Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater I received my Axioms today!

well they have arrived. I must admit, I WAS actually blown away by the sound. So incredibly different from my Polk speakers. I noticed right off the bat, my polks were not nearly a flat response and listening to the axioms I was able to hear things more comfortably.

I have pictures, but I have yet to post them. I'll get to that later. Anyway, here are my thoughts.

In my eager wait, I ended up unhooking all my Polks and set them aside in the other room. As I received them, I was overjoyed, as well was the Fed Ex Lady, stating that she was glad that I was actually home! (of course I would be!) First thing I did was turned on the Air Conditioning, anticipating that I would get very sweaty from all the movement and such. The first package unpacked was the VP150. As I pulled out the speaker, it looked longer than I was anticipating (I even measured over and over the length specified on the axiom website). I placed it up top on my TV and then went for the M22Ti's. Unpacked one, placed it on the stand, then did the same for the 2nd one. I immediately popped in a CD to see how it would sound, right out of the box. First thing tested was 311's album Evolver. First thing I noticed was how much more detailed and defined all the sounds were. Nothing was muffled whatsoever. Highs were very high, yet not being overbearing. Great sounding, right off the bat! As I listened to the CD, I continued to unpack and hook up all four QS4s and then took out the 311 CD and put in Digital Video Essentials.

I calibrated each of the speakers. One thing I noticed was that the speakers sounded softer than my Polks. The Axioms actually read 2-3dB softer than my Polks at the very same setting. I'll get to that in a little bit. Next, I popped in the THX Ultimate Demo DVD. Great things from right off the bat. My other speakers were comparibly boomy in all ranges of frequencies. This explains why my dB readings were actually 2-3dB lower. I would've never known that had I not bought these speakers. As I went through different portions of the disk, like the Pod Race in DTS-ES Matrixed, I was floored at the difference that the QS4's made over my FXi30s. All around, the sounds jumped out at me, without any hint of overpowering. Panning was incredible. Smooth, silky, and the speakers never called attention to themselves. I noticed more and more sounds coming out from the track that I had never heard. I continued to shuffle through my DVDs to notice differences, and I can tell you honestly that, EVERY disk that I tested, was incredibly different. Wonderful.

As for the specific sound of the Axiom speakers. They are bright, but not overbearingly so. They bring a crisp sound and a natural zing. The mid tones were very mellow, yet very pronounced and never over-exaggerated. It just sounds so much cleaner than my Polks.

When my wife got home from work, I demoed stuff for her and she said she really loved the sound. She just kept saying how much clearer and defined everything was. She also described the sound like this. ::using her finger:: pointing it horizontally describing it like a line, she said "your other speakers exaggerate the line and make it unecessarily fatter."

Both of us agree that these are VERY trasparent sounding speakers!

Very, very high praises!

well all right man.... sounds like you hate 'em!!

another satisfied AXIOM customer. i hope the speakers continue to be all that you want them to be. i hope i have a similar experience when my speakers get here.

thanks for the report..

bigjohn

I like the line analogy. Spot on! I continue to be amazed at the separation of elements in the music I listen to from my M22s. In comparison, my old advents seemed to blur every together. I listened to my old speakers after a week just to reinforce how good the Axioms are. Cheers.

I am curious, what Polk speakers did you have before?

That's just great. Now you're making me want to replace my surrounds with QS4s!

Congrats. My wife amazes me in that she has really gotten into our new Axiom speakers. She is constantly playing music which she rarely did with the old Cerwin Vegas. Who knew she would be such an "easy sell"?

Snippy,

The polk speakers that I had originally were as follows:
1x CSi30
2x R40
4x FXi30

JSkip,

Yeah, aren't the wives great? I didn't think she would warm to the sound as much as she did. But she loved it and the things she said just left me amazed!!!

beavis and butthead laugh - huh huh you called your wife easy huh huh

Actually, my wife is the one who ends up ordering all the audio and video equipment, and I can't talk her out of going "too crazy." We actually missed a Cure concert years ago because we were performing CD player listening tests for hours and lost track of the time! We're both into it, but when she reads specs on certain equipment and demoes high end stuff, her eyes light up and...uh-oh. But she's also the one with the fancy sports car and I'm the one who loves my Subaru. Get the picture? lol....:)

I think I just got more into my recording studio (pro audio) and music equipment that I'm more interested in all the time....she doesn't like me spending money on that, but... She used to be the bass player in our band!!

not trying to change the subject(but i am), i wouldnt scoff at the subarus too much.

growing up, my dad had the classic subaru 4 door wagon w/4 wheel drive. he drove the hell outta that thing and ended up selling to one of his air force buddies for $800 bucks.. it had 250,000 miles, and was still going strong. i drove a BRAT for a while in high school.. very stiff suspension, and kinda small, but very reliable, it never broke down..i wrecked it. then, in 1990, my mom bought a brand new subaru justy with a 3 cylinder motor. my dad got it when they divorced, and it is still running today. he mainly uses it to putter around town, and it has over 200,000 miles..and this past fall, when i was in dallas, i went and test drove one of the new subaru WRX w/turbo and full time 4 wheel drive.. HOLY SMOKES.. that little car could haul some balls.. i had no intentions of buying it, just wanted to test drive, but i was damn near ready to take it home by the end of the day. i was very impressed with its look and performance.

so dont knock your subaru.. when she is on her 3rd "fancy sports car", that subaru will still be kickin strong.

bigjohn