Thanks Jason for the audition, I very much appreciate it!
I was at fault too for not scheduling more time--I was only in Austin for the day and wanted to take the opportunity to audition the EP600--the only way was to squeeze it in over the lunch hour and the travel time was a bit more than I anticipated.
First impressions were very good, I liked the M80s and EP600 right away and confirmed that Axiom quality was as expected. The sonic accuracy of the M80s was superb, they seemed a tad bright sounding which concerned me because I have wood floors and try to avoid EQ as much as possible to the point of not even tweaking the system if I can avoid it, but not excessively so.
After driving off I began to wonder whether the M80s may have been a bit TOO bright, however, especially noticeable on Dave Matthews; I'm grateful you figured out and called to let me know what had happened because I was beginning to feel confused about my impressions of the system, I suspect the impression of excessive brightness was caused by the subwoofer not being operational at that point and the system being calibrated for M80s and subwoofer to operate together?
I tend to discount second guessing because I trust my impressions at time of incident, therefore I still believe I am on the right track with Axiom for my HT.
I am still leaning toward the idea of one EP600 and then adding a sub later if necessary because it will be easier on my marriage than attempting to smuggle 2 subwoofers at the same time into the living room without revealing myself as an obvious lunatic, more so than is already plainly evident to my spouse. Also as Jason and I discussed since I have only one couch for me, my wife, and daughter placed approximately 9 feet from the audio/video I may be able to get away with one sub for now even though the current standard for my size room clearly is two.
The only question I have now is whether to wait for the EP800, which goes even lower in Hz and would make it easier to smuggle in 2 woofers (my wife insists in keeping the speaker grills on), or upgrade to it later, I am still in the process of building my financial war chest to pay for the speakers I want (already have the funds) and amplification I want (not sure I'm ready, more about that in a later post).
Some disclosure about me: I was a music major as an undergrad and played electric music so I have a pretty good ear and am perceptive regarding what I like versus don't like in equipment and tend to be fussy, always aiming for the best I can afford, especially quality over quantity (e.g., I would choose 1 superlative sub over 2 outstanding subs, not always a good tradeoff yet the one I am inclined to make).
More possibly later about me and what I am trying to accomplish, Jason I couldn't help laughing later about you and me deciding to unplug the second sub, I knew better but like Kramer's caddy in that Seinfeld episode in the lawsuit against the O'Henry heiress I said, "Alright, let's unhook the sub!" (equivalent to the caddy advising Kramer, "Make her try on the bra!" even though the voice of reason, the lawyer was going, "No no no!")
I suppose most of us audio lovers are prone to overreaching, I will keep you posted as to how everything progresses.
Thanks again Jason,
SK
