Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M80 vs. Infinity Beta?

Hey folks,

I am trying to decide between a pair of M80's and a pair of Infinity Beta 50's. The Betas are my favorites in my price range of all of the B&M stores I've been to (beating out similarly-priced Polk, Klipsch, Definitive, etc.) and I am working on setting up an audition so I can hear the M80's before making a decision. In the meantime however, have any of you who've heard both care to comment?

In the way of additional information, my setup will be used pretty much exclusively for music (mostly rock and classical) and will be driven by a Harman Kardon AVR-247. This is my first 'real' system, so any tips you can give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,
skrull

I've owned some Infinity products in the past, not the Beta 50's. It is my opinion that Axiom speakers are really in a higher league.

As you stated your working on setting up an audition. That is what sold me, and I almost purchased some B&W 703's. I think you will be pleasantly suprised at what you hear.

Hi skrull,

I responded to your pm about setting up an audition.

Dean

Grunt's house will be a rockin.....

Grunt was kind enough to allow me to audition his M80's this morning, and I wanted to post my reactions and see what everyone thought. To try out these speakers, I brought along some Led Zeppelin (bass and dynamics), Pink Floyd (acoustic guitar, drums from "Time," female vocals from "Great Gig in the Sky"), and Eagles (piano and male vocals) to represent what rock music I listen to. For instrumental music, I brought Vivaldi (Four Seasons) and Holst ("Mars" from The Planets).

Overall, I was very impressed by the M80's. In particular, their detail was unlike anything else I've heard. This was particularly apparent to me with Vivaldi; being able to hear each part seperately is not something I can do on my current setup. The drums from Pink Floyd's "Time" were also very impressive in this regard. And now I finally understand what people mean when they talk about a "soundstage."

The power and depth of the bass sounded great to me also, although the clarity seemed less impressive. On the other hand, I'm currently using cheap Panasonic bookshelf speakers, so actually hearing the bass is a little new for me.

As I mentioned above, my favorite speakers from the B&M stores were the Infinity Beta 50's. Since it had been a while since I heard them, I stopped in to listen to them again on my way back from grunt's. Coming right after the M80 audition, it was much easier to see the Beta's weaknesses. I still like them; I just have to agree that the M80s are in a different league.

So, those were my impressions. I'm going to think about it for another day or two, but anticipate placing an order with Axiom. Unfortunately, I'm set on the Boston Cherry finish and am way too cheap to consider NOT buying from the factory, so it looks like I have a 6 week wait ahead of me.

Any thoughts? Disagreements? Anything I might have missed? Advice is always welcome. And thanks again for having me over, grunt.

Your welcome skrull. Thanks for posting your impressions so fast. I’m glad that you liked the M80s. I can’t guaranty anything but when I placed my factory outlet order it actually shipped in 4 weeks rather than 6 but I was buying around Christmas time so I’m not sure if that made a difference.

Also thanks for showing me what I’m missing on the music side. Since I’ve been using my axioms almost strictly for movies and gaming I had no idea what they were capable of.

As for less clarity in the bass than the higher frequencies I have a feeling that has more to do with my room acoustics than the M80s. Just like I was mentioning about my subwoofer sounding better off to the side rather than in front the dimensions of the room dictated I put the M80s at one of the long ends otherwise there just wouldn’t be enough room behind the seat for the rear sound field to have any depth.

If you do go ahead and get them please let everyone know how they work in your room.

Cheers,

Dean

Dean,

How did you have your sub/crossover settings calibrated? This may have also played a role in what you were hearing in regards to bass, but most likely it was the room environment.

Randy,

I had the receiver set to LFE plus mains, and just turned the subwoofer off with the power switch. That should have sent the full range to the M80s or did I screw that up? Skrull is mainly interested in stereo audio so we didn’t listen to any movies or 5.1 soundtracks.

I’ve been having low frequency issues from the start. Actually I was reading the link on your website on subwoofer number and locations earlier today.

Dean

I know when I've done auditions and people just want to hear 80's with no sub, I usually go into the receiver setup and turn the sub setting to "off" or "none", whatever the receiver calls it, and the 80's set to large.

In my setup, I usually keep all speakers to small, with a crossover of 80hz on the receiver.

Dean, that would be one way(although rather roundabout)of having just the mains playing full-range on stereo material.

John,

Right now I’ve got the receiver set to LFE plus mains for the sub and the M80s set to large. This helps even out some of the 20dB dip I have at 50Hz. I was just being lazy since I was double checking some burned DVDs when skrull arrived so I just turned the subwoofer off rather than reset the receiver.

I know that most people suggest setting all speakers to small but the M80s set to large does both sound and measure out better with my current sub location. I also have my QS8s 135 degrees back rather then the conventional 90 to 110. As one former Company commander said to me ”Lieutenant your a (expletive deleted) nonconformist.

Dean

If you are only using two QS8s (ie. surrounds and no rears), 135 degrees is recommended.

I just wanted to post a quick update for grunt and anyone else who might be curious about my decision. After further thought, I eventually decided on the Swan Diva 6.2 over the Axiom M80. I'm very happy with my purchase, although I think I would have been very happy with the M80 as well.

I'm not too sure on the rules here for talking about competing products, but I'll keep an eye on the thread if there are any questions. Thanks again to everyone who responded to me and to grunt for allowing me to audition his setup.

Thanks for letting us know and I'm glad you're happy . I wanted to listen to Divas but as I've posted before, they apparently didn't want my business.

>>I'm not too sure on the rules here for talking about competing products, but I'll keep an eye on the thread if there are any questions.

I don't think there are any rules, although if a competitor started advertising here that would probably cross a line and Amie would "have words" with them. Heck, we even recommend competing products from time to time

The Swans look like really nice speakers. Enjoy !!

Hi Skrull,

Thanks for sharing your impressions of the M80s and your final decision. I ended up doing another audition the weekend after yours because someone in Mesa happened to read the post about your audition. Have fun with your new toys

Dean