Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo M80 v4 midrange sounds dull and lifeless

Is it safe to assume the new speakers are set up exactly as the old ones were?
If they are wouldn't it stand to reason they shouldn't be?

One last thing, be sure to turn them up. Not stupid loud but don't baby them either.
Never did confirm if you checked that they are moving freely/properly/at all.

The ti's sound is usually said to be more forward than the V4's. It's possible that, since you're using a tube amp, it's warming the forwardness of the ti's and kind of neutering the midrange on the V4's.

Sorry for the late reply. Work is hectic.

As for my V4's they do not have biamp post so it's not that. Hooked up the same way as my V1.

As for my tube amp I find that I liked my Axioms so much more because it took the sharpness from the tweeters away and gave me a much more warm sound that's not fatiguing as better. If I use my surround receiver (Marantz SR7009) to play music I find that they are not very pleasant to listen to for long periods of time.

All the drivers check seem to be moving freely so I doubt it's that. To you guys saying that the V1 have a more forward soundstage I believe that's correct but they also seem to give me much better imaging too.

I thought it might just be me but I invited a friend to listen and he also pointed out the same issue I heard, midrange was veiled and when switched over to v1's the issue was gone and the music came to life.

I might open up the mid drivers up and see if they check out. Might even go as far as swap out mid drivers from my v1 into my v4 to see if it makes a difference or maybe it's all in the crossover?

Sorry if I'm all over the place with this reply

It would be unlikely that both speakers would have a problem. How about listening to them one at a time to establish if there's a difference?

BTW, you can't access the crossover on the v4 because it's screwed to the inside of the cabinet.

Could it be a combination of the "less bright" v4's, AND the tube amp together? You said that the ti's were too "sharp" with a transistor amp, and that the tube amp "warmed" things.

Try the v4's with the Marantz and see how they sound with it.

I think this could be part of the issue. I don't use my Marantz for Stereo music and just Surround sound but I will give them a listen with a solid state amp as well and see if I like the sound better. It might be that my combo doesn't work too well with the v4 and I perceive them as veiled. However I absolutely love the sound of my V1 with my tube amp which I forgot to mentioned is also hooked up to my DAC (PS Audio Perfect wave mk2)

I will report back and in any case my v4 will be up for sale at a significant savings. Used since December for less than 20 hours so far.

Haven't checked the entire thread, and I'm sure someone mentioned this, but have you checked the polarity of each driver to make sure they are pumping in unison.

I like the mids from my M80s even though I have only used solid state amplification with them (Yamaha M80 monsters, first 30 watts in pure class A). I picked up an Integra Research RDA7 but haven't set up the system since my flood.

I prefer tube amplification (and tube preamplication), but have to say the M80s sound excellent even driven by sand amps.

Good luck to you!