Good points Tom. Anyone in business, with a desire to stay in business, will always have to weigh cost verses benefit.

The one nagging point that I continue to find issue with is this general impression that Axiom is a ‘budget’ speaker. This just isn’t true. For the bulk of residential A/V owners all over the world, the price point of Axiom speakers are not budget, but high. When you (you being anyone reading this) really start to think about it, just how many people do you know that have invested several hundred dollars, and in many cases, thousands on speakers for their system in comparison to the rest of the people you know? I bet that the vast majority will say fewer than 10% of the people they know. The other 90% think that if they buy a HTIB system at Costco, they’ve made a substantial investment.

When considering any of the Axiom systems, the cost is quite high to the average person who does not share the same passion as the very small percentage of audiophiles throughout the world (we are the minority). When considering an M80 / EP 600 system, the cost is considerably high. And then it is even higher if a person opts for that system in piano finish rosewood. So in reality, all Axiom products are ‘high’ end. The crowd who thinks they are ‘budget’ is the very few who think nothing about having an $800 bottle of 05 Chateau Latour with their fillet.

I also know for certain that Ian and his team constantly test and come up with improvements to their speakers. In the five years since I’ve been hanging out here, they have made numerous upgrades and tweaks to improve their product. Some have been discrete, and others have been significant. They just don’t advertise these changes very well. Not only do they make these subtle changes, they are constantly rolling new products out and trying to give potential customers more options and more products to choose from.

One other thing that I admire is Ian’s refusal to compromise his beliefs of just how a speaker should sound to accommodate ignorant perception for increased sales.