I just took delivery of my new M80v.4 speakers. I must say how impressed I am. From the way they were packed with attention to the packing foam in the box to protect the speakers, you know that total customer satisfaction was goal #1.

These speakers make my past units feel like they were toys.

So I moved the wire from my current set of Energy Connoisseur C3 bookshelf speakers over to the new M80. I only wished that the units offered would have had the dual amp binding posts, but as they were factory 'B's you can't fault Axiom. Talking about factory 'b', I spent a good 45 minutes going over the speakers to try and find the flaw that would have caused them to be re-jected.. I honestly could not find it. They simply look spectacular.

Then I put my Holy Cole Don't Smoke In Bed CD into my Arcam Alpha7 CD player and selected track 1. The sound simply floored me. There was the deep bass that played with clarity and refinement, that you can hear the wand change direction and the reverberation inside the wood. Holly Cole's voice sounds like she is standing next to me. It is just like being at one of her personal and interactive concerts her in Oakville. Then the piano comes in and fills the room.

I don't know if I can go back to those Energy speakers now. They simply sound empty by comparison. And the scary part is that I have not hooked up the better pre-amp/amp combo yet. And I am stuck in eagerness waiting for my acoustically treated room downstairs to get finished. If I was looking for a motivator to get this project done, now I have one.

Awesome post! Glad you like them. We enjoy hearing about speakers arriving and first listens.

you will go from surprises to surprises listening to them.

Very good, Matt. Your enjoyment(and difficulty in finding a blemish)is typical of my and most Axiom owners' reactions. The dual set of binding posts wouldn't offer any significant benefits.

The perma grin these speakers give will last a long time.

Welcome to the Axiom family. Pay no mind to weird uncle Bob.

Holly Cole;

The version of I Can See Clearly Now on that CD sounds very good.

Hi, Matt, and welcome to the forum. This is BobKay, you know, "dumbass?" I traded in my M60's for M100's a few months ago and I know EXACTLY how you feel. Congrats, and again, welcome.

She tends to re-invent herself and sometimes its not for the better. This is one of her better albums I think. My favourite track on the album however is #10 Cry (if you want to). it might not be as powerful sounding as I Can See Clearly Now, but I find it one of those songs that makes me feel something.

So I had my parents over and played the first track and the sound of the bass has a real visceral feeling. When you play it at a decent level, you can actually feel the notes hitting you. This speaker does a much better job of those low frequency note than my Mirage PB8 sub can do. The sub sounds rather muddy where the M80s have a defined kick with a subtle falloff.

Part of me is curious how the EP500 would sound, but wonder if I really need to get down to that elusive sub sonic 16Hz, or if the 35Hz I am getting now is enough considering how well it feels. Too much of any good think might be simply too much.

That is exactly how I feel about the bass on that track.

That sounds good....:)