I see the M60's come in Black Oak, Cherry and Real wood Oak.

Does this suggest that tha Black Oak and the Cherry are a vinyl thermofoil application to a wooden or MDF substrate?

My first Axioms are real wood.

To those who own the Black Oak and the Cherry, how do they look? I can only see the pics on the site.

thanks

I have some Cherry Chestnut on order, expecting them any time now. I will let you know when I get them.

They come in far more than real wood Oak, which is not a standard finish. The Black Oak and Boston Cherry are vinyl finishes. There are custom vinyl finishes, too.

The real wood finishes are wood laminate over MDF.

The vinyl is quite good, but of course it doesn't look exactly like wood.

Hello Ron,

Yes, the standard finish Axioms use a high-quality vinyl application to MDF substrate. The real-wood versions use a real wood veneer applied to MDF.

The vinyl standard finishes are very impressive, difficult to distinguish from the real-wood veneers except on close inspection. They even have a wood-like texture when you touch them.

Your first Axioms, I suspect, use a real wood veneer applied to MDF. To my knowledge, Axiom always used MDF enclosures, with either real-wood veneer or a vinyl overlay. MDF is acoustically opaque and non-resonant, or as close to that ideal as possible and the material is very consistent from one sheet to the next. You do not want speakers actually made of real wood, because they resonate (vibrate) far more than MDF, and the enclosures would contribute audible coloration to Axiom's neutral sound quality.

Regards,
Alan

Yes, you are probably right about my first Axioms AX 2 Reference speakers. ( I love them and they are still going strong) I am at work but are likely MDF with light oak veneer.

Thanks for the info everyone, helping me to shop hahaha!