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

Alright, I've hit these things HARD! I've played tons of Bassotronics through them at high enough SPL that my entire upstairs is quaking from one end of my house to the other. Bassotronics has lots of infrasonics that I figured would utterly destroy these 125s. But nope. I do smell new subbage which is very normal at these high SPLs. But absolutely no audible port, driver or cabinet noise. Very controlled. Very impressive.

The 125v4 is like a 500 with the boost switch on. It has this really nice mid-bass touch but it doesn't sacrifice the textured growling I have with my sealed subs. It's not like a one-note mid-bass punch. The sound is very nice. Very engaging.

I really think the 125 would be very good for movie effects as well as music in a smaller room like my living room. A very good double-duty sub. It's such a small size too. With that trapezoidal shape, it's easy to fit it under side tables, etc. I like having them out in the open though where I can take in the cherry chestnut.

If the other Axiom ported subs are like my 125v4, listeners may have a real conundrum on their hands. I like the 125v4. And I like the 500. That's the conundrum. In fact, I like the 125v4 better on some tracks than the 500. For example, Another one bites the dust sounds better to me on the dual 125v4/M2OW combo than on the dual 500v4 and 800v4 I have in my main room with the active LFR1100. The bass is far more engaging on the 125v4. It has to do with the perceived greater mid-bass but not so "peaky" that it is of the one-note type or distracting or over-whelming.

This 125v4 is just a terrific sub whether you're comparing sealed or ported. It's so good that it has me thinking about whether I should forego two more 500s in my main room and go with ported Axiom subs instead.

I still have two 600s coming BTW.

Do they sound like the 500s in boost?

Rich, like I wrote yesterday, the 125v4 is similar to a 500 with boost on. In my 1920 cu ft living room, the 125v4 hits harder than the 500 with boost on. I don't know how that might change in my 4200 cu ft main space.

I just want to repeat that hitting harder does not mean one note bass. There is plenty of articulation. Depending on your room acoustics, the 125v4 may give better articulation than the 500v4. In my living room, I prefer the dual 125v4 over a single or dual 500v4.

Here's a worry I have.

My very good buddy fell in love with my M100v4 when he heard them. He also liked the M2, M3, M5, M50 but after listening to M100s, he said music sounded more real through them. To each his own I guess. To me, the smaller ones soundstage better. But then again, you need to set the smaller ones up right in your room.

Anyway...

Then he heard my M2OWv4. He was blind-folded and had no idea what he was listening to. He couldn't understand why I had installed surround in my living room. But of course I hadn't. He loved the sound but found they were not as "warm" as the M100s. I'll grant him that. When I removed his blind-fold, his eyes wandered around the room. Finally, his eyes fixated on the two M2OW. He was looking at me dumb-founded. He would not believe it. So I played them and finally he acknowledged their diminutive largeness.

Fast-forward to today. The subs I had in the above experiment were my old, crappy ones. With the 125v4, there is new-found warmth and nice pop and growl. Grrrrrooowwl!

So here's the worry. My friend bought M100v4. He's going to come over later today and hear the new M2OW/125v4 system. He may just say "Why the %$*@ did I buy M100s for my living room??????"

I keep saying it over and over. And Ian has said it many times over. If you want it loud and clean, go bigger. But how loud or clean does it really have to be? In my 1920 cu ft living room, it is already loud enough across the entire band with M2OW that I can have a party in my front yard.

Yes, I am running science experiments here.

That's pretty great to know people can have satisfying low end at the low end of price. I don't currently have a need for one, but some future rearranging could call for one.

Well, what I have to say today may not sit well with everyone. But, I have to call it as I hear it. Your results may differ given your rooms and your bass preferences.

Dual EP125v4, flanking my active LFRs in my main room and fed from the dual DSPs, sound better with music than dual 500s. There, I said it! Photos of my partial main room set-up and the playlist I've used are linked below.

As for the set-up, I have tried with the active LFRs crossed to the EP125s at 80Hz and the EP125 set to 80Hz also. With this setting, I have to set the EP125 gain knob to 7 out of 10. It leaves me lots of headroom BTW. Audyssey is off but dynamic EQ is on (as always).

I have also tried with the active LFRs playing full range. With this setting, I have to set the EP125 gain knob to 6 out of 10.

The difference is not minor. It is very easy to hear. It is very, very nice with the dual 125s. The bass is not as thick and sounds even more textured. Details across my large soundstage are even more pronounced. When I turn on the 800 in the back, DEEP, permeating and gorgeous low end fills the room without any sacrifice in detail.

I have not tried movies.

As a reminder, I have been running the dual EP125v4 in my living room in 2.2 fed off the channel pre-amp outputs of my Pioneer and I love them.

Photos in my main, 4200 cu ft room:



Playlist I used for main room and living room (1920 cu ft):

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/48ebpxdI6yzRg5Ph7cTtUU?si=O9CAbMtyRiueSEdrVI35oA

Photos in living room:

Think you need to fill in that subwoofer gap inbetween the 125s

That will be a horizontal 800 to fill that gap. I'll have more to say about this.

In the previous post, I had my front 500s set to linear (flat). When I set them to boost, they provide a similar musical sound to the 125v4 but with more lower end and front stage fill. It is really difficult to say which I prefer. That just tells you how good the 125v4 is.

I placed the 125 below my side QS10s. You can see the right side of my room in the photo below. The 125 is between my right 500v4 and the 800v4 located in the rear corner of my room. The right 125 is daisy-chained to the right 500 and the left 125 is daisy-chained to the left 500. The 125s really smooth out the bass and provide a really nice side fill. They also add a smacking good mid-bass kick that is really addictive.