glasseater,
Believe it or not, power handling capability and frequency range of a speaker aren't nearly as important as how flat a speaker's response curve is across the rated frequency range. An ideal speaker would reproduce a 20 Hz tone at the exact same decibel level as a 20kHz tone -- and all possible tones in between, as well.
Of course, there isn't a speaker in existence that has a ruler-flat response like this. All of Axiom's speakers deviate noticeably from this ideal; however, they are much closer to this ideal than most other brands.
And why is a flat response curve important, you might be asking? The flatter the response curve, the more accurately the speaker will play back your music. Deviations from flatness on a response curve look like dips or spikes and indicate coloration of the source sound. Take a look at these two curves:
The first response curve is the
Axiom M22ti. Notice how it hovers at or near 87dB from about 90Hz all the way to 20kHz. The second curve is the
Silverline Audio Bolero. Notice how it's pretty flat except for the
huge dip centered at 3kHz. That's bound to affect the sound of the speaker.
Granted, some people aren't looking for accuracy. They just want speakers to make their music sound better. I have a feeling, however, that if you listened to Axioms, you would think twice about keeping your KLH boxes.
