Hey guys I posted a little while back about a damaged surround problem. I also found out that the QS8's I received are the new Black Oak finish rather than the old on my M22's and VP150. Well Axiom was great about it and did send my replacements which were supposed to be the old black oak finish.

The replacements I received are the same finish as the ones I received initially, and the grain of the finish is definately not the same as my other speakers.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone with the new black oak finish and someone with the old finish on the QS8's could post some closeup pics so I can see the difference. The pics on the site don't really show.

It may be asking a lot but it would be much appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

Anthony

Well, these pics aren't the best quality, hope they help. I just got some new M22's, so I assume they are the latest oak finish they offer.

Which is which? the top one looks "more black".

they are both the same speaker, the lighting in the room sucked.

Randy, send your speakers to Mark so he can take some good pics

Thanks a lot sirquack that is the texture on my M22's and VP150, which I received on 8/18/09,
which I assumed was the old finish. Here's what my QS8's look like.

hmmm interesting, since I just received my M22's a week ago, I assumed they were the new finish. At some point I'm going to add a center and rears for my upstairs, when money allows. Now I will have to figure out what to order, hmmmm.

I wonder if your Q's are the old or new finish, strange...I'm sure Axiom can help if you call them.

I am going to try calling and get this all figured out today sirquack I'll keep you updated on this. I'm at work, but I will try and update here as soon as I can.

I did receive my m22's free, based on my time on the forums and post count. So it could be possible they sent me the previous finish..

Here is another pic, new or old finish, don't know...

I think the heavier grain is the old finish.

Contacted Brent and e-mailed him a picture. Will let you guys know the verdict when I get a call-back.

According to the website, the old finish, which is what I assume you and I have, can be ordered from the custom shop at no additional charge. I've guessing whoever you talked to at Axiom, must have goofed twice.

I'm hoping it was there goof and not mine. But I do like the heavier grain better. The lighter grain almost has a silverish shimmer to it in person.

I will have to make sure down the road I order the right ones for my center and surrounds. Hope they don't do away with the old finish, I also like it better...

Well I received word back from Brent. The heavier grain, now in the custom shop, is the old finish. They are sending me out a new pair tomorrow with labels to send back the others I have received.

I should have asked how long they intend to keep the old finish around for but it didn't cross my mind. Hopefully this thread can help someone in the future!

Thanks

Anthony

nice you got it figured out Anthony, thanks for the help.

Is there even a grain to the new black finish? It doesn't look like there is by the one picture, maybe more of a Maple stained black, like the light maple standard is more like a white stained Oak than maple

I'm still confused, and this is going to be an issue for me soon too.

I thought it was said that the old finish had silver highlights in it. That's what my QS8s have, and were ordered a few months before anyone talked about a new finish. I assumed they were the old.

I hope your right Chris, can someone that has standard black oak from say 6months ago or older comment. Or can somone from Axiom chime in?

I'd be surprised if the QS8's in this thread are not the "new" black... I imagine black QS8's are probably some of the most popular speakers Axiom sells, so to have old inventory of them seems odd.

I would suggest that Axiom might have changed MDF suppliers which may be the slight difference in old/new colours. They may have had some sheets of the 'older' black oak that were used up before the newer batch went into production.

Most likely that is exactly the case, although I would imagine it was the vinyl supplier that changed stock, unless the MDF comes to them pre-wrapped?

The standard finishes have the Vinyl attached to the sheets of MDF from the manufacturers, the custom(high gloss ect) Vinyl finishes are applied by Axiom.

Cool, good to know

This is indeed an interesting thread. I myself just ordered all 6 of my speakers going on 6 months ago, so are they the old finish or the new? It will be necessary to know since I still have 4 QS8's to purchase for this system, and I will want them all to match naturally.

They don't appear to have any silver sheen to them, however I am color blind... so I'm really of no use in determining their color.

If it were me, I'd make a point of calling Axiom when the time comes and let them know you'd like to make sure the new Q's match...maybe they can tell by the serial #'s on your "old" Ax's. I guess it comes down to whether they have the "older" sheets of MDF or if they've used them up or not, I dunno. I'd also like to get a couple more QS8's down the road. Maybe someone from Axiom can chime in on this.

Ok guys I tried to take some better pics so you can see. There is really quite a difference between the two. Hopefully this shows the silver-ish color of the new finish. The silver color is actually made to look like wood grain rather than an actual grain in the vinyl like on the old finish. Now don't get me wrong, the new finish does have a grain or I'd say more of a texture, which is basically just lines straight across and looks nothing like an actual wood grain.

The first picture is, from what I was told, the old finish which is what my fronts and center are. They are solid black in person. I received these 2 months ago. The second picture is the new finish on my QS8, which I received a pair of three weeks ago and now again yesterday.

great pics, yeah the new m22's that I just received are the same as your top pic, hmmm. maybe they sent me some that a person returned.

Well i have ordered color samples of both
(because i want to match it with my actual JBL spkr).

in my case, Old black is a perfect match.

by the way, The old black is named : Custom Black (per Axiom sales dept).
The New Black is named : New Black.

Ordering samples of both is an nice way to determine your match, it's cheap an better than picture, anayways you can return it via an RMA request.

yeah, I've got a bunch of samples from a year or so ago when I did custom Black Pica from the custom shop. Don't have any of the black oak, just assumed new speakers would come with the "new black". I've got a PM into James.

IMO, the old black looks more Oak wood like with better texture/grain, the new black looks soft like I said, maybe more along the lines of maple or birch stained black, a much softer grain.

M22's, thats it?


For my 700th post they sent me the A1400-8.

For my 10,000th post, Axiom outfitted my closet with a 7.2 surround system.

For dressing myself every day since I've been on the forums, Axiom gave me Ian's private jet!

Hi SirQuack and all,

I saw the two samples side by side up at Axiom's plant this past summer, and there was a difference, albeit fairly subtle. It also depends on the color temperature of the light you view them in. In the board room, the lights are flourescent plus daylight from a window; in the listening room, they're incandescent and much warmer in color temp, so finishes look different in there.

I'm not much help on this one. I only have some older Axioms in the original black oak finish.

I think the best idea is to order a sample of each finish and view them in the light of the room where the speakers will be used if you're concerned about the differences.

Regards,
Alan

Alan, you really need to up your post count in here so you can finally replace those 'old finish' speakers with some new one's, compliments of Axiom!

Hi SirQuack,

The old Black Oak finish had shades of dark greys and charcoal to add texture and relief to the wood grain; the newer one is pure black. You still can buy the older Black Oak if you prefer. It is an option from the Custom Matte Finishes under the name of Custom Black Oak.

As per Alan's comment, it is a subtle difference.

I understand JC, I just need to understand what finish I received for my new 22's. I have an email into James as he was the one I worked with... Mine look nothing like the Q's above in the pic, so I can assume the new 22's I received are in fact the old finish.

I am ok with this, just don't want to go throught the same problems as the post starter when I'm ready to order a center and surrounds. He has received 2 incorrect shipments now.

The pics you posted earlier in the thread are most definately the same as my M22's which are the old finish.

I just wanted to clarify that my last posted pics of the different finishes were taken in the exact same spot with the exact same lighting. Although the picture of the old finish appears gray it is just the light shining on it.
To me these finishes are VERY different, but as they are surrounds most people may not even notice this. Let's say your center and surrounds were the 2 different finishes, most people would notice right away.

Speaking of "old finish", the other day I was coming down a stairs in the mall and the older gentleman ahead and below me had what appeared to be shoe polish masking his large bald spot.

I would have paid good money for one of those Shinarama boxes the Freshmen tote around to raise money for charity at the beginning of every school year.

Ok, I just confirmed from Axiom that the m22's I just received are in fact the new finish. Which contradicts a lot in this thread, even JC's description of the finish. I'm guessing the orginal poster had the new finish all along and assumed he had the old finish when he placed an order for replacement Q's. They sent what was requested, which was wrong...but not Axiom's fault.

Anyway, the pictures that have more grain and shades of black/gray as JC described are in fact the new finish.

Interesting

Makes sense, though.

Thanks Sirquack for checking in to this some more. This has been a mess of a situation. You are right, I should not have assumed from the beginning that I had the old finish when I asked for replacements, this surely caused confusion for Axiom, my fault. On the other hand, the rep I talked to did check records to see what was originally sent to me in order to match the finishes.

I'm not trying to start an argument or pass blame here I just want to make it clear that it was neither fully Axiom's or my fault.

Through all of this, Axiom has been a very stand up company and has never failed to make things right no matter who's fault it was, which I feel everyone should hear. E-mail, and phone support has been nothing less than stellar and only their speakers outperform their service!! I will have absolutely no problems recommending them to anyone. Also, through all of this I know I will be coming back to Axiom for my speaker purchases years down the road.

BTW I already received my speakers on Friday which I believe were mailed 2-day air. Once again a testament to Axiom's excellent service.

Anthony

Nice that it all got resolved. Assumptions (that are no communicated) are the basis for most errors of this nature. But, as you said, Axiom never makes you feel as if you're the bad guy regardless of the situation. So, did you get the jet-black, the midnight-black or the offwhite black? Just kidding!

Just wondering Jumbo, did they send the replacements out to you first, then had you send the old one's back as we thought?

They sent the replacements out to me first, no questions asked. They also sent me a shipping label to send the others back.

Too bad I need to send four of these back tomorrow.
Beautiful sight isn't it?

Sad indeed. But here we have an excellent example of what we've been talking about in some other threads about Axiom's trust in their customers... here they have sent you $1620 dollars worth of their merchandise while you've only paid $540 bucks for them. This is completely unheard of in the world of consumer products. Companies just don't do this sort of thing... unless it's Axiom we're talking about!

And this sort of trust breeds mutual trust on the other side of the coin. When a company displays that sort of trust in a customer, I would estimate the vast majority of people will respond in kind. A jesture such as this creates a desire to reward that sort of treatment with equal eagerness to display gratification by returning the unpaid for merchandise promptly.

So it's a win/win for everyone, and I know I for one will be a customer for life because of this extrodinarily rare characteristic I've found and deeply appreciate in this company.

Ok, just making sure here... According to SQ, #2 is the "old" finish right... I also want to make sure since i'm order 2
pairs of QS8's this week. I like #2 much better and thats what
I want to order.

I would have to say that #2 is the old finish as that is what I remember it to look like. On side note and I think I stated this before, #1 really doesn't look like oak to me, more like maple or birch, as it has a very light grain to it. I think Axiom should just rename it from black oak to something else.

Agreed, the bottom pic has the bolder grain streaks like oak has where the top one, to me, looks more subtle like birch.

cool. Do I have to call this request in after the order is sent ?

My Q's look like your picture #2, and Axiom has assured me that I have the new finish. The old finish is only available if you request it, so I am still confused.

Had a good look at my M80s, they look more like the first pick, kind of like a carbon grey colour and somewhat subtle grain. I got them early in the year so they'd be the "old" finish...I guess the bottom pick may well be the new finish according to what mine look like(first pic).

I have a good solution to all this: Don't buy black speakers. zzzzzz...

Wait 'til they change your "Boston Cherry" to "Carolina Cherry"

"Sweet Carolina Cherry"