Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Newbie needs advice; M2, M3, or ELT (sorry so long

MD,

With all do respect, that day at your place, I thought the Ref1 and the 340's were much better in terms of harshness than the ELT. While I remember the M22 being brighter than the ELT, I do not remember them being harsh/distorted until the volume got turned up.

Judging by the numbers in your table, it seems the mids on the ELT are stronger than the RS750, and I did not feel that to be the case at all....even when I heard them at your place. The mids are the RS750's strong point. It also seems to suggest that the ELT has stronger mids than the Ref1.

My feeling is the ELT lacks in the mid-lower mids. One song that I think really demonstrates this is on the Dave Matthews Band "Crash" cd, track #4.

All in all, I agree with the above poster in what he heard.

and that is exactly why i say it's not the mids that are weak...it's the upper bass region...i used a test tone disc...how do you isolate the mid frequencies in music when there's so many other frequencies being played simultaneously?

sure the ref1s were smoother than the 340s which were smoother than the ELTs...but you did say that the ELTs sounded much smoother in my setup...and did not start getting harsh until over 90dBs...

And what I was getting at is the mids on the ELT are no where near as strong as in the Ref1 or RS750. And with that not as strong as my Ascends as well.

I am in agreement that it lacks bass from about 100hz down.

Freq. response graph aside, I will back up and say that the beginning of track #4 on the DMB Crash disc, on the ELT, it did not sound as good as it does on my CBM-170 or CMT-340....I do not remember playing that track on the M22's.

For the poster that has the M2, M3, and ELT right now...if you have that disc, I would be interested in your thoughts with that track on all three speakers.

MD...we can take this offline. All I can really do is compare the ELT to my Ascends, and it is not helping people interested in the Axioms, and I generally do not post anything about Ascends here.....and I do not use the "metallic" word here anymore either.

Curtis,

We're friends and I'm totally cool with you...I have no probs with you not liking the ELTs, Rockets, Refs or any other speaker that I might like. That's cool because we have different preferences...I do have a problem when you make a statement that is simply not true about the mids of the ELTs. Do you know what are the frequency or frequencies that are being played at the beginning of track 4 on DMB Crash and how they measured on each speaker? That's all I'm saying. Thanks for your time. Happy listening...:)

MD...I know we are friends and we respect each other's opinions.

For the record, you know I like the Refs and Bigfoot, and actually prefer the ELT over the RS150.

I will see if I can find out about that freqs on that track.

"For the record, you know I like the Refs and Bigfoot, and actually prefer the ELT over the RS150."

Yes, Curtis, I know...I was just trying to say that I really don't mind that we prefer different speakers. That's all...Not actually saying that you don't like those I specifically listed...

Ah go ahead Curtis.
Use the word metallic....to describe the Rockets perhaps....just for fun.

Mad Dog, Curtis, it's good to see friends work out differences of opinion.

I am brand new to this hobby. While graphs are a good reference to look at, listening to speakers in my home is the only way I can decide what sounds good. With that said, I don't think my set up is ideal with the speakers put in corners. Also, my vernacular for this hobby is not up to speed so bear with me.

Curtis, I do not have that particular Dave Matthews Band CD. What I do have is, "Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College". I played track #6 from Disc #1, "Crash Into Me". I repeated the track twice for each set of speakers, I did not adjust the treble or bass. No sub used. For this listening session, I divided the song into 3 areas; the vocals I considered high, the "lead" guitar playing notes instead of only strumming I considered mids, and the strumming guitar I considered low/bass. These 3 areas are what stood out the most to me with each speaker. I know this is by no means a scientific way to measure the frequencies of this song. But, here we go...

The ELTs were the brightest of the 3. The vocals were very pronounced. The "mids" were there but not very forward, no bass. The highs are the strongest point of this speaker, mids (whether lower mid or upper bass) is ok. As stated b4, needs a sub.

The M2s were "warmer" sounding than the ELTs. The vocals were good, not as high as ELT. The mids were lacking, and bass was pronounced. The mids were really flat, not sure why.


The M3s sounded the best in my opinion. The vocals sounded the same as M2s, with good "mids", and of course bass. They seemed the most balanced.

I'm not sure what good this review does with no emperical data other than let you know what I think. Also, a lot has been written about the difference the M2 and M3. The M3 tends to have a "warmer" sound and M2s have more clarity. I found them to be more similar than different. Partly, I think, b/c of the speaker placement. With them basically in a corner or close to a wall, it seems the bass is more pronounce overall than if they were on stands.

The two speakers with completely different sounds is the ELT and M2. Different mfgrs, different components and build, but man, it's almost night and day.

All 3 speakers sound good doing different work. The ELTs are sold as HT speakers, which to me, they are good at. I'm sure even better with the whole package working together. For 2 channel music listening, they are not for me.

Nice review.

txag,

bass is what fleshes out the sound to provide general "warmth"...per the designer of the ELTs, these are designed to be used w/ a sub to fill out the entire bass region...bass tones go as high as 200Hz...based on what you have described, i would not be surprised if the M2 had higher high and mid bass output than the ELT sats although i can't be sure since i haven't measured them in my room before. however if you cue up a CD w/ test tones, i think you'd be surprised with the sound of some of the mid and upper bass tones. they are much higher pitched than most folks think...and often times referred to as midrange when they are actually upper bass.

the ELT sats are weak in bass therefore they do sound thin...especially if the M2s measure close to what their listed specs show. but i still contest that the ELTs are NOT thin in the MIDS. i am certain if you were to throw in some more output from between 200Hz-70Hz, they would sound much "warmer".

again, i'm not saying that one speaker is better or worse than the other, but just trying to get the facts straight. if curtis said the ELTs sound thin due to lack of bass (high, mid and low), i would wholeheartedly agree! that's all...enjoy!