Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Speaker Comparison - Axiom LFR880 vs Tannoy D700

Since the Tannoy D700s have anchored our main floor system (90% music, 10% tv/sports) for so long, and we were replacing some of the media room speakers, I felt it was time to perhaps re-evaluate if i wanted to keep the Tannoys or move to something else. For a long time i had thought about some Monitor Audio offerings if they ever designed a 3-way speaker and over 10 years ago they finally did (a couple of generations along now). Since that point i've had the chance to hear other speakers on the main floor and recently, a bunch of them in A/B testing. Some of these models really shocked me. The detail that came out of a pair of Angstrom Legatos (bookshelves) and vintage ADS 1590 was surprising and very pleasing. I didn't realize the detail that seemed to be lacking or missing.

This comparison was to evaluate the possible LFRs as replacements given the great soundstage they present. Now i did a comparison of Axiom M60Ti vs the Tannoys in a thread a long time ago (https://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/u...nnoy-vs-axiom-vs-monitor-audio-very-long) and even back then i had observed something in the upper midrange and vocals of the M60s compared to the D700 that sounded a bit muted. This was also a shock since i had long described the M60s as bright. However, a speaker can be forward sounding without being harsh or fatiguiing. I know Axiom has undertaken major tweaks since, so the test of the LFR880 vs. our Tannoys now follows.

All methods for the comparison are listed in this thread:
https://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/u...ker-comparison-m60ti-vs-m60v4#Post444002

I will reiterate and emphasize, there are no ‘winners’ in the audition just to be clear. I’m only reporting what I perceived as sound differences in character between these sets of speakers. I will however state what my/other auditioners' preferences were after everything was done.

Tannoy D700 vs Axiom LFR880

Right off the bat it was easy to tell which speaker was which as I've heard both many times before just in this past week. It was easy to observe that the Tannoys were the speakers that have more open vocals, more forward but smooth. Thinking that this clarity would carry throughout the session, i was surprised when i observed that piano notes were pretty similar between the Tannoys and LFRs. Both speakers presented good details in these areas.

The Tannoys were more directional. I could really pinpoint the vocal source whereas the LFR vocals were a bit more blended across the front, somewhat less localized. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as people have describe this as being more spacious. Interestingly, it is the exact impression i had when i first heard the LFR at the Axiom factory about four years ago! Audio memory is short on specifics, but for general impressions, that is notable character which just got repeated during this A/B test.

The LFR880s had a rich midrange and bass, and as mentioned strong vocal detail but the presence seemed to be as if the vocals were moved to the middle or back of main instruments. Some may describe this as closed, or slightly veiled as well, the opposite of forward, upfront, in-front presence with vocals. The LFR midrange drums had a far greater presence, much punchier than the Tannoys which really gave life to some music. Additionally, the low end was also much more evident especially at the very deep end like with organ pipes (Sao Gan song). It also had more weight with low guitar notes adding volume to the music and to the room (was warm and pleasing). This added weight is welcome on bright recordings (Summertime - The Sundays). However, the LFR seemed to lose bass control on Sleepy Maggie – Ashley Macissac becoming a bit bloated or 'fat' perhaps. There was lesser guitar strumming detail on Seasons – Chris Cornell but the vocals here were more spacious than the Tannoys (similar effect as the vocals less localized noted earlier).

Overall each speaker has its pluses and minuses.

LFR880 –richer midrange, full bass, spacious vocals and big soundstage but upper midrange and vocals/highs are closed, veiled, more recessed (but some people find this pleasing as if the treble control was turned down but IMO it sounds like I strain harder to hear details in the softer parts of sound like acoustic guitar, fingers rubbing on the strings, breaths of the singer in the mic and overall clarity of all of that), and of course, the extra amps and cables (and possibly space if you don’t use a multi-channel amp) required to drive the LFR

Tannoys D700 – reasonably smooth and clear vocals, decent midrange and bass weight, very acceptable soundstage, somewhat directional, very efficient to drive, but weaker bass, moderate midrange with good detail but not outstanding, sometimes have to turn up the SPL to get a bit more warmth in the bass to fill the room. Odd considering it uses a 10" woofer for this!

Personally i like both speakers. They both have good detail but i'm drawn by a more forward sounding speaker that has clarity. Four different speakers tested against the Axioms over the years all had this greater clarity. The spouse really likes the new Axiom sound and finds it more pleasing to her ears. I'm the opposite. Oddly enough, neither the Axiom LFR880 or the Tannoy D700 fulfill quite what i'm looking for so i'm on the hunt for another D700 replacement. For now, the Axioms will continue to anchor our media room but i haven't yet decided if i'm keeping the old (more clear sounding) Ti or whether i will keep the new V4. That's another thread.

I tried to send Chesseroo a private message but he is blocking me. Very nice, so he gets no advice from me, but then again, he is obviously not ignorant of the truth, so he does not need any advice. Enjoy the music.

Lol.

Couple questions. Can you provide detail on the artist and title for the Sao Gan Song.

Did you try to correlate your likes with measurements after AB testing with pink noise response or sweeps? Curious if you notice a difference you can pick out on a graph.

Suo Gan. Sorry, mistype.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_3_skKeGCc

I have not run any sweeps mostly because until a day ago i was still unboxing speakers. I finally got around to setting up the new surrounds in temporary positions yesterday. I still needed to check everything came in was working and as noted in another thread, i had a non functional driver in the VP180; new one is on the way. However, in running pink noise to normalize SPL prior to listening, you can hear the tonal differences. Perhaps tomorrow when there's no one in the house, can shut the furnace off again, etc. i'll run a sweep at least of the two speakers presently hooked up on the main floor. It's a real pain to have to shuffle around 60lb+ speakers too often so i won't do this for all of them. I still wish i had a better quality measuring system than just the mic on a tablet.

Thanks for the vid link!

I can see how moving towers around would make recording sweeps tough. If you make the tablet stationary you should get consistent results. The Larsa plugin you have is perfect for this.

One thing I noticed when fooling with Dirac is there is no “one size fits all” solution. My preferences for HT vs Music response are different. I can send you pics of target curves, but I found changes had to be minor -like a couple db or so, to make the vocalist pop out of the background. In the end I settled on -10db slope down from 20-20khz and juiced up the curve +2db below 250hz. I put +1.5db back in at around 950hz. Sounds well behaved. (But less exciting)

I dont envy you trying to buy a speaker that ticks all boxes. Super tough! The only speaker I have met that was close for me out of the box was way too expensive. (Focal Sopra)

Your writeup is great. Thanks for sharing. Reading the experiences of others not only validates most of what I have read re:preference and setup, but also that I’m not the only one who struggles to balance what is “correct” with what is “preferred”.

At the end of the day I will always side with you on a setup that makes me grin. Fun is #1.

I haven't used LARSA in a few months. I vaguely recall i had the tablet plugged into a receiver to generate a frequency sweep noise which the program then recorded the result via the tablet mic. I don't have that setup presently so i'm not sure if i can use LARSA to record while i use an external pink noise source. I'll have to look at it this afternoon and see.
I suppose worst case scenario, i should be able to figure out how to connect the tablet to the main floor system with the Emotiva but that will mean alot more digging in behind the main media tower. At some point, i need to get back to some Christmas shopping.

RE: sound preferences
The science says that people prefer a flatter frequency response speaker, based on double blind testing. We also know that people can prefer a warm bass and that some like to turn up the treble. I suspect, much like anything else in the biological world, that with a confidence interval around the average all of this can be true and yet the results of the science are still valid and within the average RANGE.
e.g. if the X axis was frequency and Y axis was dB, the blue line is the average preference while the grey bars signify a range in which preferences may occur; at the 7.5 mark this could mean a deviation of up to 2dB at that frequency where someone prefers the peak and someone prefers the lower value


As you state Trevor, sometimes adjusting by 1-2 dB gives a bit of weight or adds a bit of highs for vocal pop, is all that is needed. There's a reason why Revel includes a tweeter dB adjustment on their speakers! (along with a boundary switch as well)

This really is the tough part because unlike Axiom, most places that sell real quality speakers don't take returns. I love Axiom for their policy. It makes it a no brainer to give their products an in-home trial. Otherwise you have three options:
1) go into a boutique store and hear their speakers in a different room, no A/B comparison, trying to best guess a sound character you seek
2) see if the boutique store is willing to allow you to setup an A/B comparison if you brought your speakers to them
3) buy used blind, try speakers, don't like, resell used

The third option is one that a friend of mine does fairly regularly and over the years has found speakers he really loves. It takes a lot of trials and unfortunately you lose money along the way (shipping costs, over the border taxes potentially or duties or just depreciation).

I actually am looking at a few other brands at the moment including Focal (Aria), Revel (F series) and maybe still Monitor Audio (Platinum series). The MAs i might be able to hear locally (the Golds at least if not the Platinums). The others, well, unless some boutique shop has some trade-ins, could end up being Option 3; buy used and test.

I finished all the frequency sweeps tonight using LARSA and all the speakers i had hooked up. I'll try to post them tomorrow.
Of course they will only mean something specific to the room in which the scans were recorded. The stark differences in the M60 Ti and v4 are very interesting.

The LARSA sweeps:

This was the third pair of speakers tested on the main floor:

For some reason the D700 LARSA pic went missing.
Adding it back in.