After lurking around here for years I finally bought some Axioms. Bought an auction pair of M3s to be used in a bedroom stereo set up. I'm a little disappointed the Burled Walnut is no longer available but that Smokey Grey looks pretty cool.

edit, just checked I guess the official name is "Charcoal Smoke"

Wonderful!

Based upon the title alone, I thought it was going to be golf clubs!

I hope you love your threes as much as I love mine.

Once your ears start using them, your vidi-balls will turn a blind eye. Have a blast with 'em, Luc the Lurker!

Welcome to the family.

Nice purchase; I have a friend who's looking into a pair of M3's. I'm interested to hear your opinion after you spend some time with them.

Purchased yesterday, expected delivery today - can't go wrong there. Problem is, I'm still in the negotiating stage of the 2 channel system, well I mean that I've accepted his counteroffer and still waiting for the seller to send me his info so I can pay him. Oh well I guess I'll just have to set up the M3s with the Anthem for now.

Should be a fun weekend as they will be pitted firstly against my Studio 60s and then to be a little fairer I will compare them to my Atom v5s

Excellent! Post a comparisons here. The Studio 60 M3 match up should be interesting. Given the design approach for both (flat and neutral), I expect they will sound like they come from the same family.

The M3 Atom comparo will be interesting as well. I don't think I have ever seen a direct comparison of those two.

Well the M3s came in on time and so far I am impressed, the packaging used for shipping is the best I have seen, the speakers look great, have good weight to them and the finish is impeccable. Now the bad news, the deal I was working on for an IA and CDP went south and I just haven't had the time to hook up the M3s to listen to them.

Have been doing some research for a new Integrated Amp and have decided to take a chance on a Chinese tube integrated (because I'm cheap) and it's inexpensive (maybe cheap too - time will tell)

Anyways these are the spec, it's a nice looking amp though

Output Power 15 watts x 2
Output Tube 6P1 x 4
Frequency 5Hz-70KHz
Driver Tube 6N3
Distortion Less than 1% at full power
Input Consumption <80w
Signal/Noise Ratio 90d
Ohms 4 ohms and 8 ohms
Input Jack 2 groups (CD Input ,AUX Input = USD & SD Card)
Size Dimension Width 260mm x Height 140mm x Depth 210mm
Colour Black Body With Silver Handle & Black Power Supply
Weight 10 kg
Packing Includes All the Tubes / Valve + Standard 1.5m (5 ft) Power Cord

I would love to get your impressions of your new equipment.

All pros and cons arguments aside, I really do love the look of exposed tubes.

I've long been tempted to try and build one just for the fun of it. End result though would likely be that my shaky electronic skills would end up with my house on fire.

Luc, I think your tube amp looks very cool. Tubes make it appear to one's friends that one has gone completely insane over the hobby. If I could afford a 200 watt tube amp, I'd have tubes.

My only concern about the China connection is that there may parasites living under that carpeting and boring beatle larva in that pretty wood. Well, that and having that the inexplicable compulsion to wipe yourself exculsively with your left hand and use only one sheet of toilet paper.

Looking forward to hearing what you think and how much fun you're having.

In related news, Bed Bath & Beyond just recalled metal tissue boxes because they were radioactive. The brief radio news story did not mention where they were manufactured. Perhaps making due with one sheet is a good idea after all?

I got a flyer in the mail from Bed Bath & Beyond and saw the ad for those tissue boxes.

"Blow your nose and get a third eye."


Almost sells itself.

Radioactive!!! Where can I find a gieger counter Ordered the amp this morning from Hong Kong - it's the same amp pictured but different tubes (upgraded)The amp itself still came in under $200 + shipping and I expect duty to be around $50

Output Power 15 watts x 2 in Class A Push and Pull circuit design
Output Tube EL84 / 6P14 x 4
Frequency 5Hz-70KHz
Driver Tube 6N3

Was a little wary about ordering from China but a member from a different forum is quite happy with his product ordered from the same company so I though I'd take a chance

My little integrated tube amp arrived from Hong Kong today, it was well packaged and got an unexpected bonus, the ebay seller marked it as gift so there were no extra duty charges. He did indicate that he would mark it as a gift in his ebay ad but I guess I never noticed.

This is my first tube amp so I was a little surprised that there were no instructions of any kind included, however it is pretty straight forward. The tubes came in a neatly packaged box and were numbered to match the amp.

I remember reading somewhere that it isn't a good idea to touch the tubes with bare hands due to leaving any kind of residue so went to the kitchen to grab a tea towel and installed the tubes. Was going through a little apprehension here as they were quite stiff to install. Connected the new Axiom M3s and a new LG BD player that I purchased to use as a CDP - plugged in the amp and crossed my fingers

Loaded in a Harry Chapin CD and everything works, the sound was nice and clean there didn't seem to be anything abnormal so I turned down the volume and left the room to let the amp burn in for a couple of hours.

When I returned I loaded up some Billy Joel and crawled into bed it was 1pm (remember I work nights) the bedroom system sounds great, I thought as I drifted off to sleep...

Excellent, Luc. Glad you got the amp.

Yes, you don't want to touch the tubes with your bare hands. Gloves work best as you can better grip the tubes, which makes pushing them into the sockets a bit easier. I find holding them near the base is somewhat easier.

I'd give the amp a good 5 to 10 minutes for the tubes to warm up before playing music.

I'm not sure if the amp requires biasing, or not. Let me check the pic again. . .

hmm, I can't really tell. Any small holes on the side(s) of the amp, for sticking mulitmeter leads into?

I'm not sure, will have to check tomorrow when I get home from work. The M3s sound good but they sort of feel like something is missing in the midrange or highs - will A/B test them this weekend against my Atoms. Was thinking maybe I should have gotten the M2s but looking at the specs the M3s are easier to drive, mmm I don't know, I really liked the sound of the Atoms when I was running a vintage 25wpc Marantz in the bedroom.

I guess I'll play around this weekend, worst case scenario I can move the Axioms to the 7.1 HT system If I find the Atoms sound better and/or I still have 10 days left on the 30 day demo

Checked the amp this morning and didn't see any place to insert a multimeter lead. I did spend a little more time with the M3s this morning listening to different CDs and concert DVDs and they do sound sweet. Hooked up the Atoms to compare and found that the M3s have a cleaner sound with the Music Angel, the Atoms will be returning to their rear surround duties in the HT.

The M3s have found their new home...

Cool, must be self-biasing then.

Enjoy the amp and your M3s, Luc!

Yaya that sure is good looking. A pair of M3s, a nice sub and some good tubes, that is a recipe for music nirvana.

Am considering adding a small sub but I'm a little confused about connecting it to the integrated amp and speakers since there is no dedicated sub preout. Looking at the rear of the EP125



I can see where to connect from the IA to the sub using the high level input but I do not see any output connections to go to the M3s

Luc, using that equipment, the sub and speakers could be connected in two ways: first, you can run speaker wire from the amp terminals to the sub high level inputs and run separate speaker wires directly from the amp terminals to the M3 terminals(jamming both into the amp terminals and possibly trimming the ends down in size to help fit); second, you could run a speaker wire from the sub high level input terminals(again, jamming both wires in)out to the M3 terminals. These two connections are electrically identical. Note that subs don't have internal crossovers which might affect speakers connected through the sub, and the speakers will continue to run full-range.

Thanks John, that's what I suspected but it just seems strange that they wouldn't include an output for this on the sub.

Per Alan's "Receiver and Subwoofer crossover set up" in the Articles section of the site the sub does have a crossover to be used in this case, I just wasn't clear on how to output from the sub

If you are running an older two-channel stereo receiver or an integrated amplifier that lacks a subwoofer output jack, connect the subwoofer by running the receiver’s left and right speaker cables to the subwoofer’s high-level or "speaker-level" input connectors. A second set of speaker cables would then run between the subwoofer and your main left and right front speakers. In this scenario, you would adjust the subwoofer crossover control to achieve a smooth blend between your main speaker’s bass output and the subwoofer’s deep bass output.

EDIT - just noticed it's my 100th post - Do I win a prize...

No, subs actually don't have internal crossovers, even if the term is used. There's only a low-pass filter which affects only the sub, even if a speaker is connected through the sub(the connection is straight-through, and as mentioned above is electrically identical to connecting the speaker directly to the receiver/amplifier terminals). The speakers continue to run full-range, and an attempt to blend their natural roll-off with the sub output is made by adjusting the sub's low-pass filter to match that roll-off.

As to why separate speaker level output terminals aren't included on the sub, they're only a minor convenience since either of the two connections described above can still be made and have the same result.