I've been looking forward to a demo of the M80s for a few weeks now and I finally took the drive to a fellow members house for a demo (thanks Ron aka RCVECC). I left right from work and it took me an hour in the rain to get there, but it was well worth the drive. Just for reference the day after I left Ron's house I went and listened to the B&W 703s at a place here in CT. called Audio ETC and the day after that I went and listened to the Paradigm Studio 100 V3 (again). I had already listened to the 100s about two weeks earlier, but since the place isn't to far from work I figured I'd go again while the M80 sound was still in my head (I'm sure the guys at that place are tired of seeing me by now, Ron you know who these guys are).
Listening environments:
Now this was my first time listening to the 703s, but the 100s I've heard a few times now and I've always been impressed with their sound, but the price is now at $2600 for the 100s and $3000 for the 703s and this was my first time listening to the M80s. To be fair the 100s and the 703s were running in different stores and the 100s were powered by some serious mega dollar Meridian gear with $1000 speaker wires and another $1000 in interconnects between the pre-amp, CD player and amp in a dedicated sound room. The 703s were in another store and powered by a Rotel RSP-1098 pre-amp, RMB-1095 amp and a Rotel CD player (not sure about the wires and interconnects) and also in a dedicated sound room. The M80s were powered at Ron's house buy a Sony ES9000 pre-amp, Marantz MM9000 amp and I can't remember the player for the life of me. Now just like me and everyone else here (I assume) the room the M80s were in isn't a specially treated sound room with thousands of dollars spent on sound absorbing materials on the walls, so it was a good place to try them out in an environment that was a real persons room not a mega dollar sound room. Of course this also put them at a disadvantage since the other two were in sound rooms.
Disclaimer:
I'm not a professional reviewer and have never been one. These are my own comments and observations with my ears and my music so YMMV. I don't claim to be any kind of audiophile or golden eared listener( no offense to the golden eared guys). I'm just a guy who loves music, and HT who's looking to buy some new speakers for my dedicated HT room. I found this site from the banner ads on other forums I frequent and was curios about Axioms based on the reviews and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I could go on forever, but you get the point. These observations are just mine, so don't everyone get all personal on me.
Music:
I used the same music at each demo (with the exception of Velvet Revolver) and I was only interested in how the speakers sounded without subs. Not that subs are bad I just wanted to hear only the speakers, but I do like to use my dual subs to pick up the very bottom end for music in normal listening. My taste in music ranges from everything from R&B to Metallica so finding speakers that will satisfy both these kinds of music is always hard for me, because the R&B I listen to tends to be very well recorded music that works well with forward/detailed sounding speakers that bring the vocals, keyboards and cymbals forward while leaving the rhythm section instruments just a little behind the others.
Now here's my problem. I love forward/detailed (not Klipsch though, too me they're not just forward, they're bright) but lots of heavy metal and rock recordings are IMHO just recorded poorly. Stuff like Guns & Roses, Metallica, Priest, older 80s and 90s stuff and the list goes on and on tend to sound just plain bad on detailed speakers. While I enjoy this kind of music I just wish it were recorded better. Screeching guitars on some recording are just unbearable, so I'm not afraid to use the tone controls when necessary. So unless it's a really bad recording I leave the tone controls flat.
Axiom M80:
I started out at Rons house with the M80s. Ron ran the M80s set to "large" and without any subs on. The first song I tried was an R&B song from BabyFace's MTV unplugged CD (Just so you know what kind of music he performs he writes and produces music for artist like Boys to Men and Tony Braxton). One of the songs is called "Whip Appeal". My first reaction to the M80s was WOW!, Holy Crap Batman! The bass is killer. I really wasn't expecting the M80s to have this much bass. The bass from the M80s was really tight, and deep and not the least bit boomy. I know this song very well and I was just so impressed with the bass. Ron cranked up the M80s to levels that would cause your ears to hurt after extended listening, but those drives never seemed to distort the bass. The highs were crystal clear and the mid range was just right for me. The M80s give a really nice airy feeling to music with highs that are very detailed, but they weren't harsh (unless painfully really loud). Next we put on "My Own Prison" by Creed. This one is also has really good bass and nice highs and the CD is also well recorded, but for a rock CD it has more of the distorted guitar than the screaming guitar except for the solo. The imaging on this song on the M80s was great. There's parts in the song were you can really tell the separation of the instruments. If you close your eyes you can imagine the singer being in the middle, lead guitar on the right and the bass on the left. The drums seem to come from the left and right, with different beats and cymbals in each speaker. The M80s once again brought the vocals forward but since it’s a well-recorded CD the guitar wasn't harsh. Then we put on a CD I know isn't recorded very well (some songs are, but most aren't) , the best of Skid Row an 80s rock band. We played "I Remember You", which is a ballad that starts with acoustic guitar and vocals and then goes into some faster heavy guitar. At normal levels it wasn't that bad even for a bad recording, but at loud levels, man oh man you really need some serious treble control adjustments or your ears will just split. It was harsh and painful. Ron and I both looked at each other and had that ouch look on our faces. I was pretty convinced that the M80s would do great as long as the recording was good. Ron then popped in some Velvet Revolver, but as soon as he skipped through a few tracks I could tell it was a well-recorded CD and was fine on the M80s.
Ron also threw in Finding Nemo and if he didn't tell me the subs were off would have sworn that they were on. Let me tell you the whole room was shaking. Ron's listening area used to be a garage and he’s done an incredible job at converting it in his listening room/area, but you'd never know it was a garage, because it's been done so well it looks like it was build that way with the rest of the house. If I'm not mistaken I don't think he had a sub-floor just some nice wall to wall carpeting over concrete, so the floor shaking the M80s were doing during Nemo was on carpet over concrete not wood (Ron may correct me on this though).
OK so I now had a feel for the M80s. They are definitely a forward/detailed speaker that works great with well-recorded material, but brings out the worst in poor recordings. So as long as I have access to treble controls then I can tame the highs a bit on bad recordings and live happily with the M80s. I should also mention the M80s did put a strain on the Marantz MM9000 amp, because when Ron cranked the volume to really really loud levels the clipping lights would flash. I think the MM9000 is 150x5 wpc into 8 ohms, but I'm not sure of the 4 ohm rating, This may be something to consider if you like it really loud or like to run your speakers full range. I'll be running the M80s with a Rotel RMB-1095 (330 x 5 at 4 ohms) amp so I don't think I'll have a problem, but I’m not sure I would run the M80s as "large" at really loud levels with a receiver (don't everyone with a receiver go crazy now).
I'm not going to boor you guys with a full review of the Paradigm Studio 100s and B&W 703s because I was really looking to see how the M80s compared to them. I will say this though, I used the same music and you have to remember that the 100s were driven with mega dollar Meridian gear while the 703s were driven with almost the same Rotel gear I currently have. The 100s did have more bass than the M80s, but the mid range and highs on the M80s were better than on the 100s. If I was going to buy the 100s and someone let me listen to the M80s and said the prices were the same I'd have a hard time choosing, because to my ears they both sound great. Also the 100s should be easier to drive since they're 8 ohms.
Now the 703s were a little more forward than the M80s and the 100s and the bass wasn't as deep on the 703s as it was on the M80s and 100s. Not to say the 703s had bad bass I just didn't like it as much as the 100s and M80s. To me the 703's bass wasn't as hyper or as deep as the M80 and 100s. As for the midrange and highs they sounded very similar to the M80s. For the kind of music I listen too the 703s might be a little too forward though. Sure they sounded great but after hearing the M80s I just couldn’t hear $3000 worth of sound. Funny how I probably would have been in love with the 703s, but after hearing a very similar sounding speaker for 1/3 the price the 703 suddenly became "$3000?" and the 100s became "$2600?", but of the three speakers the 703 was definitely the best looking. While I'm still a huge fan of the 100s (and I mean huge) I'm don't think they're worth the extra $1500 + tax USD over the M80s. I love those 100s, but not enough to shell out the extra coin. Too me the M80 is a great value and made me realize what you can get without paying $2600+. By the way the 100s and 703 also sounded bad with poorly recorded material.
My reason for wanting to demo the M80s was to see if all the hype was true and I'd have to say “yes” they are really good speakers that sound really good with material that's recorded well, but if it's not recorded well they can sound really bad, which is the curse of a detailed speaker. My other reason for wanting to demo the M80 was to see if they were worth risking the $100 in shipping it would cost me if I didn't like them in my room with my gear. So my next step in a couple of months (nice Christmas present for the HT) will be to order a pair of M80s and see how they sound in my room. If they sound as good as they did at Ron’s then they are keepers other wise hey I'm only out a $100. I guess I should let you guys know what I think once I actually get a pair. For now I can say the M80s are an incredible bargain. I would have never though that I would find a speaker that could compete with the 100s and 703s for a 1/3 the price. I guess I should also mention that the vinyl on the M80s is perfect. I originally thought at this price I’d need a custom finish, but the finish on Ron’s was beautiful (chesseroo you were right).
Ron,
Thank you very much for opening your house to me for a demo. I really appreciate it.
