Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Tweeter in Axiom speakers M5HP

I've cued up the video, but that quote is at the 10:13 mark into the video. It's worth watching in its entirety.

https://youtu.be/sL-W3qn4-WU?list=PL1pj9vtyLGBdrlKvfJuDsbAUeTDocvUfj&t=418

The M3 woofer is puny in comparison to the HP driver in your M5 and LFRs. Yank that one out when you have a chance.

I was just responding to the OP's question. He was asking if anyone opened up a speaker and I was suggesting he could probably do it himself at little to no risk.

Cork, do you want me to educate you or do you want me to just STFU?

Well, if the education is why looking at a speaker doesn't help any, then no, as I have no intention of ever doing that. If it's something else, then sure, I'm interested.

Thanks @rrlev, @Hambrabi @TrevorM @Mojo for the responses. I completely understand difficult to assess the sound quality of tweeters based on photos. Also I don't have the technical knowledge to assess it based on photos. I understand the sound quality depends on the design more than the parts. I was trying to find out whether quality parts were used in the design of the speakers. Other brands explain what improvements were mades to the tweeters and drivers so I was looking for similar information from Axiom. I have read reviews from owners that they have experienced significant improvements from v2 and v4. I was looking for technical information from Axiom engineering team what changes they made to the drivers to improve the sound quality. I am not looking for information in the print media from reviewers but just some technical information from Axiom engineering team. All your responses and private response from Trevor definitely addressed my concerns. I will now look for good sales during the Black Friday or Christmas(box day sales) or look at B stock.

Thanks
Chiru

I had watched Andrew video on tweeter types. In the video he shows few metal dome tweeters. The tweeter he showed in the video looks very small compared to other tweeters from Revel and other brands Dynaudio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYG98-j8rDA&list=PL1pj9vtyLGBdrlKvfJuDsbAUeTDocvUfj&index=19

I understand that overall design (crossover and cabinet) is important but I was looking only to assess the quality of the parts.

Axiom has information on HP drivers used in M5HP on the website. I was looking for similar information about the tweeter.

Thanks @Hambrabi for sending me the link to the video. I was looking for similar videos made by Axiom but that covers improvements to the tweeters.
I just found this video on titanium tweeters from Andrew. I am going to watch it entirely and see if it provides the information I am looking for.

I understand the desire for research. Loudspeakers are the one category where it's easy to make a mistake, and there's the tendency to believe that if a $1000 speaker is good, $10,000 is better and $100,000 is better still. Measurements are a better tool than materials because it takes away the marketing fluff, and there's good speakers to be found at every price point.

If you're feeling like a masochist, do a search of Pierre + Aubert + spinorama for an online repository of measurements. TL;DR, most speakers don't measure well, and the ones that do talk about measurements (specifically: listening window, in-room response, and sound power) in their marketing materials, just like Axiom does.

Chiru, these are the changes:

Tweeter - compared to v3 and earlier

I'll start with saying the v2 tweeter that was in my old Axiom gear distorted at louder listening levels. The old tweeter had a plastic faceplate. The new tweeter has a die cast aluminum faceplate. This improves cooling and makes the whole assembly more rigid. The rear chamber of the tweeter is larger. This lowers the resonant frequency of the tweeter to below the crossover region which leads to a smoother amplitude response. The new tweeter also incorporates a shallow horn design that results in smoother off-axis response at higher frequencies (likely above 10KHz). The new tweeter is also able to handle more power and has a much heavier magnet and over-all build that makes it heavier than some mid-range and woofer drivers. The protective cover on the tweeter has been changed from a lens to a grill and I think that has also made improvements in the smoothness of the amplitude response particularly off-axis. I am also quite sure the driver itself is thicker leading to less break-up at higher volumes.

The end result is absolutely no distortion that I can hear and wide off-axis response leading to ethereal highs. From what I can hear, there are no improvements needed.

High power woofer

The HP woofer has a 1.5" voice coil rather than the standard woofer's 1" diameter. The basket is cast rather than stamped. The surround is thicker. The magnetic circuit is beefier. The HP woofer weighs more than the 12" driver in my Sony subwoofer even though it is only 6.5" in diameter. Given all the changes, it provides greater peak-to-peak excursion.

The end result is it can achieve higher sound pressures with far less distortion than the standard woofer. It doesn't really go lower than the standard woofer. It goes as low but more cleanly.

Cabinets

The cabinets are better braced and better stuffed. Someone characterized and did some modeling to figure out where to brace and how much to stuff. I also think the type of MDF changed but I can't say that for sure. Of course now the wood veneer is standard.

Packaging

Some R&D went into the foam and boxes too.

Cross-overs

The component selection, placement on the board and routing of traces are better engineered.

Finally, the bottom line is the Family of Curves and how they sound. None of the above matters if the curves are bad and they don't sound better than the old versions. Axiom has upped their game by taking more curves around the speaker, improving their interpretation of what the curves are telling them and understanding how peaks, valleys and ripples in the curves inform improvements in the design.

I think they nailed their understanding of all of this. How do I know? Because no matter what Axiom speaker I listen to, they have similar characteristics in fidelity, sound stage, imaging and acoustic disappearance. As you move up in the speaker lines, they can achieve lower lows, higher sound pressures, wider and deeper presentation and more pin-point imaging.

They figured out the one formula to rule over all their speakers. Speaking as an electrical engineer, I consider this to be the embodiment of enviable engineering.

It only took 40 years and nearly killed Ian in the process.

Hi Mojo,

Thanks a lot for detailed response. You shared the information I was looking for about the speakers. Just curious ... How did you assimilate all this information ? This is very useful me and future axiom customers.

Thanks
Chiru