Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Real wood satin issues

Trevor, agreed the M5s are very nice. I am curious how, or if, you are taming the bass. I've had no luck with bass taming for M3s, M5s or M100s in anyone's room. My buddy has his M100 ports plugged in his living room. He loves them BTW.

M2 bookshelf and OW, M50 and actives are no problem. Ditto with 160 and QS10.

The vinyl is incredible. It looks like wood and it's textured like wood. If I didn't know, I have to take a hard look to even ask the "is it wood?" question.

Maybe, vinyl should be a special order option for those who need a more bullet proof finish.
The big problem with that is only people who have seen and touched it would consider it. Even then there is something about having the real thing that's appealing.

My big dilemma is I want quality but do not want to pay for it. Then again, I've always been very happy when I've paid and received something of really nice quality and disappointed when I skimped and it didn't last. More times then not I forget the pain of spending more if the purchase brings me continuous joy.

I'd be very interested to know the percentage of speakers Axiom needs to replace due to FedEx mis-handling.

Wouldn't that be something? "Our standard finish is wood but we can provide vinyl for those who like to bang their speakers together or scrape small stones across them".


The dilemma with every product is how well manufacturers define and measure quality.

Also think that Axiom needs to make some packing changes. I'd try two things:

1) tape the straps down so the FedEx guys don't use them as handles. Think they get stretched and fall off in transit. Especially for the bigger speakers.

2) Cut out the foam to relieve the pressure on the edges at the top and bottom of the speaker. Think the FedEx guys toss the smaller boxes and slide and drop the bigger ones off of trucks. When they land on an edge or corner the speakers edge/corner gets most of the impact even in the foam. If the edge didn't touch anything the impact would be spread over the surface to the speaker.

To state that in another way, the manufactures dilemma is what trade-offs they should make in quality while maintaining a desirable price point to keep sales up.

Part of my interest all these years in Axiom was that I like their philosophy of speaker design but also a huge factor was value for the money. As the prices have gone up, the value comes in when they have hugh sales. Some of those have been as high as 25-30% but those are not often (and dependent sometimes if your needs match what's on sale or in creativity in ordering)

Let's see how the price of an Axiom speaker today compares to 2005. I am going to use the M80 for comparison because that was the Axiom flagship back in 2005.

In 2005, the price of an M80v2 was $US1240/pair according to Doug Schneider at the end of the second paragraph right here: http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/revequip/axiom_m80_v2_followup.htm

According to the link below, $US1240 in 2005, is worth $1650.27 today. That's an increase of 33.09% given the average inflation rate of 1.92% per year.

https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2005?amount=1240

Today, an M80v4 costs $US2189. That's an increase of (2189-1240)/1240 = 77% or 3.86% or double the rate of inflation.

So the M80v4 costs 1650.27/2189=25% more than the M80v2 would today. The question now remains, is the M80v4 valued at 25% more than the M80v2?

We know today's M80v4 is not like the M80v2. The M80v4 has:

- improved Family of Curves resulting in a wider, deeper and more believable soundstage and improved imaging resolution on that soundstage
- improved fidelity across the entire operating range as a result of improvements in the standard woofer, mid-woofer and tweeter. The baskets are now cast and not stamped. The tweeter flange is now cast metal.
- improved cabinet bracing
- improved cross-over components and layout and of course an improved circuit to take advantage of the learnings in the Family of curves
- real wood
- stuffing (I remember my M80v2 had none)
- magnetic grille
- no charge bi-wiring option, custom grille colors, carpet spikes

Since 2005, Axiom introduced the refurb store and the customer loyalty program.

Isn't all the above worth a 25% premium over the M80v2?

Yeah ... some of it may also be manufacturing in Canada ... not sure when they brought it back from overseas. I seem to remember it was to maintain control over quality.

I'm not really keeping up with the competition as I've gotten stuck on this brand for a bunch of reasons. Personally I just have too many things going on (and too many interests) to get out there and listen anymore ... The Axiom line up has been keeping me happy. The A-LFRs are impressive ... probably the best I've ever heard. The M22/EP500 and M2/EP500 are fantastic combos which I think would best anything close in price and I'd bet could hold it's own with stuff costing a lot more.

They have made some decent quality/value trade offs (especially, like I said above, you get in on the sales). They aim high on the quality scale ... just look at how heavy their spiked feet are ... but that does not mean that they don't fall short here and there. I can say Ian and co are always out to improve what they offer and make the customer experience the best possible. Guess that sums it up ... they care about you the customer and the quality and performance of their products.

Yeah...I forgot about Made in Canada. Good one.

I have no idea how Ian manages it but I know just based on the bit of research that I've done, he knows exactly where he's positioned relative to his competition. If there's one thing that eats at Ian, it's knowing that his competition is ahead. He doesn't sit still for that.

One other thing. I just realized with the sales Ian puts on, the M80v4 costs less than the 15 year-inflated M80v2 when the maximum discount is factored in!

it's all related to the value/performance equation or perhaps more important "perceived value/performance"
So what does ahead mean ...