Lol, yeah SRoodes kids were CRAZY about dads HT set up! But then again, who wouldn't be?
It's so satisfying everytime I read a new guy come on here and dispell the 'bright' myth that dogs Axiom's M80's. I love it because I too had my doubts creeping in before I bought mine. It started with a little sliver of doubt after reading Bob's thread, but what really drove the nail in was first following his thread over to AVS (or wherever that thread was posted) where many more audio hobbyists were slamming the M80's, and then the thread on the Salk site where EVERYONE united in declaring Axiom's titanium dome tweeters could make the human ear drum bleed in 10 seconds flat!!! Let's just say my doubts far out weighed any hopes I had that the M80's would be listenable in my terrible (wood floors, wall portraits under glass all over the walls, square room, etc...) listening room.
Being able to demo the exact set-up I was looking to get was invaluable, but I still had concerns about my room not being able to do the speakers justice. So it was such a huge relief when my speakers finally arrived, I unboxed them, hooked them up, and found no 'brightness' in their DNA period! And while I obviously was not there the first time you hit the play button and was able to experience them for the very first time, I can visualize in my head exactly what you were feeling when those sweet sounds first hit your ears and you couldn't believe how awesome they actually sounded! The relief that 'THEY' were all wrong when they labeled Axioms as 'bright'! And the surprise at how much better they sounded in person than what you were prepared for.
I can visualize all of it, because it wasn't even a year ago that I experienced all that with my own two ears! Did you have yourself a little chuckle? As your ears were soaking in those wonderous sounds, did you laugh at the fact that you had any concerns at all about not being happy with them, and that you might have to send them back and keep looking?
Lol, I had myself a pretty good belly laugh at the mere thought of anyone characterizing these things as 'harsh', or 'fatiguing' to listen to in the least... Let alone an entire forum!!! I laughed at their ignorance for ever stating something so perposterous in the first place. I mean sure there's personal preferance and all that happy horse shit, but what was going on over there in 'Salk land' was obviously a bunch of people who'd never even heard a pair of Axiom speakers in their life (save for possibly one or two instigators), but wanted to join in on the 'Axiom haters bandwagon' to feel like part of something exciting.
I found it funny, because I was certain to no end that put to a blind listening test using three or more pair of speakers (M80's, Song Towers + anything else on the market), the Salk owners would undoubtedly fail in being able to recognize the 'shrill' sounding M80's that they claimed were so terribly designed that anyone hearing a set for the very first time would immediately be able to tell you what a mistake it is to stack two tweeters on top of each other like Axiom does in the M80 lay-out.
Hog-wash! While Songtower owners might be able to tell their speakers from other brands on the market, I'd bet next years wages that with no consistancy what-so-ever would Salk owners be able to rank the M80's last in a blind sound comparison with other speakers, as they would have you believe they should wind up being. Mostly because I honestly believe most have never even heard the M80's in person.
Which isn't necessarily a knock on them... I've never heard Salk Songtowers either. But I also don't go around complaining about how laid back they are. Hell for all I know I might rank them even above the M80's in a blind listening test? How would I know if I've never even heard them whether or not they sound good?
Ok, enough babbeling (sorry, I've had my fair share of wine tonight...), I'm glad you're enjoying your speakers friend!
