going to pick them up there) they didn't even know that #1 had them anymore. (doesn't anyone wonder why axiom stopped dealing through dealers?) im not actually sure if they have better imaging or soundstage or anything like that over the axioms, but they are way way smoother, and the axioms were out of the race pretty fast after hearing both.

George the owner is a great guy. I just wished the store had a better listening setup. It is very difficult to setup speakers the way they have the system organized.

Yeah hes cool, they were very helpfull. Does anyone know of any dealers in toronto that carry Wharfedale? the only problem i found with #1 was that they didn't have a super wide selection. i really need to hear some evos and the diamond 9 series i think. I'm the type of person that isn't satisfied until they have spent all the money that they had planned to if i say i have 700 dollars for speakers, then dammit im spending 700 dollars i LOVE the wharfe sound though, amazingly clear smooth and natural vocals, just really smooth all the way through. the only *only* thing i would change is some tighter bass. gotta hear the new diamonds.

Hey -- they're even in TO. I'll have to pay them a visit -- I live in Darkest Scarborough.

Glad to hear the speakers are working out well now they're home -- that's what what really counts.

Muffinman.............If you want tight deep bass, try the new 9.6 very impressive sound for the price.I got them in Montreal at 500$ off because I bought a CREEK amp. They were on the floor for 4 days! Absolutely incredible! Build quality rivals others I saw in the store 3 and 4 times the price. I am amazed that AXIOM and Wharfedale can make sound at these prices! You really have to be careful out there these days because higher price DOES NOT always mean better. In some cases, I saw speakers that were finished in a superb manner but when played through a high end system, they sounded terrible to my ears. I asked the salesman what he thought and told me he sells 100 pairs of Wharfedales to 5 3000-4000$ sets as clients do not notice enough difference in sound to spend that kind of money. He also told me that clients should concentrate on their sources such as CD players and amps first and develop their systems around them. That is what I did and I am really happy with what I got. My friends can't believe what comes out of the AXIOMS and Wharfedales. Try all sorts of material but don't compensate for something because of a name or price. For example, I listened to all sorts of B and W speakers and found them bland and way overpriced but that is my opinion. Some people are more proud to tell you about what make their equipment is before how it sounds. How many of you told someone you own AXIOM and they said who??? What is that? Respond by asking them to come over and listen and they will be impressed.