Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo So NOW I'm a real Axiom owner...

I am certainly no expert and I believe axiom to be a standup company but , IMHO the sensitivity spec should be accompanied by the frequency at which the measurement was taken. Lower frequencies require greater power as does lower impedance and these are considerations that should be examined when buying amp power.

I know I will offend someone who believes differently than I do , but I can say that buying my XPA 5 was the best thing to ever happen to my M80's. It was not about being louder it just made the sound seem less strained.

Boom. I don't think that anyone is doubting that having a basis to test against is not important. I think what is trying to be said is that sensitivity number is just a delta number to start with.

The problem with just using that number is it doesn't tell you quite enough about how the speaker will perform in real life as it's only a single point measurement.

In your case, you are going from an M80 to the M100 and the general impedance between the two speakers are similar if not better for you with the new speaker.

if the sound limitation you were getting with the M80 was due to the amp simply running out of power to drive the large woofers rather than a limitation of the amount of surface area of the drivers themselves, then your sound requirements wont be met with the new speaker.

This is where the devils advocate pointers come into play with pointing out that if you are looking to play music with mostly deep bass then your power requirements will be substantially more than the calculations that you gave,

Hi Socketman & Oakvillematt - I agree with you both.

Axiom is a stand-up company.
Emotiva makes excellent amps.
A sensitivity number is never enough to tell you how speakers will sound.

However, the "sound limitation" I was getting with my M80s wasn't due to lack of power.
I ran my M80s with a Crown XLS-1500 (525 watts / channel @ 4 ohms)
I ran my M80s with an Emotiva XPA-1L pair of mono blocks (500 watts @ 4 ohms)
I ran my M80s with bridged Crown PS-400s (~1,000 watts @ 4 ohms)

With all of these amps, the speakers sounded slightly bass-shy in my room. When I paired them with one and then two subwoofers, however, the sound became more balanced.

I'm NOT a bass freak. I don't like boom-box sound (despite my moniker). But cone area and bass distortion matter. The Axioms (M-80s and M-100s, both) still use relatively small drivers. That means that to produce bass volume, the drivers must use more excursion, thus increasing transient intermodulation distortion.

Mr. Colquhoun, being aware of this, introduced the three M-100 woofers with larger magnets, cast baskets, and greater excursion than his previous woofers. The greater cone area (from the extra woofer) reduces TIM, and the greater excursion allows higher volumes (although with a necessary return of some TIM).

How successful will this strategy be? Watch for my review on the Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity website.

That is, if I ever get the speakers! LOL The order was placed Dec. 15th, but my account page shows no shipping date or tracking number yet...

But ultimately, bass is bass, and there's no substitute for driver area (unless one uses a bass horn, as does the legendary Klipschorn). Knowing this, Axiom provides a full line of large-cone-area subwoofers. But I'm trying to avoid subs for WAF reasons. Will the M-100s provide sufficiently plentiful (and sufficiently clean) bass that I can dispatch the subs to the local CraigsList? Stay tuned...

Sounds to me like you have done due diligence and hopefully that 50 watts will be enough for the extra driver and extra excursion. When I play dire straits sacd which doesn't use a sub it sounded like I had the sub on and actually had to check cause I know sacd doesn't use the sub. Hopefully you will get them suckers soon and all will be revealed. As for WAF sounds like you should be angling for a dedicated room. but honey that way you wont have to put up with all my gear.:)

If your only concern is will the M100 give you a measurable increase in the lower spectrum, then you need not worry. I ran my LFRs alone for quite some time and only recently put in some EP500s. For the most part the increase in sound isn't that noticeable except in music that actually gets down sub 40hz that you hear any improvement from subs being on.

You do with some classical pieces and a bit more warmer glow to Holly Cole.

Thanks, Gents - In my current home, a dedicated listening room just won't work. Next house...

As for LOW bass - again, not an issue. My wife is averse to having her innards jiggled by sounds she can't hear. So the 31 Hz cutoff of the Axiom towers is perfectly sufficient. I've owned subs that went down below 20 Hz (including the Definitive Technology Trinity), and they weren't well received by her.

My current subs (PowerSound Audio XV-15s) go no lower in frequency than the main Axiom speakers, but with two 15" cones, they do so with significantly lower distortion and with more authority than the two small woofers of each M80.

Again, I'm eagerly awaiting the opportunity to hear for myself.

Happy New Year! Boom

Geez - These dudes are KILLING me! LOL - no shipping # yet!

I wonder if I called them & asked to change my order to real wood...

Nah - It'd just add another 20 days + to the wait.

Could be reduced staff between Christmas and New Years. You are pretty excited, eh?

At the moment, I'm reduced to listening to a 10" pair of two-ways with a piezo tweeter that came from a yard sale - $20. So yes - I'm eager to get my new speakers. I should have taken the Axiom saleslady's advice and kept my M80s until the M100s arrived!

Whenever I have 'Traded Up', I've always kept mine until the new ones arrive.

Therefore, no withdrawal pains...

TAM