Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion What's New At Axiom AxiomAir

Received the AxiomAir Beast yesterday.

First impressions are that it is built to withstand a Winterfell Winter and Walking Dead apocalypse. Quite bomb proof so far. Only safety issue is that the edges of the wood veneer top cover are a little acute and sharp. When I was playing with propping the front edge of the bottom up for better directionality, it dang near cut me between my fingers when the item slipped forward.

Beware if you have inquisitive kids around the house. It's heavy as well so double caveat axiom-airer.

Was so excited after waiting a year for this that I didn't check for any online manuals. If there aren't any, it usually means that the unit is plug and play.

So I went ahead to turn it on, and try to stream music from my Iphone 6 Plus. After some not surprising glitches, I found the AxiomAirXXXX netwwork on wi-fi and eventually connected to that.

Err, now all I can do is connect that way, which I found by belatedly looking up the online manual, is the hotspot mode. This effectively means that I can't use the internet on my phone while I stream music.

This is the blue blinking light mode.

Is there a previous step I missed which the online manual seems to say in terms of connecting to the home wi-fi network first? I recall something popping up asking me to set up AxiomAir as an Airplay speaker, I can't remember if it was on the home wi-fi network setting or the AxiomAir hotspot network.

In any case, the first few attempts to set AA up as an Airplay speaker failed. I kept getting a fail message. I had to reboot the Iphone and also turn off the AA and restart to finally get Airplay set up - or so I thought.

So, how do I now connect to home wi-fi with the AA and be able to use the internet on my phone?

The Airplay set up dialogue no longer appears. I can't get the blue steady light mode. I surmise that this is the mode that most gets used ...?

Do I have to get the phone to 'forget' the AA hotspot network? Then set up again?

I have posted this to Axiom's support web form, so if the same person is dealing with that, one reply would be fine. It would be better for the AA owners to see the reply here though.

I had quite a few drop outs in the first hour or so of using the AA on the hotspot mode. My phone was literally next to the unit, and the bad drop outs made the AA quite unusable. I thought it was the battery getting weak, so I plugged in the cord. Still the drop outs continued.

Then after repositioning the AA in my lounge, the playback became very stable. This in the hotspot mode.

While the unit was working, I have to say that the sound is very balanced for a relatively small unit. Vocals especially seem very life-like. and present. A little unnaturalness on some very high level demanding bass tracks, but utterly commendable for the footprint. Some great tuning has gone into scaping the sound.

I plugged in a TV output. Hmm, not as compelling as I thought it would be from the stand-out musical vocal performance from the AA. These are just first impressions though, and I will test more thoroughly later.

With my Pono player, I also did not get as much of a wow factor as I would have expected from the high-end ESS Sabre DAC output. Strange that. Might have to let the electronics and drivers bed in.

The last two were analog inputs, so there could be something that needs to bed in on that front. The wonder of hi-fi electronics is that systems that are well designed and manufactured work synergistically after a bit of seasoning to yield sweeter sounds

However, the wi-fi hotspot sound was engaging and fulsome. Methinks the AA has been tuned to maximise sound from wireless sources. Thoughts?

Anyone know what DAC the AA uses?

Hi dyxlesic,

The pop up about adding AxiomAir as an AirPlay speaker was the message that puts your AxiomAir on your network. It is no problem to put it on now though. When you are connected to the AxiomAir hotspot, open an internet browser and type in axiomair.local. This will bring up our WebUI. From there click on the gear in the upper right corner and select Network. Your network will appear on this page. You can hit Connect and it will prompt you for your network password. After entering your network password hit connect and your blue light should go solid which indicates you are on your network.

Hi Ian,

thanks for your response.

I have tried what you suggested a dozen times. Never have I seen my home wi-fi network appear in the WebUI. Either on Iphone or Ipad. This is with the July system update too.

I have tried manually entering the network name and password. I get a message that the settings are remembered, but then nada.

Tried rebooting Iphone and Ipad after this step. Also rebooted the AA.

Other networks appear, but the home one is strangely absent. The wi-fi router is next to the AA.

Hi dyxlesic,

The fact you are seeing other networks leads me to think there must be something different about your router configuration.

Is there any chance your router is only running on AC band?
Is your SSID set to hidden?

Steve

Hi Steve,

thanks for your concern.

The router I have is from 2011, and I don't think AC was introduced until about 2013, so most likely it is running on the n band.

No, my SSID is not hidden.

So, if properly set up, and not using the AA hotspot, the AA at home/office should be on the home/office wi-fi network, and music can be streamed wirelessly from one's device/computer. One should be able to use the internet while this is happening, which one can't while in hotspot mode. Is this correct?

Hi dyxlesic,

You are correct; once the AA is properly configured on your home/office network you can stream music using airplay or UPnP and it won't interfere with your internet.

Steve

I don't think I have a choice, I have to force the AA back to factory settings and try the Airplay setup for the home/office wi-fi network from scratch.

Huzzah! I finally managed to see my home wi-fi network on the AA WebUI, entered in the password, pressed Connect and the UI said that the settings were saved.

The WebUI then entered into a spinning spiral of circles. Checking the IPhone wi-fi settings showed that the Iphone was connected to the home wi-fi network.

Airplay on the AA was available for streaming radio, podcasts on the Iphone and so on. Blue light on the AA did not blink anymore!

But I noted then that as the WebUI was gone so to speak, then any music on a plugged in USB stick was no longer available to access. If one wanted to access that, one would have to reconnect to the AA hotspot.

I am also noticing that the WebUI for plugged in USB media is not so responsive. Sometimes I can get a full list of music from the USB stick but sometimes not.

Any pointers on this, creators?

It is normal for the WebUI to show the circles when you go from hotspot to your network. You should be able to just close the page, join the network you put your AxiomAir on, and open a new browser page. If you renamed your AxiomAir it will no longer be axiomair.local, it will become whateveryounamedit.local.

Here's a weird conundrum

My hopes are hanging on receiving my AA this week as my wife's best friend and family are moving to another province. We are to visit them next Monday for a farewell gathering. How is this conflicting? He (the husband) too has purchased an AA and has received it. To avoid ruining my AA reveal/unboxing experience, I've already told my wife that I will be "sick" that day if the AA has yet to arrive. I hope that that look in her eye was of understanding

I've been anticipating this item far too long to have my introduction to it via another persons device. Uggg..

Fingers crossed. Two weeks ago Debbie was kind enough to give me an update of the status and that that the AA has been added to the assembly line. I'm very much looking forward to getting that shipping confirmation email.