With all of my efforts concentrated on my dedicated HT room the last three years, I have very much ignored my living room. So I went on the hunt for a pair of bookshelf speakers and a new flat panel TV. I got the flat panel last week at Future Shop (LG 50" for $979 Cad).

I was very fortunate to find these Axiom AX2 Millennium Series 2 Bookshelf speakers on Canuck Audio Mart yesterday. They are in perfect condition, packaged in their original boxes and packaging, including plastic wrap. Even the foam on the drivers are in excellent shape, no sign of "foam rot". I picked them up for $130 Cad.

The AX2 is a two way loud speaker with a 1" soft dome tweeter and an 8" bass driver. They also have the Axiom tapered cabinet to eliminate standing waves. These are in a very nice Rosewood vinyl. Even though it is vinyl, it doesn't look like it, from a distance they could easily pass for real wood with a matte finish.

These speakers won the Sound and Vision Critics choice award in 1993 and after spending about 2 hours listening to them last night, I can hear why. They have the same accurate detailed sound that I get from my M80's. Voices are natural. The sound stage is good, but not as wide as or as deep as the 80's, which is to be expected. Bass is actually better then I expected from a speaker of this size and from 1993. Speaking of size, Axiom calls these book shelf speakers. I think they are a little too big for a book shelf speaker myself. For music, a sub would be a nice complement, but not an absolute necessity.

Freq. Res. - 43 - 22000 Hz +- 3 db
Sensitivity - 90 db
Imped. - 6 Ohm
Rated - 15 to 250 Watts RMS.

They were able to eat everything my 50 watt Rotel power amp was able to feed them. At very high levels they did start to sound a little harsh, but that was a levels I wouldn't maintain.

I was looking for a good sounding pair of speakers for my living room for background music, and the odd listening session without blowing the bank.

I know you can get great sounding speakers today that are a fraction of the size, B&W 686 is a beauty, but at $600 Cad, I just couldn't afford them.

If you are in the market for used speakers and get a chance to grab the AX2, it is a steel for anywhere under $150. Highly recommended!!!!

Very nice.

Those are totally outrageous.

Hi Worfzara,

Ah, the ol' AX2. That takes me back. I was editor in chief of Sound and Vision (Canada) when I awarded the AX2 the Critics Choice award in 1993. The AX2 was a very nicely balanced speaker, and it had done well in our double-blind NRC listening tests.

Nice to see it again and I'm delighted you like its neutral balanced sound.

Cheers,

Alan

Nice!

awesome...

Cool! Naked tweeter!

I noticed that too; no diffuser. Interesting. Would love to give these a listen; if only to hear what Axiom's DNA roots sounded like.

I live in South Western Ontario, your more then welcome to drop by and have a listen if you are in the neighbourhood.

paul

You just have to love the vintage gear.
Not only can you find some really quality stuff, but it is so cheap!

When are they going to bring back the wood paneling on receivers??!!

I remember when every thing was silver (70's), then it want to black (Late 80s and 90's), then it went back to silver (2000's), now you can get many pieces in both. Ofcoarse there was Marantz the bucked the trend and went gold, or Poineer in 1982 that went army style beige.

I still miss the old cassette decks with the analogue meters and the huge switches and knobs! But most of all I miss the fantastic art work on the old LP's.

paul

If I am not mistaken, the AX2 1993 sold for around $400CAD / pair. Ofcoarse that was through a retailer.

I would be interested in putting these up against a pair of M22's.

The M22's have a smaller footprint with 2 smaller drivers vs the one larger one ont he AX2. But the same tweeter as the M80's. It would be an interesting comparison. Having never heard the M22's, I don't know what to expect.

paul

Yeah, me too. I'm guessing excellent dipersion that is not sensitive to toe-in.

Interesting to see some of the older Axiom speakers. The woofer looks similar to some of the Vifa transducers on the market, and looks to be made of some kind of coated fibre.

I think a more equivalent match up would probably be the M3s given the driver size and compliment of both speakers.
Perhaps Alan has notes to compare the M3s vs the older AX series given that the Millenia series was created after the AX, if my memory of the history serves correctly.

I think they are a treated type of paper / cardboard mix, but I am not an expert.

paul

It says right in the owners manual that "the exceptionally wide dispersion fo your Ax2's eliminates the need to toe in. Your AX2's will image just as well facing straight inot the room as they will toed in".

Good call BigHonu!!!!!

paul

Agreed, there were lots of cool LP covers yrs ago. Not the same when you pick up a cd.

Those speakers look great. Its wierd seeing pictures of Axioms with the different tweeter and woofer since all current models use titanium and aluminum. I bet they sound awesome. How would this model equate in performance to the current Axiom lineup of bookshelf speakers?

I like that idea! Bring it back already!

I have a framing nailer, if you want to try it out.

My components are already cringing in fear!

Paul, great find on those speakers. Hope they work out for you. They look like they are brand new.

Chess, good call on the wood on receivers. I have an old Scott with wood sides. I bring in out of hiding on occasion and it does a very nice job of driving my M80's or M3's to adequate levels. It is only rated for about 35 watts per channel.

The vector tuning and LED meters are fun features from back in the day.