Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Would you buy this for $150?

On Craigslist.

M3ti 4x
m22 fronts (I think) 2x
A center that is Axiom
Mirage Sub PS-10

All old. $150 or less.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/ele/3462152312.html

Go for it? Are these any good? I don't even know for sure which speakers they are other than they are axiom and the bookshelves are m3ti.

Yes.

Unless they are damaged, in horrible shape or counterfeit.

I would hook them up to a source to make sure they work.

Yeah, check if they work (particularly check if all the woofers and tweeters are working by sticking your ear up to them), but otherwise, sure. A replacement woofer will run you something like $50 from Axiom, and I think a tweeter is somewhere in the same neighborhood.

Center looks like a VP150.

If everything, or even most of the speakers work, that's a very good price.

So you think they'd sound okay for home theater?

Are you sure you want them? Apparently it's not possible to play these speakers quietly.

Yeah, I'd jump on this deal. Really goor price for all those Axioms.

You'll probably not get better for $150.

Definition of goor: Sorta good and sorta poor. Depends on whether you visit avsforum and read the Apple Dumpling Gang comments. They took turns dropping M22's on their feet and have been pissed since.

I do not understand. Sorry for being dense.

Would you buy these or floorstanding Klipsch for HT, big room, 22x15, normal ceilings, not high.

I was just poking fun at the at for mentioning that the speakers are LOUD. All speakers can be loud if you turn up the volume enough.

The bottom line is that this is a fantastic deal and we all think you should buy them.

One more question. Please. I have some Polk Tsi300 speakers. What do you think compared to the Polk Tsi series and the older Axioms. I also saw (on avs) where someone said the crossovers were not very well constructed.

I know his is an Axiom forum but thought I'd ask anyway.

edit: I really want crisp clarity. Sub for bass.

The person who said that about the crossovers has an axe to grind. You'll get excellent clarity. You really won't be able to beat $150. 22x15 is somewhat large, but not really that huge, since you've got normal ceilings.

Listener, Axiom has been around for 30+yrs now, I think that says something. Not to mention all great reviews on "non-biased" sites. Again, if they are used, I would make sure you listen to each of them before purchasing, but $150 is a steal if they are in working order.

If they're all working, that would be a pretty good deal for $250-300.

If you want to talk about AVS, you're in the wrong place. If you never want to have to buy speakers again, you should probably be considering spending more than $150.

The TSi300 is a big box. Compared to ANY bookshelf, you will probably perceive a fairly big difference, especially in bass. However, if you cross them over to a good sub at ~80Hz, I'm pretty confident that the Axiom M3 or M22 would be more accurate. As to whether or not you LIKE that accuracy, that's kind of another matter.

Am I the only one that thinks avsforum has some problems? I tried to delete and not digress from the post. You just said non-biased so that's what I thought about.

What does accuracy mean here?

Primarily flat frequency response. Neither a "warm" nor a "bright" sound, unless that's the way the program material is.

Hi Listener,

As others have noted, you'll get a much better than "OK" experience with the Axioms so long as they're all working properly.

Think of "accuracy" as meaning "neutral"; that is, the Axioms don't introduce tonal colorations that change the timbre or sound of instruments and voices the way many other speakers like Klipsch and Polk do.

Axioms have very smooth measured (and audible) frequency responses. They respond evenly to all parts of the audio spectrum (in the case of M3s, not the deepest bass, but the Mirage subwoofer will nicely extend the bass output).

A really simple example of how a speaker causes tonal coloration is for you to ask someone else to cup their hands around their mouth as they are speaking to you.

You will hear the change in the voice quality as the person cups their hands around their mouth, in effect "horn-loading" the sound. The voice will become sharper and more nasal-sounding. Many of Klipsch's models are horn-loaded, which makes them harsh and tiring to listen to, especially on vocals, brass instruments and strings.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Alan

Thanks everyone. Does anyone know the specs on the speakers? I can't find them on the site the m3ti. Like the sensitivity.

The ti series is not going to have significantly different specifications than the current V3 series. They have been improved, but I don't think those improvements will be readily apparent from a spec sheet.

The NRC measured the sensitivity on the M3Ti to be 86.0dB (averaged 300Hz - 3kHz, 2.83V/1m)

Won't that make them hard to drive? I thought that's why Klipsch was always 93+ for that reason. (keep in mind I have no idea what I'm talking about).

I like him already.

That's about average sensitivity for a loudspeaker. You will also gain some sensitivity when the speaker is placed in a real room.

Klipsch and other horn loaded designs are typically known to be high sensitivity speakers (in the 90's). This is design trade-off that is done on purpose.

As BlueJay pointed out, the NRC measured sensitivity, using their standard, was 86DB for 1 watt. At that time I recall that the Axiom spec was 89dB. Somewhat surprisingly, most but not all of the current models were shown with a 3-4dB higher sensitivity(e.g., the M3 at 93dB), which would represent a doubling of efficiency. The M80 spec remained the same at 91dB. This variance was pointed out here quite some time ago, and a clarification requested, but nothing was forthcoming.

Dude, are these speakers even still available?

Yes. I can still get them.

Do those longer speakers look like m22i?

They're definitely M22s.

Is that m22I or just m22 with no i?

There was no M22 with no i, unless you count the v2, v3. There's no way to tell the difference from those shots between an M22ti and the M22v2/v3. You could ask the owner, but any which way you slice it, if they work, you're getting a great deal. The M22ti was a great speaker.

Seriously, what exactly is stopping you, here? Do you think you're going to find MORE speakers for $150? BETTER speakers for $150? Because I don't even NEED speakers, and I'd be all over that if it was within 100 miles of me.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. Maybe 150 miles.

Well, I bought them. They're really nice looking. Hope they sound good. Yes, I bought without listening. My fault if they're doa. Paid $125.

Hey, congrats. Hopefully you got the deal of the year. Let us know how you like them.

m3ti x4
m22i x2
vp-150 x1
Mirage PS-10 x1

Older but very nice.

Thanks!

Look at it this way: not even counting the sub (throw it in for free!), you paid less than 10% of what new speakers would cost.

First thing that struck me is how much the pictures didn't show the speakers that well. These things are big speakers. Solid and heavy. Well constructed.

So, if you guy saw this on the street. And you wanted the speakers, how much would you have paid for them, not counting the sub, which btw, isn't doing to well.

Just curious. I'm trying to figure out if it is worth it to buy a new crossover for $74 for the vp-150.

For the M22s and VP150 alone I would have paid $300. But you also got four M3s? That'd push it up to the $400 to $500 range.

You got an incredible deal. So yeah, get the VP150 fixed for $75.

Sounds about right.

Good to see you back around these parts, Chris.

Chris always shows up when there's math to be done.

I hooked them up. They do sound nice. Much better than I expected.

Before you spend money to repair the VP150, unless you're planning to use all four M3s for surround, you might try one(or two)of them as a vertical center speaker.

I did. I put the M3ti and it sounds great. I'm just thinking the VP-150 is going to sound ten times better or something. What do you think?

No. Not ten times better. Maybe not better at all.

Really? Why is that? I don't understand. I thought that was what it was for and was "special."

The VP-150 has three drivers and two tweeters while the M3ti has one driver and one tweeter, so maybe it will sound better?

The meti won't blow up will it as a center?

many people use identical bookshelfs up front, versus a horizontal center channel. There is no "special" to it, it is a speaker designed to be placed horizontal below a screen or on a tv/shelf. There is a difference in how a horizontal vs vertical speaker disperses the sound, but it is not going to be 10 times different.

Why would you say a speaker would blow up as center, any speaker can be used as a center, if it blew up, that would be something wrong with your amp, or someone placed an explosive near it, and in that case you better run.

I guess because the bookshelf is a smaller speaker, and so much flows through it in home theater. I just figured it couldn't take it. That's wrong?

It is only capable of playing what it was designed to do, no more no less, whether it is a center or Left or Right makes no difference. The only way you could damage it would be to physically smash it, play clipped signals through it or have it play far beyond its power rating, like 1000w for a length of time and over heat the voice coils. The fact it is a center doesn't matter.

Vertically configured speakers can have better horizontal dispersion than horizontally configured ones. Horizontal center speakers are intended to meet an aesthetic or space requirement for that arrangement. They have no other benefit and I don't use them. Carry on with the M3 there.