Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M60's vs M80's my observations

Executive Summary:

After owning both the M60's and M80's, I like the M80's better. NOT because they play louder or lower, but because they sound, in a word, better (Crisper, cleaner, more detailed, more seperation, more clarity, (ok a few words!)). I am MUCH HAPPIER with the M80's, than I was with the M60's. The M80's are the speakers that I will be very happy with for the next 10 years , at least!

Now the detail.

I like Axiom, among other reasons, because they are a no nonsense company. They use science and research and testing and build speakers with all of the expense going into better sound, not hand crafted, rare wood, speaker cabinet finishes (although my Axiom speakers are the most impressive pieces of furniture in my living room!)

I also very much liked the attitude that Axiom describes in their speakers, in that ALL AXIOM speakers are good, and that while the M80's are the most expensive, Axiom seems to have an attitude of "use the right tool for the job". I have read many posts here saying that the M60's and M80's sound very similar, except that the M80's play a little louder and go a little lower. It is refreshing to hear descriptions like that, esp when most other speaker companies tell you that their top of the line is the best, and you are somehow "missing out" if you do not purchase ther best (most expensive) speaker.

With that said, I hate to use adjectives to describe my M60's vs the M80's. But that is all I have, my ears and my words (I could record a WAV file . . . <grin!>. I do not have access to, nor do I know how to use, sound measurement equipment.

So, with that said . . .

My preception of the M80's vs the M60's, (now I only had one set of each to compare), was that the M80's had a clarity, and detail, and precise sound, that was somewhat lacking in the M60's.

I have listened to the higher end B&W speakers since I was in college (1979-85), realizing, that, even now, 25 years later, I am still not making the kind of money that would allow me to spend 10,000 (or more) on TWO speakers. OK I could, if I wanted to, but it would be a serious finincal commitment for me. After wasting hours listening to whatever B&W speaker was "close to the top of the line", I would go back home, and listen to my speakers, and be glad that they sounded "almost" as good, but at the same time, be upset that they did not give me that detail that I so longed for.

BUT, I still love that sound. They "tingle" my ear. (I know, I know, what kind of discription is that). I can hear the individual instruments, I can hear detail, I can hear the resonation of the triangle, I can hear the "felt" of the timpani head.

My M80's give me that detail, whereas the M60's, did not. They were more flat, and more compressed than the M80's.

Maybe my M60's were somehow malfunctioning? I know that, for some source material, my M60's seem to blow me away, like in War of the Worlds, boy did they ever blow me out of my chair. So, after watching War of the Worlds, I was convinced that my M60's were working correctly.

My M60's were able to get as loud as I would EVER want a speaker to play, and I know that I had a lot of room on the volume knob on my Pioneer VSX-1015, so it is NOT about the volume for me.

If the M60's would have given me that detail and clarity, and open-ness that my M80's do, I would have kept the M60's.

Do I still want some high end B&W speakers? Well, if I ever win a BIG lottery (not a small one, mind you!), maybe, but in my REAL LIFE, I cannot be happier with my M80's. Upon further reflection, unless I heard some level of detail that would blow away my M80's, I would probably give the money away to charity, or keep it for some other expense. (Oh to fantisize about being Uber-Rich!!)

Just FYI, I used the exact same cables (Belden 10 guage) and receiver (Pioneer VSX 1015) and the same connections to the receiver. I did cut new wire ends for the speaker ends, and both the M60's and M80's were Bi-Amped.

Oh, one more thing, I was expecting the M80's to be much larger than the M60's. I know that measurements do not lie, and the quoted height for the M60's vs the M80' is only two inches taller (37.5 vs 39.5 inches), but I somehow tricked myself into thinking that the M80's were much taller than the M60's (I guess the two extra drivers, I thought the height difference would be the extra height of those two drivers).

But it is only two inches difference.