Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Gene DeSalla's latest video with a stab at...

Mike, no doubt in your line of work, the whole DBT and ABX testing gets a lot of attention. You can go down a very dark, deep path trying to control all the variables until you lose sight of what you were trying to accomplish in the first place. LOL!

This is off-topic but I have to say it. This whole discussion around bass sounding thin and wanting to turn up the volume to get emotional involvement is very interesting. Folks think they need a bigger amp or a better subwoofer. Now I am discovering this is not the case. With the active LFRs, I am getting emotionally involved in the music at much lower levels. In fact, the lower levels allow me to enjoy a bigger 3D soundstage (compared to passive v4) even though my actives are only eight inches away from the front wall.

I'm not done yet. LOL!

I remember 15 years ago, I was in a session with a bunch of big wigs from GE. These guys always asked the tough questions. They asked me how I knew that all of "their money" I was spending on "Ensuring Robust Execution" (ERE) was working. ERE is a set of training, tools, people and methods that strive to ensure products are safe, functional, performant and secure. I could have shown them a bunch of fancy engineering metrics my team used to continually monitor ERE performance but these guys have a 10 second attention span. Instead, I pointed them to our VP of Marketing who was responsible for surveying Net Promoter Score (NPS). He illustrated how our NPS was steadily increasing over a 4-year period and he said it was directly correlated to our product quality improvements.

Now I don't know Axiom's NPS. However, I have a 12 year history with Axiom. There is no question, absolutely no question in my mind, acoustical performance over this 12-year period has improved by leaps and bounds. Beyond just me, I have folks, who aren't into audio like I am at all, coming over to listen to my gear and they are learning that living with their gear ain't a good way to live. I have to admit this is a slow, grinding process on their end; it's not instant. But nonetheless, it is indicative of the brain comparing between multiple experiences and coming to a conclusion.

A practical person like myself would look at all this and say "Hey, whatever they are doing appears to be working." This includes Family of Curves and listening tests and who knows what else. How much of this can be attributed to listening tests vs. other efforts I don't know. But if Axiom stands by their listening tests, then they must be keeping score. Why else would a company spend money on something that doesn't work?

Mojo, when you got the actives, you did get a bigger amp and a better subwoofer. Those 6.5's are tuned to about 38 Hz and hit hard. 98 percent of your bass is at or above 38 Hz.

They are also linear in the upper regions, and give killer performance.

If you want to make the EP500's sing with them, put the low pass at 40 Hz and bump them about 3 dB above the mains.

Yes sir, I understand what you are saying and thank you for the 40Hz tip. I shall try that when I move them into the cave. As for the living room, absolutely no need even at -33.

I was trying to point out that with the LFRs, you may not need a bigger amp or a better sub but I suppose it may not read that way to some folks - like you.

I went back & brought up the many controversies in various audio forums that surfaced in the spring of 2012 in which I reluctantly participated. It does not stir fond memories for me of that period.

While much of this nonsense finally went away over time, it is amazing what long memories some people harbor. Unfortunately they continue to regurgitate their nastiness every once in a while...

TAM

Yup, I remember clearly.