I have been doing some research on speakers to get for my home. I can not believe all the makes that I never heard of that are out there and being highly reviewed and recommended. Of course the best thing to do is listen to speakers but how can you possibly narrow down the list to audition?

Narrow it down by eliminating the ones you think are ugly, made by companies with bad websites, stupidly named, out of your budget, stuff like that.

Bob, try to plan a trip to a local hifi store and just spend some time listening to different speakers. Take some CDs you are familiar with and run them through all sorts of speakers and try to pick out what sound appeals to you most.

Looks are certainly important to some and it is something to consider.

A fellow by the name of Toole did some reasearch a while back that showed that most people prefer speakers that conform to like:

Flat frequency response with a slight roll off on the top end, off axis frequency response that is as close as possible to the on axis (up to 12Khz I think??), low distortion... Many Canadian manufacturers including PSB, Paradigm, and my favourite, Axiom, used this research to design their speakers and all make a fine product.

You can start with this site that gives 3rd party speaker measurements as a way to help narrow down the search a little. Their list is not all inclusive, but its a start. The measurements can also help you eliminate some manufacturers that get a lot of buzz, but where the speakers just do not measure well.

Or... you could just buy Axioms, be happy, don't worry...

Bob, I too am looking at speakers, and trying to investigate and audition various brands....I know it can get a little overwhelming with so many out there. The way I am doing it is 1)setting myself a "rough" budget, I will emphasize "rough" because I am more of a value type shopper - if 'A' is 10 % more expensive than 'B' but offers much more value or if 'A' is comparable to 'C' which is twice the price....2) what kind of "sound" do you like, every speaker has it's own sound 3) mostly movies or music? 4) company reputation 5) both professional and consumer reviews 6) estetics 7) power ect

For the record I have been looking at Paradigm, Monitor Audio, PSB, Mirage,Energy and of course Axiom. Axiom definately fits into my idea of quality/value as I'm sure you've heard, they are often compared to much more expensive speakers.

Finally, one thing I think that is very important to add, is customer service/relations. I'm actually very new to home theatre, and as such have many questions, like yourself. Alan and everyone at Axiom are very customer oriented....as an eg. My brother and I were in the Muskoka (cottage capital of Canada)area of Ontario in the fall, and we were close to Dwight so we dropped by the Axiom plant. Even though we had made no arrangements prior, we were given a tour of the facilty by Debbie and met a few of the people there including Tom. The family atmosphere you see here amongst "Axiomites" is easy to understand when you meet the people behind the company. I hope I'm not sounding like a salesman here!! but I know alot of people on this forum will atest to their product and customer relations over the years.

Anyway, once you know your budget, you can eliminate a number of co's right away. A combination of value and excellent reviews brought me to Axiom.

As mentioned above one way to narrow things down is to go listen to many different types of speakers, even if they are out of your price range. If you find you like a particular brand but they’re to expensive then search the internet or post in forums looking for recommendations for similar sounding but less expensive speakers.

Agreed, Grunt, it's a good idea to hear some comparatively more expensive speakers to get a better idea where the less expensive ones fit in. For eg. I read a rather in depth blind test between the Energy Veritas (think they were the 2.4i's) and the M80's...it's on the 'net somewhere, saw it a few days ago. Anyway, the two apparently sounded quite similar and the tester ended up preferring the Axiom, albeit by a small margin. However, both of these speakers have very different price points, with the Veritas around 2X $$.

Adrian,

I too am a value vs dollars consumer. I don't mind paying a little extra for better quality to a point. The M80's are probably at my high end dollar wise and seems to be the best band for that buck. (Actually I started with that dollar amount for an entire surround system)

I am a little concerned from some forums and/or reviews that seem to think the M80's are a bit bright.

Only way to know for sure if the axiom's are for you is try to find someone nearby that can give an audition of M22, M60 or the M80s as they all have a very similar sound for the upper frequencies as this is where the concept of 'bright' comes into play. If you can listen to some Paradigm Studio 100s then you will have good idea of what the M80s sound like, for much less money.

I shared your concern a couple years ago when I was looking to get speakers. But the more I read comments in internet forums from those who called the M80s “bright” they generally fell into three categories. First were the “fanboys” of other brands. Second, people who just preferred “laid back” speakers. And third those who were just repeating what the previous two groups said without ever hearing the M80s. Be especially weary of the forum posters who use hyperbole like “they made my ears bleed.”

I put much more credence in professional reviews like this.

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/axiom_m80_v2_followup.htm



There are some professional reviewers who conceder them “detailed” or “bright” which puts them in the same category as many B&W or JBL/Focal speakers, both of which I preferred to the Axioms but not at 2 to 3 times the price. If you’re not sure if you like detailed speakers then see if you can find some of the above or other “detailed/bright” brands locally and have a listen. Try to compare them to something more “laid back” in the same place and see which you prefer.

One thing make sure you have quality source material. Play a crappy CD on accurate speakers and big surprise you hear crappy sound, which is one reason I think some people prefer “laid back” speakers, they cover for poor recordings.

Thanks so much. I believe that I would prefer more detailed sound and I have some hearing loss in my right ear (from loud drummers in bands)

Adrian. That comparison is on audioholics and Bob dug it up. You know, you are close enough to Axiom that its worth it to take a nice weekend drive up to Dwight and demo all of Axioms offerings. I really enjoyed doing this as it is pretty much the only way to do proper A/B comparisons.

Bob. I did pretty much what Grunt is suggesting. I loved the sound of the Paradigm Studios. Once I established that I picked some reference material I was familiar with and verified the quality of the recordings here and went off to Axiom to audition.

Bob, as Grunt mentioned, take some reviews with a grain of salt. I've been on audio review's website numerous times reading about a number of speakers including Axiom, Monitor Audio, PSB ect. When you see an overall rating of say 4.8 out of 5 and there are 30-50 reviews, I find that revealing. What I also find revealing is when you get 1 or 2 people slamming the same speaker that the vast majority likes, including the "pro" reviewers. You have to wonder why someone would give a '1 star rating' to a speaker, whether Axiom or another brand, when so many professional reviewers and novices alike think they are incredible. I tend to discount any review which is over the top, good or bad and base most of my research on 'pro' reviews as well as my own ears. There are definetly fanboys out there as well as people trying to promote certain products. I, too, have seen a few people claim that Axiom's, as well as Paradigm, B&W and Mon A's are "bright", some even want you to think they might even sound harsh. Everyones entitled to their own opinion, of course, but I don't really believe anyone could review any speaker in the $1000+ price range and give it a '1 star' rating...at worst maybe a 3 unless the product was actually defective. Many people, as noted earlier, have opinions on speakers they've never actually heard before, or possibly were using poor equipment or the speakers revealed all the flaws in a poor recording.

This is why I go to measurements. A lot of work has been done to correlate different measurements to the sounds that speakers can produce.

Starting from the fact that in blind testing we like a slightly rolled off high end, take a look at any of the speakers you mentioned and you will see that they are flat within +-2 or 3 db across the audible spectrum: no roll off. That is why you see some reviewers that really like the M80s mention that they can sound slightly bright. Its a subtle thing if noticed.

Harsh in the high end is usually a sign of driver breakup. Again, if you look at the frequency response, there is no hint of such an event in the measurements. The response remains flat and constant. Now, all metal dome tweeters break up at some point in the 20-30KHz region, but it is beyond the range of reproduced music and that of 99.9999999% of the population's hearing. Even B&Ws diamond tweeters breakup... at 45Khz. Now, if a person were to have unusual hearing, say up into the high 20s, then they might find the M80, or any other metal dome tweeter, harsh. IF.

Recessed = a depressed midrange Alan, in his comparison of an Energy speaker and the M80 pointed out that 2db difference is noticable, but quite subtle.

Warm = an elevated midrange.

Sibilance can be traced to issues in a certain frequency range (can't remember what it is)

The list goes on (my memory dosn't).

The point is, if you can hear it, it shows up somehow in measurements.

I agree with you on disregarding over the top comments. Generally, things that are measureble and show up in subtle ways.

This is partially how I found Axiom. Paradigms were the best sounding speaker I could find to listen to, locally, and searches on the web gave me many positive comparisons of the two.

I listened to B&W 703's ($$$$$) and then Axioms, the rest was history for a lot lower price.