Looks like Gene DellaSala from Audioholics was invited up to Axiom for a blind listening test.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/axiom-blind-listening-test

Interesting comment about crossovers in there.

Thanks for the link!

Great article--and the crossover bit was highly amusing.

Did anyone else notice the emphasized part?

Cue dramatic music!

Bwaaaaaah! Dun dun dun! wommmmmmmmmmmm.....

I did indeed catch that and am eagerly waiting for some news about said aspirations. All future speaker purchases were suddenly put on hold once I read that.

Thanks for the link, Chris. Are we all taking a track or two to the 30th anniversary celebration?

I was prepared to let the new M80s be my next major speaker upgrade, but I can certainly hold off for now until the meaning of that statement becomes clear.

Yes, interesting read about Gene's experience. I found it noteworthy that even after Gene was unable to hear a difference between the two crossovers, he still uses terms such as "upgraded", "higher quality" and "higher end" in describing what should be termed simply a "modified" component if no actual audible superiority is to be implied.

Imagine a virtual mob surrounding you...closing in...threatening to beat you if you don't provide more details...

It's common practice to incorporate expensive, high end parts and/or materials in order to justify the price and claim of a high end product. Skeptics will claim that limitations in the drivers, tweeters, cabinet, and/or speaker design are preventing the "better" crossover from flourishing.

It would be interesting if someone could take a "high end" speaker with "high end" crossover and replace its crossover with one using lesser materials/parts to see if it yielded any difference in sound quality.

The Quote in the article is as follows:
"This listening session focused on if I could detect audible differences of their stock crossover utilizing steel laminate cores vs an upgraded crossover utilizing air core inductors."

Perhaps, and I'm totally speculating and talking out of my ass here... they were comparing the stock crossover with a crossover they were thinking of upgrading to. Ooooh! Maybe some Axiom testers could hear a difference and others couldn't and there was fierce debate as to whether or not they should "upgrade" to the higher end air inducted crossover or just stick with the stock item.

Then someone says, "We need a third party tie-breaker".

Ian pipes up, "I could call Gene from Audioholics..."

Now, Because of Gene DellaSalla, we aren't getting the fancy crossover! (Thanks for *nothing* Gene!)

Whaddya think?


Entire story above is right out of my overtired brain. Nobody better take that to seriously! Especially Gene. It was Audioholics reviews that led me to Axiom in the first place. (Sincere thanks for that, Gene).

snazzed

From what I've heard from Ian et al., this was most likely purely a demo for Gene.

Now what might be fun is if they did that same thing for you guys during the visit...

They should have invited Solid State to the test. He could have pinpointed the exact madifications made, their effects, and then pointed them in the direction of which caps to use to finish the whole thing off perfectly.

Either that, or just steal Skiing Ninja's 'superior' modifications!

I have a feeling these were the Ninja's recommended changes.

The air core and the new caps are a step in the audiophile direction these days.