Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Thoughts on a trade up? (Trade in not working on w

Your quest for upgrades will end with M100s...and Dirac...and 7 sealed subs. Mooowahaha!

Ok...some great input guys. Many of you strayed from my very direct questions about particular things...but i still appreciate your thoughts.

I already have plans to order a proper sub in may

By june...i was going to be buying a new reciever. Im eyeing up the denon x3700h for many particular features and my own reasons.

Ive lurked many hundreds of posts about dirac. Many like it and many prefer audyssey xt32. I need many more features than just dirac...at a reasonable price point. The denon fits all these criteria.

The speaker upgrade will likely come in the fall.

Nothing feels as drastic a change as switching to new mains

As happy as i have been with my m80's for the last 8 years...i want more.

Chesseroo...i really appreciated ur take on those sets.

Ive always been interested in trying some monitor audios. Or the JBL hdi3800s get AMAZING reviews...

But my financial ceiling would be around 4k tops(cad). So that puts even the rf7 iii a little out of my range. With discounts and b stock...the m100 is the clear financial winner for an upgrade. So i lean towards it. I just wonder how notable a difference it would make.

I do agree too and find the m80s to be "crisp" in the highs especially at loud SPL's.

Trevor...

Unfortunately, i had both a sc-57 and a sc-61 fail VIA the famous "ue22". After the thread at avsforums blew up bad and pioneer finally owned the problem and started a warranty program...i was able to get the sc-57 fixed. But i then gave it to my dad and my sc-61 then did it. But onkyo bought pioneer and stopped the fix program. The cost to ship it from my rural area to a deal plus cost of repair....is almost as much as my new denon im eying up. Im done with pioneer. Right now im limping by with an old onkyo(really old. Maybe the first hdmi models). No pre outs..so cant use my rotel currently either. I cant listen at very loud levels currently. But its enough to get by.

That being said...when i was shopping around for my sc61, i first took home a marantz s5007 i think....while it was nice...i didn't like audyssey. It wouldn't let me tweak hardly anything. I much preferred mcacc over it. I returned it in favour of sc61

But i know audyssey has evolved and now that im going tl be getting serious with subwoofer integration...audyssey xt32 will probably be much more ideal. I hear arc and dirac are good too of course.

So like mentioned above...a serious subwoofer and receiver IS coming first.

But back to my main inquiry...with the suitable power...will the m100s be night and day difference to m80 v3? Anyone listen to m100s against other notable speakers?

And anyone have info regarding my Rotel questions in the OP?

Love talking stereo...thanks guys!

P.s. mojo...you and your subs haha. Love it

I want something bigger...badder and meaner for my mains.

Ive been researching on everything from JTR noesis speakers to svs ultras and prime pinnacles to monitor audio, power sound audio, etc

The 3 that stand out to me the most are

1. JBL HDI-3800s. (If money werent a concern...id buy these in a heartbeat) - $7000 cad

2. Klipsch RF 7 iii ($5000)

3. Axiom m100 ($4000...but more like 2400 with a good b stock deal and discounts)

The first two are bigger...heavier...fancier...bigger drivers. And you cant find bad impressions OR reviews. Gone are the days of "klipsch are harsh". Amazing advancements in the horn. Smooth as silk apparently. And their RF7's stand well above the lower models (even the 8000f who get very rave reviews from the notable circles).

The axiom doesn't have much info or reviews online to work with.

So...m100 users...speak up please!

Ive enjoyed my m80s immensely...but like i say...i want something bigger, badder and meaner. Lol.

If you want impressive low end no doubt the M100s will fit the bill.

Fact is, properly tuned speakers sound more alike than different once calibrated in a space. Frankly, you just arent going to do better than Axiom for a speaker capable of being whatever you need for an aplication for the price unless you go to pro PA monitors. But then you have a hiss noisefloor.

Buy the 100s. Try them.

AVS and other forums are great, but hard to sort people with experience from parrots. I think most of the folks with actual know how and experience are not interested in the “contest of egos” there. Some insightful folks are here.

I've stayed away from giving you my thoughts because 1. I've said it all before, many, many times and 2. I've never heard M80v3. But seeing how you are so challenged by this, I'll waste some of my life to maybe make yours better.

First, if you are listening to M80v3 without "room correction", and you like them, you will be floored when you hear M100s. With XT32, you may never yearn another fronts upgrade again. I'll explain more about the "may" later.

Before I get into my opinions about M80 vs. M100, let's look at the cold, hard facts. Up first below is the listening window and sound power curve of the M80v4. The curves for the M80v3 are not available. Then next is the same for the M100v4.




Look at the curves in the region below 150Hz. Compared to the M100, the M80 response is certainly nowhere near as smooth. One of the things I've learned over the years is if you can't have smooth response in the bass, you should not even try. This is why the M2 is so great. It doesn't attempt to do what it physically can't. And this is why so many bought the Bose 601. It had no highs and no lows so it did not offend in either of those bands. Some may say "So what? Just cut off the lows and send them to the sub with extreme prejudice." It doesn't work that way. Lows still make it to the fronts. And the fronts will mess with that bass so bad that you won't be able to hear the glorious smack of drumsticks on the skin or ebullient pop from instruments.

Before I get to v3, let me tell you about v2. I had a full v2 system which included M80s. Then came the M5, M3 and M2 - all v4. I pitted them all against the M80v2. Sorry to all who own M80s but unless you are just interested in party-level SPL, all those bookshelves outperform the M80v2 in soundstage and imaging. The M5 and M2 even outperform the M80v2 in fidelity. I can live very comfortably with M2s and a sub in my 4200 cu. ft. home theater.

I've never heard v3 but based on the description from Ian below, there were changes made to the family of curves which of course would have improved the sound power and listening window over v2. In fact, in Ian's first post, a listener comments on how the soundstage and imaging improved. In v2, there really was no soundstage depth or width beyond the speaker boundaries. That appears to have been improved in v3. Also spatial resolution was improved.

https://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php/topics/311302/1

But I surmise the major changes came with v4. Andrew got his mitts in there and with the work Axiom was doing with Bryston, Axiom woke up and learned a hell of a lot of science and engineering. It learned so much it put a real cross-over in the M3 - imagine that! It used all that knowledge to build the amazing v4 line. Every one of the v4 has a soundstage which starts at the front plane of the speakers and moves "back" to the front wall. It is wide, deep, tall no matter which model you buy. The only difference between the models is the lower end extension, dynamic capability and spatial resolution. Sonic holography is there with all the models but it's the degree of resolution in that spatial image that changes as you move up. This in my opinion is as it should be. Even the M3, that I despised so much in the ti days, is a glorious piece of work now.

Now getting to the "maybe" from the beginning of my post. While the M100s will offer, without question, an incredibly realistic rendition of instruments and voices, they are big. That makes placement within the room extremely important if you want them to sonically disappear. Some have managed to make this happen like Canes but there are others. I never could. I could tell I was listening to a pair of speakers. The M5, M3, and M2 disappeared better than the M100. This is what the active LFR1100s solved for me. And I got significantly greater spatial resolution and micro and macro dynamics which I didn't think would be possible over the M100. With the actives, I cannot tell that I am listening to a pair of speakers. I have tried long and hard to find fault in that regard and simply cannot. So the M100s are now with my buddy who fell in love with them within the first 30 seconds of listening.

I hope this helps you. I am off to do some water color with my BFF/FWB.

I've read the majority of your past posts and experience with axiom products(and your reviews). i appreciate you going into such detail for me.

Yeah those graphs are much smoother.

I want fidelity, dynamics and soundstage AND loud "party speaker spl vibes" when i want to lol. I ain't the stereophile.com guy listening to mozart and sipping over priced wine or flavoured water...talking about the rush of a pipe organ or terribly old recorded piano passage.

(Classical music lovers out there....don't get your panties in a twist...just poking fun )

Some days, I'm more of a "let's pound some beers and get stupid with the volume knob when black label society, rammstein, rob zombie, black sabbath comes on" kinda guy. When in those moods...im not sitting down in prime listening position marvelling at how wide and luxurious the soundstage is. No, in those moods, I'm trying to fill the entire house with max spl without it sounding bad or harsh. On these days...im listening to the whole system in extended stereo and ive sat in listening position with db meter for funsies(13 feet away from mains) and my ceiling is about 95db before it starts sounding bad or harsh. Im sure a proper sub is going to be a game changer

P.s. a track you all must check out....fuss and fight - koe wetzel. Amazing track that digs deep and id wager impossible for you to not tap your foot to catchy beat. Gives me la grange zztop vibes

Other days, im in a mood for exploring the dynamic range and accuracy and luxuriousness of soundstage in primary listening position. Im either enjoying a blu ray concert, softer acoustic music or my pink floyd albums.

And then other days...im trying to show off what my system can do to the girlfriend and our kids with a movie night. Or with a friend

And then other days...im trying to take my video game to another level lol

Im about to put some coffee on, start up a spotify playlist on shuffle and enjoy some rocket league at same time. Low DB. Background music. And in moments like these...im sure a bookshelf would be more than sufficient


But there are times i want to rock my socks off! Haha

Trevor and mojo...

Besides the obvious new reciever and sub we can all agree i need...i agree with your assessment lf the m100. It seems like the best and obvious choice for my upgrade fever...especially considering the cost vs competition

Im excited to trade up and give my thoughts

Here is the spinorama for the JBL. A nice piece of work. On paper, the M100 doesn't look much different other than it will dig lower. An interesting decision by Harman to boost the response above 15KHz. Perhaps the engineers didn't have a choice.



At 13 feet away, you'll be able to push the M100 to 105dBC peaks before you sense any distortion. With a sub, they'll hit over 109dBC cleanly. Not sure if the Denon can power them cleanly to those levels.

Good thing i have the rotel rmb 1095

Which reminds me...

Why can't i find any info on only 2 channels driven from rotel, power ratings?


Thanks for digging up a comparison

109 clean decibels...*homer drool* lol

Yeah when i say i hit those kinds of spl...thats running the rotel and extended stereo with qs10hp and the vp160

It was actually this forum that helped me fix it (blown fuse inside, had to take a few insides apart to get to it)

Some super smart and helpful people here

Did you look here?

https://rotel.com/sites/default/files/RMB-1095%20Stereophile%20GHT%20Feb01.pdf

200Wpc into 8 Ohms and I suspect that's both channels driven. I think it can easily pump 250W into 4 Ohms. You can likely extract 500W peaks.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Rich and I encouraged you with that fuse but you did all the hard work.