Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Speaker Upgrades

Hello,

After lurking around the forums for a while I finally signed up. Here's my question. I bought a pair of Precision Acoustic 5HD4 from best buy for $200.00. They're three way, 4 X 5 1/2" speakers. They sounded OK. Then I snagged a Rotel 1070 from CAM. Man, did it bring the speakers to life. Now I'm wondering what the Rotel will do with better speakers? Will there be a noticeable difference?

Thanks, Mike

My first question is what were you using to power the speakers before? If you noticed a significant difference when you switched to the Rotel, which is an excellent amp, then the former amp was either poorly designed or just seriously underpowered.

The speakers themselves make much more of difference in the sound than what you use to power them.

I was using my Pioneer VSX-817, 7.1 reciever. So seriously underpowered? It claims 100 wpc.

I can only find specs for that Pioneer that state the output is at 1% THD, so I would say yes, it is under powered. You are now hearing much cleaner power through your speakers.

Only one way to know for sure if you will hear a difference from your $200 speakers to the M80s(top of the line comparison to top of the line) Buy a set and compare them, if you don't like or find very little difference you can ship them back.

That's going to be the plan then. I just thought you guys were going to tell me it would be night and day between the two. What makes the M80 worth so much more, I know the PA's are considered low quality speakers, I just don't know what makes the difference between the two.

That's a question with a very long answer. The answer lies in understanding how speakers are designed and how that translates into accurate sound.

Some people prefer an exaggerated bass sound. Another might prefer an exaggerated mid-range sound. The result might sound nothing like the artist's original sound, but that's how they like it so great for them. Happiness is the key. But because this is a personal preference, this can't be measured.

However, many people strive for their music to sound EXACTLY like the way it was intended, or at least recorded. This actually can be measured.

If accuracy is your goal, Axiom provides a ton of great information to help you to understand what to look and listen for in a speaker. Also, unlike many companies, they also readily publish all their spcifications and test results so you can use your knowledge to decide if they suit you before even taking a listen. Of course, listening, is the ultimate test.

Here are some articles they have published about understanding how speakers are designed, measured and tested. You can use this knowledge to shortlist speakers before you even do auditions. That is assuming that the other speaker companies you are looking into are as up front about their specs and test results as Axiom are.

Understanding Frequency Response

How to Judge Loudspeaker Sound and Accuracy.

What Defines a Reference Loudspeaker

An interesting one if you are curious about design...
Axiom Speakers and the NRC


These are just a few of over a hundred articles Axiom publishes to help explain the tech talk. Sure, their ultimate end is to sell speakers but compared to many other audio tech sights, I find the Axiom articles to be very well written with common sense, easy to understand and the ones not directly talking about Axiom speakers are actually pretty non-biased. I usually refer curious people to their full Learning Center even when the person is not going to be buying speakers.

Thanks man! Looks like I've got some reading to do.

No problem at all.
It's not so long ago that I dove into learning all this stuff. Don't suppose it will ever end.

Unfortunately, based upon his posts, we're sometimes convinced he dove into the shallow end and hit his head.

Your just jealous I developed water breathing abilities from the incident.