Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Out with the old and in with the new

I re-calibrated and lost absolutely nothing in sound quality. I've listened to a few more tunes and without a doubt, the M5 resolves better across the entire frequency range. The M5 sounds more natural and you don't have to strain to hear how more natural it is. However, there does not appear to be a difference in the eerily holographic quality of the soundstage - both are the same in that regard. In fact, as I reported above, the M3v4 disappears better. I have to spend more time to understand if this is the way the M3s are positioned relative to the M5s - the M5 tweeter is at ear height while the M3 tweeter is 5" below.

Interesting... I found the M5HP's did a better job of handling very wide soundstage than M3v4's, at least with audio effects that put sound sources well outside the speaker locations...

old post

In that post you linked, you said:

"OK, that was interesting. No more testing different configurations yet, but played another few CDs while working. On Sheep from Pink Floyd's "Animals" I realized what was different with the sound...

Sheep opens with electric piano and sheep noises, followed almost immediately by bass guitar. The bass is sharply located in the center, while the electric piano has always sounded "out of phase" and smeared across the soundstage with most of the sound seeming to come from a bit outside the speakers.

With the new setup the electric piano was sharply located "over there", off to the right somewhere between 30 and 40 degrees, almost twice as far from the center in terms of angle as the right channel speaker. "

I've been making similar observations with the v4. I am still working on a final verdict between the M3v4 and the M5HP as far as soundstage is concerned.

Are you using a sub with your M3s?

My first experience with Axiom was love at first listen. A pair of M3Ti's, a Velodyne 10" sub, an Antique Labs MG15DT 5 watt per channel single end triode tube amp, Ah! Njoe Tjoeb tube output CD player and Maple Shade Golden Helix speaker wire ... audio bliss.

I read you didn't like your M3ti's 10 years ago. What amp/receiver were you using?

I tried a pair of M22Ti's with the 5 wpc tube amp, hated the M22s. Dragged them out recently to try with a ~30 wpc Harman Kardon tube amp which my father got in 1962. Wow! Sounded great!!

I'm sure the new M3s and M22s sound even better, but the Ti's sound great with the right amp.

I was using a Denon receiver with the M3Ti. I also have to say I heard the M3v4 drivers in the Air but I didn't like them for a multitude of reasons. But these M3v4 speakers...they're something else! They are not JUST for small rooms. They have no problem whatsoever in my 4200 ft^3 space. I have them almost 12.5 feet apart and I'm sitting 12.5 feet away on the diagonal and imaging and soundstage are outstanding!

I am using a down-firing Yammie with the M3s that I got for $50. It's very good for music. Whether you use the M3s or M5HPs for music, a sub makes a nice difference - particularly for the M3s. I also listened to them extensively with my beloved 800v4 in my main room and the blend required no tuning whatsoever.

I've set up an M3-based living room system that was on my mind for the last 5 years. I have the M3s 4 ft away from the front wall, 20" from the sides, 8 feet apart and the MLP 8 ft on the diagonal. I'm sitting well-away from the back wall; maybe too far because I'm in the middle of the room. I'm driving them with an old Denon that doesn't have room correction. I have a long way to go to tame the room. However, the v4 soundstage is unmistakable. It's nowhere near as spectacular as my main space but the depth, width, height and image focus is characteristically v4.

I shake my head with some of the comments on the boards that Axiom hasn't innovated. Axiom burned the midnight oil squeezing everything it could with the current architecture out of The Family of Curves. It shows on the v4.

The M5HPs have completely fulfilled my audio needs. They offer audiophile sound and an amazing value. The 800v4 is icing on the cake for music and with the 160v4 and QS10HP, they complete an A/V system. For the first time in almost 12 years, I can say my main A/V space has reached a point where nothing more needs to be done. This is both good and bad. Good in that it offers me the satisfaction I've struggled to achieve and bad because I was about to pack it all in and down-size to a condo so I can free up some cash. I can't possibly imagine living the rest of my life without this sound.

To take full advantage of what the v4 offers, a large room, wide spacing and placement well away from room boundaries is a must. I tried with the M80v2 for many years and could not achieve the soundstage and imaging I so easily got with the M5HP (and M3v4). If you don't have a large space, you will still hear a big difference in clarity, imaging and soundstage.

A big shout out to Serenity_then for his panels
and of course Ian for not only helping me but having the passion, patience and vision to continuously improve. Craig Chase helped me a lot as well to clarify my needs. Now I'm thinking about something I never thought I'd want - custom finishing. I love them so much, I want to dress them properly.

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I was up until 4 am with one of my fem-friends taking in concert DVDs, Spotify music and YouTube tunes. We just couldn't stop! The Eagles concert was incredible. I could never get it to sound right with my v2 system no matter what; bloated bass, no pop in the drums, wrong imaging, poor soundstage, distorted highs, unclear vocals, weak surround sound. That's all history now. Wow! Just WOW! I tried soooooo hard all night to find a weakness and could not. I'd say The Family of Curves was interpreted so incredibly correctly. It's all black magic and Axiom is the evil wizard weaving spells.