One of the main differences between the speakers still remained presentation. While, earlier, it was of a horizontal nature, once we put the M80s on the outside the difference became more about top to bottom. The Axioms definitely present a wall of sound with the array of drivers on the M80s. This driver array really brings forth an energetic midrange. I found the M80s to be an exciting speaker that really brought the music to the listening position.
The Loreleis, on the other hand, are a tad darker. They seemed to take a slight step away from the listener and extended the sound a bit off to the side. Tonally, the two speakers were very similar. Some recordings were very hard to tell apart in the timbre. Both speakers did a good job of delivery the entire musical spectrum, but just offered a different take. I found the bass to be really close. Both were sharp and well-defined and went equally low. We put on some organ music by
Bach and both speakers excelled at conveying the deep bass. On this particular CD, I noticed the sound of the upper registers of the organ were angled higher up on the Loreleis than on the M80s. Here, the extra drivers of the M80s helped fill in a grander sense of scale from bottom to top--in terms of the sound physically coming at us.
Again, going with Bach, we put on
Cello Suites Nos. 1, 5, & 6 played by Yo-Yo Ma and I was hard-pressed to tell a difference between the two speakers. We thought the use of just the cello alone was a nice way to really gauge the tonality of the speakers. Less going on musically and more sustained tones played at length.
Well, I'll let Dean chime in with his impressions.
All in all, I really liked both speakers. I cannot call a winner or loser--and really, that wasn't the point of our listening session. It was more of a way to enjoy different speakers and broaden our listening horizons. There are things I liked about the M80s and there are things I liked about the Loreleis. Both are very capable speakers, while doing some things quite alike, while also doing some things differently.
I'd like to thank Dean for letting me come over and invade his space for an entire day--a day that was both educational and fun!
