Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Ok, you got $12K to spend ......

Serenity ... Looks like a good book.

Amazon US had some secondary sellers shopping it for $4 plus shipping and I snagged one. The best price now may be $8 plus S/H, but still a bargain.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/007177274X/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Wow! Fantastic price for a truly useful book.

I hope you guys find it as useful as I do. I refer to it frequently when something has me stymied.

yes, I am going to order one also.

however ........ http://www.acoustics101.com/forward.asp

Good find. I remember reading through that also.

The book is basically perfectly purpose built though.... All you will ever need.

Troy,

Based on my brief time auditioning the new M2 computer speakers, given that they are the baby speakers in Axiom's lineup, there is absolutely no reason to upgrade to something more expensive for home theater/music use.

The Axiom v4 lineup should provide flawless playback of anything you throw at it. The room/setup is definitely the limiting factor. I am impressed with even the M2s performance, and could easily build a fantastic small room system around them with good subs.

I want to go back for another listen soon. They are nice speakers.

If you are planning to spend that much money I strongly suggest listening to as many speakers as you can. Focus on just getting your front speakers right now, to keep the auditions simple. Do the speakers image well? How is their off axis performance? Can they delineate the soundfield well (can you hear each instrument separately or do some get muddled together)? Are the speakers fatiguing? How is their transient response (how quickly the speakers stop playing a certain frequency, or do the speakers ring at certain frequencies)? How easy is it to drive the speakers with a reasonably priced amplifier or receiver? How do the speakers sound to you?

Some of these things are easier to discern with in home auditions. For example, it will not be easy to tell if a speaker is fatiguing in a 15 minute listening session. This will likely only be revealed after a couple hours of listening or more. Regardless, go to local shops to check out the bigger brands. Many internet direct companies offer free shipping (http://www.audioholics.com/how-to-shop/internet-direct-comparison ): Axiom, Aperion, SVS, XTZ, etc. Some even offer free shipping both ways. Take advantage of that. Last summer I was purchasing new speakers and I auditioned my top three choices in my house and chose the ones I liked. One of the pairs I had to pay for shipping, but I was okay with perhaps needing to spend around $100 total to audition them in my home. I was making a big investment buying the speakers, since I plan to continue filling out a 5.1 and then 5.1.2 or 5.1.4 system in the future. I would have auditioned more, if my wife wasn't having a baby just as I finished up the end of the one month trial.

Subwoofers are a bit easier. I don't think you necessarily need to demo them, or stick with the same brand as the speakers your end up buying. There is a wonderful resource that gives extremely thorough measurements to give you an idea how a subwoofer performs: http://www.data-bass.com/systems . Be sure to get two subwoofers so that you can get similar bass performance in each seat (http://www.harman.com/EN-US/OurCompany/Innovation/Documents/White%20Papers/multsubs.pdf ).

It's good that you are also thinking about room treatments, since once you purchase the speakers, they will make the next biggest difference in what you hear. Again, I would be very careful just blindly buying a set of speakers others are suggesting. What each person finds pleasing in terms of sound is very personal and very room dependent. Good luck and have fun.

Hi all
Serenity :
Yes, I went the bookshelf Sub before. I had M&K MKII and I really, really think they are awesome for movies. Detail, clarity, imaging etc.
However, I really like my music subless. I like listening to concerts or just music at a above avg level. Not, meaning 90% volume.
I had this discussion for a long time with members on this forum .... cannot remember all but, Sirquack, MarkJ I think even Nick chimed in on the bookshelf vs Floor.

If I had two separate rooms, I would absolutely go bookshelf for movie and 2ch Floorstanding for music.

That said, I think I finally got my head around sirquack and Marks philosophy. With that the floorstanding M80 cut off at 80hz ....I'm just using them as above avg bookshelf speakers and when I play music, well my receiver is setup that it will play 2ch full range. when I select Blu-Ray for movie's it is setup to go 7.2 and cutoff on the front at 80hz.

Now, here's my issue with 2ch music is, I find the M80's just at a certain level start to work really hard. I guess this is the compression part .....Specially as I read and think I have this right. Axiom has two Woofers, two Mids and two tweeters, yet only a two way crossover. So basically, If I have this right it is at 160hz and 2.3hz.
That means 2.3k hz is going to the tweeters and everything in between 2.29k and 160 hz is going to the mid range, then everything below 160hz goes to the woofers.
Now with upper bass being around the 300hz, it's like at a higher volume the mids are working really hard and I think this is where most of that distortion seems to come from. Then. also the woofers are also at that point.

So, I was looking at the M100 as Andrew suggested, however a speaker for movies sticking out 3 ft into my room just doesn't cut it when the screen is three feet behind and the centre channel is also.

So, I am left with the M80's I bought them for a reason ...value being the biggest reason, but also they sound awesome for the level I watch movies at. G4anted they sound awesome for music too. I just want that little extra punch in the bass.

SO, that's why I was wondering if getting a DSP for the M80 and VP180 would help as the link to that page says and if it would improve the sound. However, I am not thinking put the money into M80HP and VP180HP. and just use them as a great bookshelf speaker.

As for subs, I am either going with the huge SVS Ultra or either Paradigm Studios ( I think they discontinued that line though ) or the JL Audio Fathom F112. I found a site that sells overstock electronics and these are listed there.

Also, if I do build the bigger addition I will upgrade for sure to HP or like I said, at the cost I am now looking at a few different brands. So, will look around and try out a few. SVS Ultra is also getting good reviews. However, I am thinking Axiom M80HP and maybe just go the Factory Outlet with the rest of the speakers.

One reason you might be missing the "punch" in the bass is if you currently have a subwoofer that isn't large enough to pressurize entire space that your room is open to. With the trend of having newer houses where the living rooms have vaulted ceilings and are open to many other rooms in the house it is possible to have enormous spaces to pressurize. We can only get bass that you can feel (if the source is calling for it), if the subwoofer(s) can pressurize the entire volume that your room is open to. How large is the volume of space including the room and any other rooms that are open to?

One other possible reason for the missing "punch" in the bass might be that as the volume gets further and further from 85dB (reference volume) our ability to hear bass gets worse and worse. Most people likely find it too loud to listen to their systems at 85 dB. I would guess that many likely listen at 60 or 65 dB. Audyssey Dynamic EQ is built into some receivers and can fix this issue.

Troy:

What kind of SPLs are you getting at your MPL when you are playing your music? How far back is your MPL from the M80s?

Perhaps you are just driving them to their limits at very high SPLs. Not to preach, but anything over 90 DBs will be eventually detrimental to one's hearing.

I find that 80 to 90 DBs (as measured with my RS SPL Meter) at my MLP (10' back) using M2s + a pair of EP400s is about all that I can handle these days unless I'm into the sauce, ha!

TAM

Hi Troy. I have a SVS SB13ultra providing the deep end for my LFR1100v4's. It's everything the reviews say it is.