Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions M60s sound muffled

I upgraded to M60s from M40s, and the 40s sound better (I still have them and do side by side comparisons)...the 60s sound muffled. I'm running a Pioneer 1014tx amp and I'm wondering if this is a speaker problem or an underpowered amp issue? Any help would be appreciated as I am horribly disappointed by my purchase as present...

Sorry to hear you're having problems. I guess the first thing to ask is if you have eliminated the obvious. When you put your ear up to the tweeters & mids, is there sound coming out? The odd time a wire will come loose during shipping. The other thing to check is that the speakers aren't wired out of phase.

Obviously there is something wrong, the 60's are by far better performers than the 40's. Did you leave the bi-amp clips in place between the speaker wire terminals? The 60's are also very easy to drive, the receiver should have not problems.

Are you running an Auto Setup EQ on the receiver, if so turn it off.

hmerchen,

Make sure the two gold straps that link the woofer section with the midrange/tweeters at the speaker connectors on the back of the M60s are electrically making contact. It's easy to dislodge them when you first connect speaker cable. Then check that each driver is operating by putting your ear close to each driver. Use music with lots of bass, high frequencies and vocals that will let you confirm that the tweeter, midrange and woofers are operating.

In most cases like this, it's the gold "bi-wiring" links that are not making electrical contact. I'm certain that all you are hearing are the woofers in your M60s, which would account for the muffled sound.

The M60s have significantly more midrange and higher-octave output, making them clearer and more detailed than the M40s tonal balance.

Regards,

One more thing to check is to make sure the speakers are wired in phase. Make sure the positive side of each cable is connected to the red terminals on both ends. I was comparing M3s and M80s to each other last year and had one pair connected out-of-phase. It really flattens the sound.

HM, welcome. Pay especial attention to Alan's point about the connecting straps on the speaker terminals. This has happened here at least twice(two have admitted it)in the past few years. The connectors were loose, and since their previous speakers(like your M40s)didn't have two sets of speaker terminals, they didn't realize the necessity for having them tightly connected. Unless both your M60s have internal wires loose(highly unlikely), this is the first thing to suspect(your 1014 almost certainly has more than enough power for the M60s, which don't require any more than the M40s). Your M60s have excellent high frequency response.

Hey, I mentioned the connecting straps before Alan.

For amusement only (both of these came from real posts) :

1. Are you sure you took the M60s out of the box ? They do sound muffled in the box.

2. Is there any chance you have a sofa in front of the M60s ?

Seriously, I have both M40s and M60s -- if you like the 40s and you find the 60s muffled, something is *definitely* wrong, either with the 60s themselves or the way they are hooked up.

HM, I'm also urging you to pay special attention to Randy's point about the connecting straps(aka "bi-amp clips", but don't use them for that).

I've double checked the binding posts, reconnected the wires, ensured that the polarity is correct, and they are still more muffled than the m40's. I can hear sound coming from the drivers. Should I take the drivers and tweeters out to make sure all wires are properly connected inside, or would that be a waste of time? Thanks for all the assistance...just very, very frustrated at this point...