Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater My Audition Thoughts

Let me begin with thanking Cesar Augstin for his time and inputs and letting me
take a look at his system. I had a great time during the audition and learnt quiet
a lot from Cesar.

The system I looked at

M22, VP150, QS8 and HSU sub [ I don't know the model, but it was big and brilliant].
Pioneer Elite 45tx

IN STEREO MODE - M22 with SUB on /off

CD 1

Carnatic [South Indian] and Hindustani [North Indian] Violin Fusion

I heard a rendition of Gandhi's fav song...It is a slow recital on the violin
accompanied by tabla. The highs were crisp and clear and
the tabla had great definition.The over all sound presentation was excellent
and i was quiet upbeat with the start.
The track I listened to had quiet a few highs but I was very impressed
with the result. The highs were never amplified to the extent that they would
sound metallic or too sharp for the ear.

CD2

Secret Garden - Dreamcatcher

I auditioned the track 'Prayer'. I wanted to check the amount of detail that
was presented by the speaker. This track has quiet a few instruments being played
with a female vocal. The track sounded very warm and soothing, just the way
I wanted to hear it. There was no compromise on detail every little sound had
a clear presentation. Looking back I should have heard few more tracks from the CD.

CD3

U2 - Joshua Tree

'..Streets have no name' was the track, and i could not belive my ears, I was disappointed.
The presentation was kinda flat or I should say - 'it lacked the mid range punch I expected to
hear'. This was the case with the SUB on too. Esp when the drummer goes solo, I would have
been happy with a little more punch from the speakers. The overall sound was a bit of a letdown
even when the SUB was on.

CD4 - CD5

Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms & Goo Goo Dolls - The big hit featured in a movie, don't remember the
song name

Eager to recover from my disappointment, I tried some more Rock, Sadly I felt the same way
as when listening to U2.

IN HOME THEATER MODE.

DVD1 - DVD2

Lord of the rings I & Star wars Episode I

I kinda recovered from my disappointment, The imaging was perfect & HSU was rocking. The center was
crisp and clear, Delivering every spoken word in great clarity. QS8 was a show stealer. The surrounds
were a bit far behind the listening spot, but that was never a factor. QS8 was a killer, I requested
Cesar to turn off the SUB to listen to the QS8's, I was very impressed with the ease with which
they were creating the ambience.

Overall my experience was good. I still do not know if I judged the M22s right,
probably the forum will help me on that.

The same evening I checked out PSB speakers with U2. It was an eye opener. The Second best tower in
the lineup was not even as good as M22. The best tower in the Silver lineup was close, just because
it had more of Lower end going for it. It was on sale for 1300$.

I am going to check a few more speakers and that will help me set a realistic expectation.

Don't forget that Joshua Tree was recorded quite some time ago, and, by today's standards, is quite poorly mastered. The M22s will reveal the flaws, all right...

Ken beat me to it. My CD copy of the Joshua Tree (from the original release - perhaps they have remastered it?) sounds absolutely terrible. It is not a disk I would use for auditions.

I have to agree. My only complaints with my fronts is with some of the older recordings. I listen to alot of 80s metal and some of it sounds horrible! I do realize it is in the recordings. I just save those for "drive time" or do some serious adjusting to the treble. I definately wouldn't audition with them.

I too eagerly put in my U2 cd and was dissapointed. I've since bought a 2 disc HDCD set from Ebay of U2's greatest hits. That sounds MUCH better. (It's not really the HDCD so much as the new release was remastered.)

Those original U2 cd's do indeed sound like poop.

Indeed. The excremental quality of late 80s - early 90s rock/pop CD mastering is revealed in all its grit by Axiom speakers.

The recording on U2 CD - never thought about it. Thnx guys. But i had the same feeling about the Goo Goo dolls song too,the song i guess is post y2k...was the earlier disappointment shadowing my judgement?

FYI for all. I am "cesar". 3rd audition of my Axioms, in fact 2 people yesterday. The axiom owners should be getting a referral discount. I could apply it to my M60 upgrade...

I did second that....

Remasters rule! Just the thought of re-buying kills me! The ones I have though are definately an upgrade.