Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Axiom M3 v2 vs Polk Rti6

Hi Dronevil,
Debbie's extension is 216. If you call her Monday, she will likely be in the office. You can also reach her by e-mail at debbie@axiomaudio.com

Hi Andrea,
Thanks for the info. It must have misdialed her extension. Boy do I feel like an ass.

Not to worry. I would either blame the fact that it's the weekend or the second glass of wine!!

You know me so well! Usually it is wine but this weekend I have to blame single malt scotch!

Oh, this is totally off topic but I thought it was interesting nontheless as I came across a little Axiom bashing over the weekend.

I stopped in a local hi fi shop to look at some amps and turntables. After some audio talk with one of the salesman I mentioned that I just bought an Axiom EP125 and will be purchasing a pair of either M3's or M22's shortly. He then called one of his fellow co-workers over where they went on a 10 minute rant about how crappy Axiom was and how their quality control was questionable. He kept telling me I should buy a pair of B&W bookshelves from him instead. After that I looked at a few amps and left.

The audiosnobbery didn't really surprise me but listening to the two of them made me think they should write for HI FI Choice or some other UK audio magazine. I'll be sticking with Axion regardless of what they think.

Of course they did, they wanted you to buy something. I try not to mention my speakers when I am looking for Amps, receivers in audio shops just to avoid the rant or blank stare as they have never heard of Axiom. I think the rant comes from the fact they know they can't compete price wise for the sound the Axioms produce.

Yeah letting sales people know your equipment isn't always the smartest thing to do but I let it slip. The B&W's were great and all (I don't know how many times I heard the word "kevlar" though ) but when $600 plus tax gets you the equivalent of the M3's I'd rather spend $560 tax included on a pair of M22's. I think I'm going to wait awhile and go with the M22's instead of the M3's.

Well the saga continues

I finally saved the little extra needed to pick up a pair of the M22's and will be dropping an order asap. My question is this, with a modest set up of the M22's backed by an EP125 sub need a center channel? I was considering buying one (probably a VP100) somewhere down the line but in retrospect I'm not sure if it's really needed. I have a Paradigm cc and have not been overly impressed with it and truth be told I'm much more of a "music guy" than a "movie" guy. I'm just not sure a small room (14'x14') would be the right place for it.

Will the two speaker set up give me that "phantom channel" I keep hearing about or would the center be beneficial when listening to music? As usual I'm confused!

D, using the M22s to play material that should be imaged in the center has to create a "phantom center" midway between them because that's what happens when two widely separated speakers play the same sound. The image will stay centered for a listener midway between the speakers, but will shift in step with the listener if he moves to the side. A center channel speaker keeps the center image centered even for listeners off-center. Experiment with the M22s without a center; it's what I use.

Is there no one in Regina that has a VP100 or 150 that you could audition? If not how about a road trip to Calgary where there has been an explosion of Axiomites lately, I would gladly give you an audition.

I think the VP series is a little cleaner, crisper sound than the Paradigm CC. So you may find you actually like a center once you've had a chance to hear one of them.

So far as music goes unless listening to multichannel, the center won't add much and none if you have the receiver in stereo mode. For movies it helps, as John said, to keep the dialogue centered, but if you are not going to be off axis much then the phantom modes in the receivers works quite well.

I am surprised John didn't mention trying a vertical center speaker like the M2 or M3 or if you have room another M22 for the center channel to see if you like that better.