Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Craigslist !

That's a great deal on the Merak towers. Axiom made Meraks were sold by Radio Shack. I picked up a pair from ubid years ago. They were a decent speaker, definitely comparable in sound quality to speakers sold at the big box stores of the time.

The Merak center channel was really interesting. Trapezoid shaped cabinet, twin 6.5" drivers and came with either a horn tweeter or the Axiom 3/4" titanium tweeter. Swap in a pair of Axiom aluminum 6.5" drivers and you have a really nice center channel.

I got 2 Merak centers, swapped Axiom 6.5s into each, and swapped the titanium tweeter in one for the tweeter and cross-over from a reference de capo mm snagged from ebay (with a little help from my trusty dremel), and it sounds great. These 2 are in my garage stereo system.

Looks like a good deal, Rick! Perhaps a different version of the M50?

If I was looking for more speakers, I would definitely go check them out. I have a new in the box H/K 3490 that would drive them quite nicely.

Is that a soft dome tweeter in the pics ?

Hi Bridgman

The Fortes have a horn loaded tweeter. The upgrade tweeter includes a titanium driver. Imagine that!

The EP2.8s have a BMS tweeter mounted coincidentally within the mid driver.

Of course, though the EPs look good from the front, from the rear they resemble the incomplete coverage of a hospital gown open in the back.

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Sorry, my bad... I meant in the picture of the Merak towers...



Thanks for the pic of the EP2.8... I had no idea they were open-back, or that there were drivers behind those two ports. Very interesting...

Merak M66s used the Axiom 0.75" titanium tweeters

So, I dragged the Fortes upstairs and ran them with the Harman Kardon TA5000x Award Festival Citation stereo receiver (one of the first stereo receivers ever made!).

I listened to some Mussorgsky, Kenny Rogers, Krall, and liked them a lot. I switched back to the Axiom M22s.

What do you know ... the Axioms sound better, at least with that amplifier. The M22s are pure. They sound beautiful. The Fortes worked well with the 5 watt per channel tube amp downstairs (an amp the M22s do not like), but with the 20wpc HK, the M22s are the clear winner.

You really need to get the forte's up a bit higher and have them lean back a bit. That was a very popular sized cabinet back in the day. When i bought my HPM900's i picked up a set or U shaped stands that are about 6 inches high and lean the speakers back, this really helped to decouple them from the floor and get the tweets pointing to the listening position. I dont know the vintage of the Forte's are but i remember going to a stereo shop with a freind about 30yrs ago and listening to some Klipsch speakers similar to those and they sounded really good though they did sound as good for rock from what i recall. Still a nice score, i never see anything decent up here in the boonies.

Hi Socketman

I'm refinishing the Fortes and when I get a chance, I'll build some stands. I agree about tilting them back. I'm using some brass hockey pucks for a temporary tilt.

What shocked me the most is how good the M22s sound in that room with the HK tube amp. Really good!!

Yes, but you have all that clean air, sparkling waters, hungry bears, up there in the YT !

Yeah i wouldnt trade it for anywhere else until i retire and then i may move to the interior of BC. be sure to post some pics once you have them refinished.