Hi all, I'm new around these parts. I'm in the market for a new pair of speakers and the Axioms have crept up to the top of the list of potentials but I have a few concerns.
First off I'll give you a little background so you see where I'm coming from and what I'm trying to achieve. I've been involved in high-end audio in one form or another for around 18 years. I've never really had the money to fully put together the system I wanted to. At this point I have a pair of fairly high end speakers mated to an old Mission Cyrus I and a DVD player that was supposed be an interim source. In the last few years though my focus has shifted from a speaker system to headphones. I discovered that headphones are my choice when I really want to "listen". As such the speaker system has taken a back seat and become primarly for background listening and movies. I still want the system to have decent sound but have realized that my current speakers are overkill. I had been debating selling them for awhile but the catalyst came when my wife and I bought our own home and it appears they won't have the room they require to work properly.
I plan on taking some of the proceeds and putting it towards a new source for my headphone rig and the rest for replacement speakers. My budget is around $600-700 CND maximum but of course don't mind spending less.
I'm not opposed to a bookshelf speaker if they have decent bass but my preference goes towards a smaller floorstander that has decent bass extension and sounds more towards the smooth side than the analytical side of things. Optimally they should be relatively easy to place and don't mind being rather close to walls as they will probably end up on either side of a corner entertainment center. I'll probably have a bit of flexibility in placement but not much.
There are not alot of options where I live but so far I have heard Paradigm Atoms with a PDR-8 sub. The Atoms are a nice musical speaker and decent on their own but the PDR-8 did add a nice element of solidity. This is still an option but my wife isn't struck on the look of them and really doesn't like the idea of a sub. I've also heard a few JMLabs Chorus models. My preference there was for the small 710 floorstander. I felt I could easily live with them but they are discontinued and the store only had one set left a few weeks ago. The other issue with the JMLab was the finish, it would really clash with the darker wood we have in our living room.
I've been researching speakers now for a couple of months and keep coming back to the Axiom site. Initially reports of brightness really turned me off, I like a smooth, silky top end with no trace of sibilance, but in my research it appears the M3ti, M40ti and to a lesser degree the M50ti are less aggressive/smoother on the top. The M40ti really intrigues me. In Boston Cherry it looks pretty much like everything I've been looking for. A small floorstander that seems like its relatively easy to place, has decent bass extension and could eventually become part of a modest surround system. From the decription in the Soundstage! review they also seem to be pretty much what I'm looking for in sound as well. I still have a few concerns though, first is this quote "the upper bass is also more pronounced and…can make male vocals sound a little chesty and overly resonant." Can anyone tell me how apparent this bump is and does it become even more accentuated when placed close to walls? If there are problems with bass boost when placed close to walls has anyone tried a foam bung in the rear port? If so what were the results? And finally I've still read some reports of the M40ti's being bright so I'm a bit confused as to what exactly is going in the top end. Can anyone comment? Any other suggestions are quite welcome as well.
Sorry for the incredibly long post, I always like to give people a little background so they get an idea of what my needs are. And thanks for any help you may be able to give.
