Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Axiom bashing

Axioms do a great job at reproducing Beatles music. I am not a huge Beatles fan but I have a few of their recordings and they sound great on the M80s. I hear a lot of folks complain about bad recordings and Axioms but out of 400 discs or so I have maybe two of them does not sound absolutely brilliant on the Axioms.

If I were to believe everything that is said on the forums I would have never tried Axioms. Thank goodness I am not that gullible. Only you can tell if the Axiom sound is for you, give them a try.

Scuffernoose, speaker preference is completely subjective. Unfortunately, those who are insecure about their preference find in necessary to "run down," trash," criticize" other brands in order to validate their purchase of the brand they prefer. It's the old "I can't be right unless you are wrong." trap. The problem is, there is no "right" or "wrong" when it comes to subjective opinion.

There are many people who don't care for Axioms. There are many people who don't care for Polks. Neither fact means that either speaker is "bad." Both are manufactured by reputable companies, and have many satisfied owners. It all comes down to what you prefer.

As far as the "bright" label is concerned, keep in mind that, in my opinion, Axioms are unflinchingly accurate speakers. If a given CD is poorly mixed and/or mastered, or simply mixed and mastered to sound good on the average boom box or older car system, there is a possibility that it will not sound very good on Axioms. Garbage in; garbage out. However, with a well recorded, mixed, and mastered CD, Axioms have a "WOW" factor that is through the roof.

Also, having a "live" room can make things seem "bright." Hardwood or tile floors, uncovered walls with pictures or posters under glass, wood or chrome furniture with little cushioning, etc., can accentuate high frequencies. IMHO, next to the speakers themselves, the size, shape, and surfaces of a room, along with it's furnishings, have the greatest influence on how your system sounds.

Rest assured that Axiom speakers are excellent speakers. Whether or not you would like them is the question.

I could repeat what everyone else has said, but here are a couple of my thoughts....

[start ramble]

1) I used to be an avid reader/contributer at the AVScience forums. There is SO much useful information over there in so many different areas, but as soon as you step into a forum category where there is "discussion" of one brand vs. another, you will get ripped to shreds if you don't "vote" for the more commonly known AKA "mainstream" product, or even the one that sells the most. I mean, come on... Just because BOSE is expensive doesn't make it good (we all know that they aren't good, so let's leave that one for the search feature). But you will have people tearing into you if you say that their expensive gear isn't light years better than your reasonably priced stuff.

Look at it this way. Let's say that you are looking to buy a sports car. Money is no object for the purchase price. You look at a new Lamborghini LP640. Power, performance, a symbol of your worldy status (whatever). Next up is, well, let's say a Saturn Sky. Cool, yep, fun to drive, sure... Both are "sports cars" yet very different. buy the Sky and people will say, "Hey, cool car." By the Lambo, and youwon't be able to beat people off with a stick! So is the Lamborghini "better?" Maybe. Again, money was no object to buy it, but what about maintenance, upkeep, gas guzzler taxes, etc. Heck, even comfort. While the LP640 isn't bad for a supercar, the Sky is actually more comfortable. The LP640 can eat asphalt so fast, yet the Sky is just plain fun to drive. So what. Someone buys the Lamborghini. Maybe I'll buy the Sky. I'll take mine out in the rain. I'll drive mine around town without feeling like I'm fighting to keep the car from smashing into the car in front of me because it doesn't want to behave. I will get more use, and more functionality out of that little Sky than your Lamborghini. That means more fun for me!

So now that I've rambled on, what does that have to do with anything? Well, I am not saying that Axioms or Polk are the Lamborghini, or even the Sky in that deranged analogy. I would say that maybe the other speakers are a tricked out Corvette. Pampered, and babied. Used to show off to friends and neighbors, etc, etc... The Axioms, in my book, are like the Ariel Atom (love that car). Designed and built for one purpose and one purpose only. To perform as the best possible race style sports car ever. To top it off, the Atom is (unless TOTALLY tricked out, which is only recommended for people with professional race car driving training) less expensive. It weighs less, performs better in many areas that the Corvette can't even touch, etc. So cost and size and weight don't make a Corvette a better car than the Atom. But if you put the two side by side. Most people would pick the Corvette because that is all that they know/recognize. Not because they know squat about either of them.

2) Oh, that was all #1, wasn't it. I will repeat one thing said by a few others, but ALWAYS agreed upon by everyone here. Go listen to the speakers. I bought my Axiom's without even auditioning them. It was scary waiting for them to show up (factory outlet delay), but when they got here, I LOVED them. You may too. You may not. You may say "I want the Lamborghini" and get something outrageous for $10,000 a speaker or something. You may go with KLH speakers for $50 a pop (hehehe - I used to own them "back in the day" before I knew anything) which would be like buying a PowerWheel for your daily driver. Or maybe, just maybe, you will hear the Axioms. Appreciate them for really how good they are, and order a set for yourself.

I vote for the last one, but more because you will have to actually listen to something so that YOU make up YOUR mind, and not fall victim to the words of the mind-less masses elsewhere on the internet.

[/end ramble]

Bridgman, that was a great explanation of brightness. Thank you.

Scuffer, when I started my research for my speaker purchase last year, I decided to audition the Polk RTi12s, Klipsch RF-83 and the Swan Divas in my home. At that point, I had never heard of Axiom.

I had no problem finding RF-83s. As for the Polks and Divas, it was like these companies had a best kept secret and didn't want to share it with the world. I couldn't find a dealer that had the RTi12s so I decided to call Polk for help. I gave one of their customer service representatives all my contact info so that he could get back to me with a dealer name. A few days later, I still hadn't received the information so I decided to e-mail them. A few days after that, I gave up. I experienced pretty much a similar situation with the Divas.

Then one day while reading through the Polk boards, I ran into Axiom. As I started researching, I realized that there are actually people behind this company that may be able to help me . They not only made my buying experience simple and pleasant but they also bent over backwards and helped me out when I found a problem. To make a long story short, I auditioned Axiom and Klipsch in my home and the decision was actually very easy for me. I would have liked to compare the others as well but it appears that they simply didn't care for me, the potential customer.

I am very happy with my Axioms. They are not bright or forward as many describe but they are not dull or laid back either. Rather, they are very accurate and I like that. When I finally found the optimal set-up for my M80s, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I (and others who have listened) initially mistook it for surround and had to confirm for myself that my VP150 and QS8s weren't on. I feel that I not only purchased a great product but also bought into a great company with tremendous human resources.

Whatever electro-acoustic transducer you decide on, I hope that it provides you the same sonic pleasure that I and my loved ones have found in the Axioms.

Thank you all for your advice. I really appreciate how helpful everybody here is. I am pretty sure I am going to end up buying the M80's instead of the Polk RTi12. A few reasons are because the m80s look nicer, are cheaper, and look to have better customer service. I think Axiom will be a good fit for me with their flat responses as I have grown accustomed to listening to nearfield studio monitors(Yamaha HS-80) with my computer recording setup. They are really flat speakers as well and like I suspect axiom is, are very revealing. For instance when listening to vinyl, you will every little pop/click/hiss on the record where as most speakers you can hardly notice. But when you put on a nice recording it really nice to hear everything so clear. Is this experience sound familiar to you axiom owners? Anyways, here is my "list" now:
Outlaw Audio Model 2200 Pair - $624
Axiom M80’s Pair - $1330.00
Harmon Kardon AVR-645 - $695.00 (I like HK, I wanted XM)
Total - $2649

Emotiva RPA-1 is a nice 2 channel

I like the dials. That's old school cool!

Do you mean power meters? The is no dials.

O nice, I like that. It looks nicer and a tad more powerful. Interesting, I'll have to consider that.