Hello,
After reading so much about how some people think Axioms are too "bright", I feel compelled to pitch in with my very limited experience.
I have my main living room system consisting of (for stereo listening) Mythos 6's and a SuperCube II. Small drivers (3.5") but very nice sound, very happy with it.
Anyways, I just bought M2's for the bathroom (my wife listens to music in the morning while getting ready), and before installing them briefly put them beside the Mythos speakers for an A/B comparison (including the SuperCube to provide bottom end).
Before beginning I did all the obvious things, like turning off the surround processing and auto-calibration on my receiver.
Here goes:
Andrea Bocelli, "Romanza": Initially, I preferred the Mythos, as they sounded much more up front, but then I realized it was overdone; at certain points he sounded like he was way too close to the microphone. After a while, I definitely preferred M2's, as they simply sounded more natural. And given the price difference, that's very impressive indeed!
However.....when I put in Anna Netrebko's SACD singing Dvorak's "Rusalka", M2's - sorry to say - sucked. Mythos made her voice soar, quite literally. On M2's she sounded like she was singing from a draped (and nailed!) coffin, her voice was completely drowned out by the orchestral score. Again that treble difference, but on this recording it was much more pronounced.
Several other recordings demonstrated the same treble difference to varying degrees, but always Mythos very upfront and M2's laid back.
I wouldn't write this if I didn't hear of Axiom's reputation (according to some) for making "bright" speakers, considering how much opposite my experience has been.
So question for the owners and the Axiom guys: does anyone else think M2's are very laid back? does treble develop following initial break-in? Why would this be happenning? Or am I being too critical in expecting for M2 to perform the same as the speakers that cost more than three times as much, and should I just shut up, the ungrateful cur that I am?
Anyways, it's a nice little speaker, and I'm not returning them. They'll do very nicely for my purposes.
Thanks to all,
BB
