Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners My Interesting M60 Out Of Box Experience!

The M60's arrived safely. Thanks to Axiom for getting them shipped so fast!

FedEx put a nice hole in one of the boxes but the plastic inside was not even torn so no damage done.

I'm glad I'm an Engineer...

Set them up and brought up my Denon 3808 slowly with Sarah McLachlan's Laws Of Illusion CD in Direct mode.

Hmmm...first impression was overall kind of dull...that can't be right...wait a minute, the right channel highs are dull and raspy...tweeter distortion, oh oh.

A quick visual examination of the right channel tweeter showed that the right channel's silver tweeter dome looked crinkly in the left and lower quadrants. The other one was smooth all the way around. Both of the tweeters on my M2's are also smooth all around.

That can't be good, I thought. So much for "Acoustically Perfect" from the Factory Outlet.

I immediately called Noreen at Axiom and she will be shipping a new tweeter out to me on Friday. Excellent Customer Service! Thank You Noreen!!

Drat...there goes the long weekend of listening I had planned...or does it?

I have a pair of 6 month old M2V2's with the V3 tweeters! Good, the supplied allen wrench works for the driver screws as well as the feet!

I swapped the bad tweeter with one of the M2's and voila...Now that's more like it!!! I'm liking these a lot so far! Listening to Mark Knopfler's Sailing To Philadelphia as I type this. Pretty nice bass without my sub on!

Yes, the bad tweeter still sounds bad in the M2.

Further examination of that tweeter shows that whomever the Axiom employee was that was responsible for building that tweeter really must have been having a bad day! It is UGLY!

Man, this really should have been caught in QC. I wonder if Axiom only does spot-checks and does not QC every unit??

I also noticed while examining the front of all the drivers with a flashlight that the 3 good tweeters on both the M60's and M2's all show fingerprints on the silver titanium foil domes! I assume that is normal. I hope so!!

So it sounds to me like Axiom could stand to tighten up a bit on their QC.

--Mark--

Atleast the issue is being resolved. Hopefully no more issues will pop up down the road.

Yes, Axiom has been great! No complaints at all about their customer service.

They seem fine now with the good tweeter from my M2. So I think they will be fine going forward.

So far, I think I made the right choice going for the M60. Really liking them now!

--Mark--

Glad you are liking the M60's, sucks that the tweeter was damaged.

It could have been damged by an errant finger or similar during packaging; IIRC Axiom does test every speaker once completed.

Sorry to hear about the tweeter problem. Glad you're enjoying your 60's.

The boxes for my M80's were kind of beat up by FedEx too. It had me worried a little until I unpacked and inspected the speakers. Luckily everything was fine. Gotta agree it was Axiom's interior packaging that probably made a difference. Funny thing was the boxes for the VP150 and QS8's looked like they came right off the shelf.

This makes me wonder if returned items are perhaps just repackaged and shoved out the door to the next person.

I really don't think it happened in packaging or even final assembly. Looking closely, it really looks like it had to have been done during the assembly of the tweeter itself because of the hard plastic X-shaped guard in front of the dome.

In any case, things do happen, understandably.

I do tech support for a fairly low volume electronics company and I know that despite all best efforts, defective units sometimes get through the system.

Kudos again to Axiom Customer Support!

And to Axiom itself for including the proper tool to change drivers and for the design of the speakers that allows drivers to be changed so easily.

Listening quietly at about 65-70 dB this morning and I don't know where the story started about the M60 not playing as nicely at low levels as the M80 but I would have to say that is not an issue at all with the M60 V3's! They sound terrific at low volume!!

--Mark--

They do sound good but the M80s are just a little more revealing at lower volumes than the M60's, that's all.

Yeah, Jason, but have you done a blind comparison of the v3's

Mark, so glad you're happy.

What! My M60's will actuall perform down @ 65db! Shhhhhhh! Don't tell my better half. I told him that < 88db would ruin the veneer first, then the drivers!

Perhaps in the New Year

Brian, Axiom emphasized strongly that returned items weren't even used for Factory Outlet(when it existed)sales, much less for regular stock. I think we can be confident that Axiom has been truthful on that point.

No they are not Brian, oh John already said that.

What happens to the returns then? I'm sure that they just don't throw them away. My guess is the speakers and crossover are removed and placed into new cabinets. But what if the cabinet is also good? Hmmm.

Cat,

If Axiom employees or their families don't buy them, they are "parted out" and the enclosures go to the wood chipper to be recycled back into MDF.

Regards,
Alan

I got the tracking number for the new tweeter yesterday. Should have it by Tuesday. The bad one is currently loosely connected in my right channel M2. But I'm not listening to those this weekend! :-)

I have been listening to music on the M60's for most of the day today, mostly in stereo with my SVS sub crossed over at 80 Hz.
I am running my 3808 in Audyssey L/R Bypass mode so only the sub is using the Audyssey processing from a previous run. The previous speakers sounded like crap in here without Audyssey but so far I have not had any desire to do an Audyssey run with these!

I have been playing with toe-in (which is very critical in here). It really is amazing how good the horizontal dispersion is. I am finding that I can use much less toe-in than my previous stand mounted speakers. And the center image is still very good. I am really enjoying the larger soundstage these towers provide.

--Mark--

Thanks Alan, good to know.

While we have you here, how much were the M60's tweaked for v3?

I notice that the response graph in the manual I got is a bit flatter through the mids and highs than the original NRC graph (that is still posted on the website).

Thus far, I doubt very much that my M60 cabinets will be going to the wood chipper!

Thanks again for the great service!

--Mark--

That would be a cruel fate for such a fine speaker!!

Are any words said over them first? Thanks Alan. I appreciate the response.

Yes, it is a somewhat sad occasion, but we can take consolation from the fact that the recycled MDF can live again to make fine new Axiom speakers.

MarkyM,

Following this thread, I knew you'd enjoy the enhanced soundstage of the M60 v3's, perhaps the most noticeable (in double-blind comparisons) improvement because of the smoother, wider dispersion of the new tweeter. That characteristic is also apparent in the new M22 v3s (vs. my old M22ti's) and in the M3 v3.

Yes, apart from the new tweeter, there were adjustments in the crossover midrange response of the v3, which during the double-blind tests at Axiom, caused me to end my rating sheet with the phrase, "This is a wonderful speaker!"

Previously, I had never given the earlier M60 v2 such high praise; in fact, there was always a slight midrange glitch that bothered me in the earlier M60s, which lent a slightly edgy quality to some female vocals and a few brass instruments (occasionally sax and trumpet) and that lowered my overall score for the older M60s.

I was thrilled when the new M60 v3 showed no trace whatsoever of that slight "middy" glitch. For those who are curious, I never heard the latter in the earlier M80 v2's (I have those in my living room). The M80 v3 also benefits from the new v3 tweeter, but to my ears, the biggest improvement in the tests I did in late spring and early summer were audible in the M60 v3s.

Regards,
Alan

Thank You Alan,

I really think the M60's have now earned and deserve some respect!

It's only been 4 days but I really like them so far.

--Mark--

John, can you reference a theological treatise on recycling. You have me intrigued.

Tom, it's from the Book of John. Oh, you said theological.

Can we just buy the v3 tweeter to replace the v2 one in my M60v2?
Will the crossover have to change also?
How much would that cost to change the tweeter & crossover only?

The crossover was changed to match the new tweeter. I believe it was said there would be soldiering involved in replacing the crossover. There was some discussion about selling the upgrade parts, but no price was ever settled upon--at least mentioned in the board.

If you're serious about doing the upgrade, you might try contacting Axiom directly.

Update:

The new tweeter came today.

I installed it in the M60 and put the tweeter from the M2 back in the M2.

All is well.

Kudos once again to Noreen at Axiom for the stellar support!

--Mark--

Do you still enjoy your M2's now? I was hoping you could compare and contrast the experience from your 2 systems. I am very interested in a full range vs monitor and sub discussion.