Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Sound Degradation

I have owned a pair of M3Ti's for around 3 years. They have always sounded great and never fail to impress listeners. Lately, they are sounding somewhat flat and "boomy" in the bass.I have not changed anything in my system. They are being powered by a Denon DRA685 receiver. The cd player is a JVC and the speaker cable is 12 gauge Parts Express wire. Something is not quite right. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Your system didn't change but did the room? Anything get moved? etc etc. Shot in the dark but you never know!

Nope...room has stayed the same.

Rob, I don't have much of a suggestion, especially since the two terms that you used, i.e. "flat" and "boomy" are direct opposites to me. One thing I will ask is whether you played the speakers individually to see if the problem affects only one of them, indicating that some strange malady has struck it. I assume that this happens with all program sources.

Rob,
Is it possible you are 'tired' of your speakers and perhaps looking for something new to listen to?
I'm getting a bit tired of the Tannoy Revolution 1s in my office and i'm thinking about changing them around. They look great, sound fine and fit the desk just nice, but i'm just tired of them. Unlike my other Axioms and Tannoys, i'm no longer thrilled with the sound.
It's all mental, but darn powerful.

Getting past the possible placebo effect of maybe you just want something else...

Is there any chance they've been damaged, maybe a crushed tweeter or a frozen voice coil? Maybe high moisture (like our summer here this year) or condensation?

Bren R.

That may be it. The sound is not bad...just not quite as clean as I "remember" it used to sounding. Maybe it's time to go to the M22's.

(My previous post should have followed "Chesseroos" last post)

For me, a speaker sounds "flat" when there isn't enough treble or high frequencies. Without enough treble, the bass seems exagerated or boomy. (to me)

Before I bought the M80's, I had the same speakers for over 20 years. In the last 4 to 5 years, I experienced the same change in sound with those old speakers you did with the M3's. Coincidentally, it was at about the same time when I noticed that I had a difficult time holding a conversation when in a room with lots of backgroud noise. Diagnosis - a bit of high frequency hearing loss.

Now I don't mean to be cheeky, but have you thought about this possibility?

it's quite possible that certain degree of hearing loss can occur when exposed to loud music for extended period of time, hopefully that's not the case though.

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it's quite possible that certain degree of hearing loss can occur when exposed to loud music for extended period of time, hopefully that's not the case though.

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Huh? What? (someone HAD to say it)

I've always worn hearing protection. Glad they make flesh coloured ear plugs now, can protect the ol' tympanic membranes and not look like a dork.

Bren R.

Flesh colored plugs mean you're not comfortable looking like a dork, so you're trying to hide it. That's 10 times worse than just wearking the orange plugs.

At work I wear yellow or orange - currently orange - the only colour they had at Marks Work Wearhouse last time I was there... they're the cylinder shaped ones, too... no taper on the end. They're a bit too... annenuative (?) for working, I wouldn't buy them again, but really good for playing with power tools at home.

When I'm out for fun, I wear the flesh toned ones... as is, I stick out like a grampa-core at the shows I go to.

Bren R.

What about swapping the speakers left-to-right? Maybe one speaker is no longer a match for the other. On my pre-Axioms, the speaker closer to the window got just enough Sun over the years (minutes per day) to start driver rot while the other was OK.

I wish that I would have worn plugs over my years of concert going. One Husker Du/Replacements double bill left me with permanent tinnitus in one ear. Young and stupid comes to mind.

Check your speaker cable connections for oxidation. If that's not it, try replacing the pre-out/main-in jumpers with some spare interconnects and see if it sounds better. I know the latter suggestion seems odd, but 15 years ago it resolved a similar problem I had with a Denon DRA-75.

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One Husker Du/Replacements double bill left me with permanent tinnitus in one ear.

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Sue Bob Mould... maybe the lawsuit would force him to do more projects (Sugar reunion anyone?), and there would be CDs worth buying again.

Bren R.

Man, that would be fantastic! "If I can't change your mind" is a great song.

jr

Bob lays pretty low these days. I saw him do an outdoor acoustic set this summer. He's an amazingly talented artist. Greg Norton is now a restaurant owner south of the Twin Cities. We visited the place and after a couple of after dinner libations I told him about my hearing loss and got a free beer for my story. The days of Husker Du playing 1st Avenue and other clubs around here were some fine times.