A friend loaned me a pair of his vintage ADS 1590 as we were contemplating replacing some of the media room speakers, and felt it was time to perhaps re-evaluate if i wanted to keep our Tannoys or move to something else. Since these were in the house, i compared them all in A/B tests.

Comparison of the LFR880s with the Tannoy D700s are in another thread.

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.


One thing i left out of the other LFR review i thought i should mention here; just a few negatives on the LFR880s.
  • The LFR had a narrow access for fingers to screw and unscrew binding posts.
  • There was no manual with the LFR and no labeling on the rear to determine which binding posts are for main versus rear drivers, although logically one can guess (but some people might be confused and hence the manual...).
  • This was unexpected, but by having drivers on the back in the front makes it rather hard to try to grip the speaker when lifting or moving because there's drivers everywhere. You can only try to grab it by the two sides which is harder to do than you might think.
  • It was also notable that the LFR880s we received were actually vinyl wrapped and not real wood veneer so i'm guessing one of the last runs of the LFR in vinyl wraps.

Efficiencies are similar between the two with similar volume setting level.

The Listening Notes (snips that were stand outs from a few songs)
Holly Cole (I Can See Clearly Now)-more recessed vocals on the Axiom. It was a closed sounding speaker in comparison. This is actually similar to the Ti vs V4 on the M60s test, however the Axiom LFR880 has a heavier bottom end, more rich and pronounced compared to the ADS1590.

Future Sounds of London (Calcium)-The Axioms LFR present a much richer fuller broad sound in both the mid-range and bass. Could even describe the midrange as punchy. Overall clarity still goes to the ADS.
Sarah McLaughlin (Ice cream)- Being able to hear Sarah's breathing during her pauses gets lost in the heavier midrange of the LFR yet clear on the ADS.
Great Big Sea (General Taylor) - The background echo is less prominent, disappears faster on the Axioms LFR880s.

Overall Summary
The Axiom LFR880s have a much more full and rich mid-range and bass. The spouse actually preferred this sound on some songs and found in comparison the ADS were a bit thin sounding almost as if they were a "smaller speaker". I don't disagree. The ADS1590 are a sealed box rather than ported which likely has something to do with the lower end sound. On some songs, the spouse felt like the treble was turned up on the ADS1590 and that it was not necessarily more clear for her rather than just higher in treble. Her choice between the two was a preference overall for the Axiom LFR880.
Two male reviewers were a bit more indecisive as to which one might be a preference because of the pluses and minuses for each. The ADS1590 sounded like it had more clarity in the midrange and vocals and some small drums and other instruments, but sometimes a bit thin or too trebly in the same. Conversely, the LFR880s had a huge soundstage and full richness of the midrange and bass that was very pleasing and would work for different music types. For loud hard rock, the more recessed Axiom upper end was preferred. The ADS had almost too thin a bass in comparison but it was not lacking. Reviewer 1 ultimately chose the ADS to take home, reviewer 2 was more on the fence and would take either.

It was at this point we tried playing with the boundary compensation knob but none of the three listeners could discern any significant sound differences between the different settings. except MAYBE a slight bump or reduction in the bass. The LFRs were about 18 inches from the back wall, ever so slightly toed in and the position of the speakers were moved a few times to see if anything changed.

"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."