Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M60v3...Thoughts On and Questions About

I thought that this was a bit of a lost opportunity during the gathering at Axiom last month...I know it would have been nice to hear some of the speakers in Axiom's lineup that I've never heard before, including their subs.

Of course, if a certain young lady hadn't have had a wee bit too much to drink that evening, she could have made it to Caledon and heard some M80's the next day

Yes, Mary, I believe my speakers are from 2004 and are the ti version.

Sure, I've thought about it. But not that seriously, for a number of reasons.

First, I'm cheap. Now that the V3's are out AND the tradeup program is gone, my existing M60's probably aren't really worth much to anyone but me. So, I'm not going to be able to offset the new purchase significantly by selling them off. Also, if I were going to make that kind of investment, I'd probably be seduced into some kind of custom finish, which drives the price up even higher.

Second, I don't listen to loud musical content regularly. Most of my M60 use is TV and movies. I've found that most of my music listening is done on other systems (in the car, at the office, in other rooms, etc). I'm driving them with an Onkyo receiver, which is quite nice and satisfactory, but is NOT a 200+ WPC amp. So, I'm less likely to benefit from the M80's increased power handling. There's a difference - FOR ME - between the auditioning experience and what really takes place on a day-to-day basis.

Third, God loves diversity and so do I. I really think Axiom makes great products and I'm proud to have them in my home. I also discovered that I enjoy building speakers, buying used speakers at good value, and listening to speakers from other manufacturers. Someday, I'll probably assemble a 2-channel system with tubes and other funky stuff. Axiom will get more of my business for a VP180 some day, and maybe some inwalls and who knows what-all. But there are other interesting paths in the audio forest.

Finally, I really do still like the M60's a lot. I'm convinced that any deficiencies I may periodically perceive are more related to my room and speaker placement than to the speakers themselves. Until I don't have to compromise with furniture arrangement and have a bit more acoustically isolated environment, it doesn't really make sense for me to have $2,000 speakers from ANY manufacturer. Wait, was that supposed to be in the "I'm cheap" paragraph?

Ultimately, I'd be spending a relatively large amount of money to "improve" the quality of the mains in the theater (living) room. And there might be other things that would improve that experience even more (a projector comes to mind). I suppose if I had no competing financial priorities, I would consider it more strongly. Since I have teenagers and need new floors, well, the real world beckons.

Since both the M60's and M80's have a very linear frequency response, I would imagine they sound equally good at low and moderate volumes. The M80's will give you more bass extension (by a whopping 3 hz) and higher spl, but with your current electronics, I doubt you would be able to drive either model to their potential. Plus if your sub is good, it may be redundant.

Therefore, I recommend some new amplification to the M60's to see what they are able to do before deciding to switch up to the M80's. I was driving mine with a Denon AVR-989 which is quite similar to the 2309 and they put out lots of sound. They really are great speakers for the $$.

I would recommend getting the M80 and be done with it! I first bought a pair of AX1.5 and upgraded to M22TI, and now I also got both M60v3 and M80. I have the M80 (& VP180) hooked to external amps and my M60 are hooked to a behringer EP2500. So if you buy the smaller speakers, you will always wonder how the bigger speakers sound. Go to the top and don't look back! :-)

The m60 aren't bad, but still not the same as M80..

As for a dedicated amplification, some disagree, but for me it's a must. All the Axiom speakers (starting with the M22) sounds very different when I connected them to a big amplifier. I currently used my Yamaha and pioneer AVR as preamp only. I got two additional amps in the living room and one external amp in the bedroom.

I still regret getting the M60v3 instead of another pair of M80
:-(

Thank you all for the interesting and thought provoking responses. Luc, I tend to agree with you in that purchasing the M80's would cover all my lingering questions once and for all. And since I am in the 30-day trial time-frame I need to make a decision within a few weeks.

But a few more questions for you all. Today was my 2nd day with the M60's and I listened to the Beethoven once again, this time with the volume up quite a bit. I also watched "Inglorious Bastards" with the Axioms and I think for movies they are quite good, but today I am disappointed with music reproduction in the classical genre which I listen to almost exclusively. By the way John, I haven't heard Mehta's Planets nor Levi's. I have owned or do own Karajan's Vienna recording on Decca and Steinberg's with the Boston Symphony, Ormandy with Philadelphia on RCA, as well as the EMI Boult classic recording (not impressive) and an old Westminster Boult with the Vienna State Orchestra that was horrific. In any case the speakers kept their composure or better said they seemed released from their acoustic barriers...the upper end sounded much improved and the speakers overall better balanced than at lower volumes. However, I don't often listen at high levels and I do desire a more open mid and high range at lower levels. So, what do you suggest I can do to improve their performance?

I do plan to upgrade my equipment to something like a Denon 2311. Will this help the sound open up? I am also using cheap thin wiring because it was already in place so I'll need to replace it. I don't have much flexibility for wall treatments or carpets, but I can move the speakers around a bit. I mentioned before these speakers have improved the bass response of my sub to a remarkable degree and I am very pleased with it. So unless the M80's improve the mid and upper end, you know open them up a degree to two at lower volumes, then to purchase them wouldn't help. So again, I'm thinking of M22's, but with them I may loose the great bass response because (I may be wrong) I think the improvement is due to the two woofers in the M60's. Any thoughts?

Dude, you drive a Mercedes. Better upgrade pronto or the neighbours are gonna start talkin'.

Is going to M22s and replacing your sub with a new one an option?

Lee, this may sound simplistic, but the first thing is to check to make sure that both tweeters are actually working. Verify that the connecting strips on the terminals are tight and listen to a high pitched tone with your ear near the tweeter.

A basic way to increase upper mids and treble is to try a 3-4dB boost on the treble tone control to see if this improves the openness at low to moderate volume.

Yes, a new receiver may help, but it has nothing to do with needing more power; at the levels that you use, your current receivers are fine with respect to maximum power. This would be even more the case with the M80s, which use a bit less rather than a "bit more" power than the M60s. I'd suggest that the benefit of a new Denon or Onkyo with Audyssey MultEQ would lie particularly in Dynamic EQ providing a better tonal balance(with the "Flat" curve)at lower listening levels.

Yes, the Steinberg is another of The Planets that I own.

When you say thin, how thin? Unless it's less than 16ga, I can't imagine that that's the problem.

This is the big difference Jay (jakewash) found between the M60v2 and M80v2.

Hopefully he will chime in here at some point soon.