If you're thinking about M100's, save your money.
When I ordered them, I told Brent I wasn't even going to ask about delivery schedules. They'd get here when they got here. They're veneer, and a new model, so I didn't have any eager anticipation. Plus, I was dreading moving everything in the shed to get to the M60 boxes to send 'em back, so I forgot about it.
Somewhwere around the end of week 6, I got so busy with, like, everything, that it wasn't until a week later that I got Noreen's "announcement" and thought about them again. It's sort of like the Annunciation, but there aren't any virgins, angels, trumpets, or heralders; no one gets pregnant, and no gods are involved. It's just an email, although it could have a herald, right? And it's the same message I got when I ordered the last time. That was exactly 4 years ago. If it is now seen as "tradition," then I will leave it at that, knowing that top mgt. @ the company is in Tom's demographc and, therefore, resistant to change.
From the date I ordered until they arrived was almost 8 weeks, which was a couple weeks more than I had imagined, but, hey, whaddya gonna do, buy crap just cause it can get to your house faster than the good stuff? We ain't talkin' a Russian bride from some "...stan" here! This is fine audio! In wood, YCB's!
UPS and I had some miscommunication and they were not being held at a nearby facility for me to p/u. They were coming directly to my door and no one could be here.
4 years ago Fed Ex left boxes (in which were M60's/vp150/ep500,(4)QS8's) at our garage door and scrammed. It was raining and I happened to hear the truck's engine blast down the street. Of course he pissed off. There was a hole in the ep500 carton that loooked llike it had been hit by a Fiat. All ended up OK that time, sort of.
As "luck" would have it this time, I actually woke up that day and was too sick to leave the house, for real. I felt awful.
The 100's arrived at 11. I heard the "back-up-beep-beep" of a truck, looked out and saw the UPS truck. I opened the garage door and started down the driveway, (our house sits on a little knoll--not as big as, say, like, the Daly Plaza Grassy Knoll) with my 2 wheeler. Seeing the rear door was fully open, I walked to the back of the truck, only to see the UPS guy with an M100 carton on his shoulder. I was smart enough to know from what height off the street he may "lay down" that box. I scrambled up the drive to sort of, umm, you know, like, wrest it from Moose's grappling hooks before I get to SEE any damage actually take place. With the packing, the boxes each weight over 80 lbs. That's a long bag of Portland cement.
I offered the 2-wheeler for the 2nd box, but he wasn't having any of that and bounced it up on his shoulder. (I'm thinking, "OK, I'm impressed with that, but if you DO have a wife, I know how you got her, only what's in that box is far more deilcate than any beast of a "flower" you've ever managed to carry off.") I was standing inside the garage with one box as 'Rilla Joe,' right in front of me, does precisley what I thought my presence was supposed to prevent. He was standing 2 feet away from me, flipped the box from his shoulder into a vertical position and slowly guided it down----------LETTING IT DROP THE LAST 5 INCHES TO THE CONCRETE FLOOR.
Axiom does pack for 'RILLA JOES" arond the globe, but boy! Both boxes had holes in them big enough for me to look right there and touch the speaker's front corner. I made him note it and we both signed it.
OK, so now I'm not feeling quite so ill, that I've been up a few hours and got to "keep" some toast and tea. So why not unpack 'em and then be able to put in an immediate report to UPS if necessary.
Note: The unpacking directions/graphics work only if you have a ceiling higher than, ohh, 8' 6" or so.
Cool, no damage visible anywhere. Let's just move the M60's into the DR for now and set THESE up, just to make sure nothing internal may have been damaged.
OMFG, these are HEWGE! Am I really gonna get away with this? They block so much more light than the 60's that the plants might die. Is Bill gonna go nanners when he gets home? Obviously, I did get away with it, 'cause I still have the speakers, but, since they arrived, around T-giving, I have, quite often, missed having Bill in my life. Kidding, kidding, I don't miss him at all! I'm kidding, he's still here. "Gee, Bob, they meant it when the said "towers," huh?" and "Now I have to move my head to the left or right to see the front door." He could see over the 60's. "True enough, that, Bill, but no one actually comes in that door unless you get up and let them in, right?
Though I had little time to spend with them until after Xmas, I've made up for that since.
I have thrown everything at them; 50 years worth of buying music, from Vivaldi to Vanilla Fudge, from the Fuggs to Fun. There were consecutive days of female vocalists; my white ones and Bill's black ones. I had just oldies days; Little Richard, Jan and Dean, all of my Beach Boys, in order of release dates, same with the Beatles, Tull, Queen and a few others. Some of my 60's/70's cd's are remasters, some are not and are really poor recordings, and hence, have gotten little play, so I dragged them out, too. I listened to Joni Baloney's (Mitchell) entire box of her first 10 studio albums remastered, in a row, twice.
And last, but not least, all of my rock/jazz "fusion" albums from the 70's that I used to prize for their rarity, have finally---I'm totally f'n kidding! Fusion!?!?! Are you f'n serious? It almost killed the "rock" half. The real last, but not least, were all of those classical recordings that never really rocked my plimsoul with any stereo I've owned in my entire life.
All of my friends who might give a shit about such things as "Bob's new speakers" have been by for a listening session, some more than once.
I could begin here with the detailed impressions and interpretations, comparisons and more useless crap. Here's the measure: Never once in the 4 years I had the M60's, was Bill willing to spend time listening to music with me. Now, for as much as an hour before the "old peoples'" news comes on the local network affilliate, and as long as it's artists he knows and songs he likes, I not only can listen with him, I can almost listen at MY levels. Of course I asked why! He said, "Becasue none of this music has ever sounded like this to me. Even some of the old stuff sounds better than I've ever heard those albums sound. I hear things that I've never heard and the sound is so in the room." "So you think theye're an improvement to the M60's?," I asked. "By a lot!," he replied.
So, there you have it, directly from a listener who really, officially, does not give a shit about any of the "stuff" you'd probably have to be into in order to buy these speakers in the first place. Sorry, but in one of my books, a true Kantian reposnse is not an easy thing. Bill's response was disinterested, but not uninterested. It's about as honest and audio-baggage-free as it gets.
My jaded self concurs. No music I own has ever, EVER, sounded like this, old or new, none of it! My amp liked my M60's, but it loves these M100's! Now that I've spent time with 60's 80's and 100's (all v3's), the differences between 60/80, 80/100 are not subtle, nor are they limited to one range or quality. At each move up, the changes are across the entire spectrum; clarity, specificity, soundstage, etc.
Therefore, as I anticipated, the differences between my 60's and these are as big as these things themselves. For the first time ever, I can get orchestral music to feel like it does inside the hall when the passages can get so loud that they can easily be heard while walking across the street from Symphony Hall. I got that thrill for the first time, ever, in my own house, with the M100's. That opens up some whole new avenues of listening for me. I'm old and those compsoers are all dead, so the time-frame thing works out great for me. It'll be easy to keep up with their newest pieces.
These are the $10k speakers I would otherwise never own. They may need oly 10wpc, but they are more fun w/ 150.
So, if you're thinking about M100's, save your money. It'll take less than 10 minutes after they arrive to feel completely cured of any remor$e whatsoever over parting with it.
Are they worth getting the evil eye from a fellow Axiomoe who lives close by and now hates coming over in his little hats and charcoal heather wool jackets that all make him look just soooo put together and squeeky clean, all country "squirey" and everything, like a living L.L. Bean or Orvis catalog page, with his expensive boots and all, who is never thirsty or hungry when he visits and never lets you pay for lunch? Hmmm? Only when he's not here.
Last edited by BobKay; 02/13/14 03:58 AM.
