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

I was thinking today about the parallels between transmitting antennas and speakers. They both sort of do the same thing: radiate. Antenna polar response is measured in an EMC chamber; a speaker in an acoustically anechoic chamber. The same measurements are taken albeit at different frequencies, amplitudes and test methods and equipment.

With these measurements, we know how antennas and speakers will behave in free space or in a room. Antenna direct response is analogous to the listening window and total radiated power is analogous to sound power. When the direct response and total radiated power are amplitude and phase-matched, directivity will be unity which means the antenna is omni-directional - analogous to the listening window and sound power being amplitude and phase-matched. Sometimes you want an omni-directional antenna or speaker and sometimes not depending on the application. For a consumer speaker in a room, omni is what we want.

All true but one must also think about the reverse.
If v4 is so much better than v2 and you apply room correction, are you undoing what the v4 improved on?

Or for any quality speaker brand. Ultimately with every room being different, room correction may do something 'worse' (subjectively speaking but measurably accurate).

Chess, the answer to your question is it depends on how good the room correction system is.

An analogy is a mechanic. You take a perfectly good car in and ask for it to be fixed and instead they pooch it. A good mechanic will inspect it and tell you it's perfect and get it the hell out of his shop because it's taking up valuable space.

Now here's something very interesting. When I apply XT32 to my Bose 601s, Audyssey does absolutely nothing that is audible. But for my passive Axioms, it does a lot. That's not because the 601s are better. It is because the 601s have no peaks to attenuate within my room. There are no highs, no lows and a big valley in between. Therefore, the room interaction has been minimized within certain bands. This is absolute brilliance on Bose's part. I'll say it again. Brilliance. Why? Because any doughhead can drop the 601s anywhere in the room and they will not sound objectionable due to no bass bloat or shrieking highs. That's why they sold bazillions.

No one talks about this because no one knows about it. I only figured it out because my 601s made the tour to many different homes. And they always sound the same.

The walnut 160, M5, M2 on-wall and M2 bookshelf arrived. The on-wall is bordeaux and the bookshelf is espresso. They are gorgeous! This is my first experience with on-wall bi-polars and they are truly exquisite.

I find the stains really mute the natural grain of the walnut. The bordeaux is a bigger offender than the espresso. I suppose it depends on the lighting also and if one prefers natural walnut.

I opened the bookshelf M2 and found lots of stuffing, a real cross-over and...wait for it...cast basket on the mid-woofer! I wonder when that happened.

OMG! Phil! Knowing what I know about you, you will love the M2s. I'd love to hear your thoughts of M2/500 against the Harbeths. I am floored and so is one of my friends who is listening right now.

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Another surprise. No "room correction" needed in my acoustically challenged main room with these M2s. The only other speaker I can claim that doesn't need it either is the Bose 601. But the M2s actually image and are high fidelity. Wow! Does anyone actually need M5s? We shall find out.

They totally disappear no matter where I place them up front in my main room.

I need to add some hyperbole for Mike.

LOL, no just keeping posting every 2-3 minutes and all will be fine!

I am in the middle of planning a seminar for audio hyperbole. I will add you to the guest list.