Alright, you guys win. I can't take the mental torture of your incessant praise and enjoyment of these dang speakers. So, I ordered a complete set of Axioms today. My wife, should she ever find one of y'all, will shoot you on the spot. I have M60s, a VP150, and a pair of QS8s arriving on my doorstep Wednesday.
Of course, I had to endure a weekend of purse and shoe shopping at outlet malls in Destin, Florida, to pull this off. They better sound stinkin' good.
All joking aside, the character of the folks on this board had a lot to due with my decision. All you nice folks can't be wrong.--Andy
Welcome to the fold! I think you'll be very, very pleased with you decision.
Please let us know what you think when they arrive!
Great system choice Ellis! Let us know how you enjoy them. What's the rest of your system like?
Andy - you wil be thrilled! Welcome to the mayhem. Please let us know what your other equipment is, give us your impressions and absolutely show some pics.
Thanks for the warm welcome. Until Wednesday, I have Klipsch ref 3 series around, with a VTF-2 complementing. Source is a Denon 2200 running through a Denon 3802. TV is a Mits 55413 with Hughes E86 (just waiting for HDTivo $ to drop a bit).
I am most excited about the Qs8s, as I have never been pleased with the Klipsch surrounds. I will get pics posted as soon as I have the set-up rolling.
By the way, I am jamming to the Alice In Chains Greatest Hits SACD right now and am really liking the mix. Can't wait to her it on the Axioms.--Andy
Welcome Andy!
You've got the same setup coming that I have!
I see you've already been asked to post photos. You'll be hit up soon to buy an MX-700 remote. It's like an initiation thing around here!
Man, I don't have to worry about your wife... Ray is on his way here right now to kick my butt!
Runnin' for cover.....
Welcome Andy! We understand what a leap of faith it is to order a bunch of speakers, sound unheard (sight unseen?). Most of us have made the same exact leap. It is my sincere hope, and firm belief, that you will NOT be disappointed.
One of the things we have talked about here on the forum, is setting yourself up for disappointment. These speakers will not make you more handsome, will not make your teeth sparkling white, will not make you wittier or more intelligent. They are not perfect. What they are is a heck of a bang for the buck, and some darn fine speakers. Are there better speakers out there? Yup! Are you going to be disappointed? Not on your tintype.
Hi Andy...cool...my brothers name is Andy.....
Hope you enjoyed the shoe shopping...whatever it takes to keep the wife happy is worth it, especially when it comes to acquiring new stereo/home theatre equipment.
Thanks for the caution Ajax. I am quite sure the speakers will be as I imagine. Don't tell the other posters, but I really put a lot more research into this purchase than reading their posts. Of course, the friendliness of this board is unrivaled.
I spent my undergrad years installing and funding car audio, which is even more "hype fueled" than home audio/video. Regardless of my speaker selection, I am already handsome, have sparkling white teeth, and am as witty and intelligent as they come. Just kidding, of course...Andy
I just bit the bullet too, i got mine on friday. My expectations were far exeeded. The finish on these speakers is nothing short of amazing. Still tweaking, but they have a real unique sound. I'm kinda loving it lol, enjoy!
Andy, the QS8s are stunning. The one thing I would suggest is that you take the time to do the calibration so the speakers sing well right from the get-go. These Axioms will be a nice addition to the rest of your outfit.
Andy:
I too await your response, since I've yet to buy my Axioms (not really a decision issue, just budget right now) and my wife has heard the Klipsch you mentioned; she wasn't all that impressed and insisted that what we buy exceeds those or all this was for not.
I'm not trying to pad your review to fit my needs, but it sure looks that way, doesn't it
I second that on the Qs8', also Andy your system is just like mine, almost, you'll love them....I just watched "Open Range", heck of a movie for those western fans, With my Qs8's you'd swear the bullets are going right through you...
Ray,
I have the radio shack SPL meter and the Avia disc ready to rock when the speakers arrive. But while we are discussing this, how many SPLs am I supposed to bump the sub to make up for meter error? Three, I think?
TKHanson,
I will “pad” my review anyway you need me to in order to find the wife's approval you need to buy these speakers. Just PM me with the specifics you need. I can see my review now…,
“The first time I watched ‘When Harry Met Sally’ with the Axioms was like watching the movie for the first time. The detail offered by the VP150 makes you fall in love with the characters like never before.”
--Andy
When i adjusted for my sub, i just let the sub hum, for a minute until i got a good average.. Don’t know if its the most "correct" way... but that’s what i did..
Andy, there's really no set formula
- calibrate everything to 85 db. I was trying to explain that the sub ends up being a bit subjective. Once you calibrate all equally, see how it sounds. From that starting point, set it to your taste. I remember reading somewhere that +3 db is about right once the calibration is done. By all means - experiment a bit.
Also, take a look at
this . It's kind of interesting.
ellis- i think you will be extremely pleased with you new purchases. you have a great receiver to power them up, and i reckon you will be grining from ear to ear come wednesday evening.
let us know what you think.. and as always, WE WANT PICS!!
bigjohn
Here are the RS meter compensation recommendations from SVS. 3dB at 30 hz, less at higher frequencies, more at lower frequencies. Does anyone know what frequency the fixed LF noise signals on the Avia disk are centered on ?
Greetings all,
I just did the same thing, and YES!, the tone, interest in other's opinions, and camradrie shown on these forums, as well as the incredible help that I got from Brent and Amie at Axiom made what should have been a very stressful buying experience quite easy.
Because of budgetary considerations, I had to split the order between Outlet stock and regular stock. So this past week I got my M60s and Qs8s, and I am still awaiting delivery on my SP150, EP350 and M2i's for the front effects.
The M60s are nothing short of a revelation.
In all honesty, I had pretty much resigned myself to having to wait quite a bit longer to make the jump to a new speaker system. I had listened to just about everything out there that was in my wallet's comfort level, and really could not find anything that I thought represented enough of a leap in quality over my current system for what I was willing to spend.
The about-to-be-replaced system is a set of Polk S10's, (probably 10 years old by now, but still- and I gave them one last serious listen to before hooking up the M60s - a really pretty sounding set of speakers for what I paid for them) a CS-250 front, FX300I for the surrounds, a PSW300 Sub, and a pair of the M3II's for the front effects. Except for the M3II's everything has the same high and mid range drivers in them, which I think contibute tremendously to how well matched and balanced the system sounds.
All is running through a Yamaha RX-V2092, with a Yamaha DC765 CD player and a Sony DVP-NS725P (that will be the first of the components to be replaced - not very impressive for either music or movies, but it was cheap!)
But back to the point...
I simply cannot believe what these M60s can do, compared to what I listened to for 2 and 3 times their price.
The purity, clarity, musicality, imaging, and spaciousness are simply incredible. And, given their accuracy, they are very, very easy to listen to. They never become harsh or overbearing at the upper end, and they are still not broken in! I cannot imagine what they are going to sound like in a month or two.
I've not yet hooked up the Qs8's. I know, they have been here almost a week! And it is killing me!
But I am still waiting for a couple of friends to come over and hear the old Polk set-up, to see if they want to buy it. And when I pull down the old surrounds I am going to have to change the mounting placement, and I don't want to be bothered with unmounting, mounting, and unmounting if I do not have to. The SPF (Sweetie Patience Factor) goes way down the longer there are holes in walls and wallboard dust drifting around!
There are two things that I have been having trouble with since I hooked up the M60's.
First, I find that I cannot decide what to listen to! I just keep jumping from CD to CD, like a little kid!
"Wow! That's incredible! I wonder how (fill in the blank) sounds!" I'm driving The Sweetie crazy. Heck, the day after they got here, it took me almost a half an hour to refile all of the CDs that I pulled out the night before!
Second; Badly recorded, or badly mastered CDs really do sound lousy. It is amazing what a difference this makes. It dawned on me while I was listening to some of my older stuff that there are now kids of legal drinking age that are younger than some of my CDs!
So, I'm glad that I saved some of my $$$s by going the outlet route, because there are going to be plenty of CDs that will need replacing. (At least those are easier to sneak in than new speakers and components!)
Anyway, thanks again for all of your insightful and well-reasoned comments and advice. I did not post much, but I was devouring everthing for weeks leading up to finally pulling the trigger.
And YES! When everything is in place, I will indeed post a picture or two!
Bravo to Axiom, and Bravo to all of their passionate fans, of which I am now happy to include myself!
TjB
