Ok, I got everything level matched and calibrated to the best of my ability using AVIA and a SPL meter.
Music- I was able to get the sub to blend quite well with the speakers using a 100 hz crossover point on the speakers and 120 on the sub. I'm probably double dipping some frequencies from 100-120 but it really seems to sound good and blend well set there. The sub is just a bit localizable setup this way but not intrudingly so.
Norah Jones sounded airy and effortless at reference levels with good channel separation and a wider soundstage than I expected for sure. I think these speakers do Norah well. I do feel as I lacked some midrange from instruments in particular.
Jack Johnson had me tapping my foot like always, but I seemed to be missing something. I feel like the sound didn't "breathe" into the room like I'm used to with my other setups. Not sure if that makes sense, maybe lacking depth of soundstage or fullness of sound etc...
Dave Mathews in concert was cool to listen to on this setup, as the instrument separation was great. It felt a bit "thin" at times and again lacking in the midrange, but the pinpoint accuracy and detail was awesome. By far the best audition on this setup for music was the multi-channel. The sound tied into the video quite well also.
I watched some of Monsters Inc. with the kids next on blu-ray and some transformers part 2. This setup is everything I hoped for for HT. The center channel kept up quite well during action packed sequences, and I had good clarity throughout. When pushed to the limits however, I did notice a bit of detail loss, and it seemed tough for the speakers to keep up. This was at 100 db on my SPL meter and I don't watch movies that loud except for on occasion.
I believe the room had alot to do with my impressions, as it is quite large and I'm asking alot of the inwall/onwalls to perform. The sub obviously filled in for alot of the speakers weaknesses, which led to some localization. It was not easy to blend the speakers and sub so they sounded as one, but I did the best that I could. It would've been alot easier if the speakers could play with authority down to 80 hz, but I knew this going in.
The amp I used for the axioms powered them quite well imo, so I don't think I lacked any juice going to them. Quite frankly, I don't think I pushed the amp whatsoever to get the speakers singing.
Now, for my listening session, my reference is my other HT setups which cost a bit more money so I can't say enough as to the value of these speakers. I think they look and sound great, perhaps just not quite powerful enough for my room.
Next, I'm going to pull a couple of my tower speakers from my living room into the listening area and do a 1v1 against the axioms to really see how much of it is the room, and how much is the speaker.
