Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Review of M60s vs B&W, PSB, Infinity, Polk, Klipsc

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I've heard consistent word-of-mouth from 'audiophiles' that canadian speakers sound best with canadian electronics. I hope someone can remark on this and tell me if there is some veracity to this.

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I have got to admit this is new one on me! Please tell me that this is not a serious comment/observation that someone is trying to tell you is factual? Short answer to this; Please ask yourself does this comment really make any sense? No!

Avik, if an amp could reduce "forwardness"( more likely to be in the recording rather than the speakers)it would be so poorly designed that it had a depressed mid-range. I certainly wouldn't buy such a product at any price. Ruler- flat amp response in that area is nearly universal these days. Problems with aggressively recorded material can be partially compensated by tone controls or a separate equalizer. Speakers and amplifiers should be designed with accuracy in mind, not to correct defects in other areas.

Hi John,

Yes. What you say is true on paper, but then subjectively, we should hear no variation from amp to amp, right? The reality though is that there IS some sonic variation from amp to amp. Otherwise why is it that even the casual listener can pick out differences in the sound coming from 2 different amps when judged from the same speakers? Granted that the difference will not be as large as that between different speakers. If all amps are flat, then why go though all the trouble and expense of getting using tubes or using sophisticated heavy duty electronics to make what should sound the same coming from an assembly line in Malaysia? I think there is enough subjective difference that the amp might change the sonic quality of the recording in a subtle but possibly beneficial way. :-)

In August, I auditioned (in a dealer's listening room) M60's/M80's, Energy C7's/C9's, and Dahlquist QX9's/QX10's. IMHO they are all excellent speakers, great value for the dollar, and all are made in Canada (go Sens go!).

I found the Axioms (both 60's and 80's) to be the most open, accurate, and revealing (i.e., vocals/mid-range was crystal clear), with nice tight bass. Bass extension on the C-9's and QX-10's went down a little further. I found both the Dahlquist and Energy's to be slightly more laid back (a little muddier?) in the mid-range.

As stated above, all are excellent sounding speakers, and within a similar price range. Really comes down to personal preference (how they sound to you), and for the 80's and QX10's, an amp/receiver that can drive 4 ohm loads.

Joe

P.S. I bought a pair of the M60's...sweet-sounding speakers!
The M80's would have been "over-kill" for the size of my listening room.

P.P.S. Great review by the way Avikonen.

Nifty opinions.
Always nice to have another review to peruse.
I never got to hear the B&W 800s myself but i did hear the 603s. Definitely more in the mid range sounding full but taking away from that 'clarity' and of course, more expensive than the Axioms.
I steered away from the B&Ws for those 2 reasons.

avikonen

hearing a difference between amps has a lot of different factors. The differently engineered ways of making them, the quality of internal parts, the binding posts, the difference in power, the cooling system, the dynamic headroom, the power supply, and all the other many ways I do and don't know about. All these, if you change them, will change the amp. I don't think it is pumping more power at a certain frequency. It probably is powering the speaker differently at different volumes and impedances.


Also, about Canadian speakers sounding best with Canadian electronics... I have never heard about this! There are few Canadian electronic makers anyway, however, NAD was recently purchased by a Canadian, I believe.

Five words:

"It's all in the beer"

Agreed. The amp can make a difference in the sound :-) I've often heard that the amp is second to the speakers in most influencing the sound of your system - even more so than the components like the CD/DVD player.

I think I'm being played by the folks who told me canadian speakers sound best with canadian electronics ;-) Nevertheless I'm really impressed with NAD, Parasound, and Anthem. Of course, if money were no object - KRELL! ;-) Then of course I'd be looking at B&W 801 Nautilus'es too.

I'll stick to the budget and save up for some Axioms

Maybe Axioms can make a model that competes with B&W Nautilus 800 line or the Signature 800 line for 1/8 price.

*8)

All interested raise their hand

http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=products.models&label=Model%20Nautilus

That Nautilus flagship speaker is out of this world, and last I heard they are MSRP 54,000 Euros, which is 100,000 CAD.

How much are M80's again?


but, I must admit, if I had 100,000$ lying around and another 100,000$ for electronics to go with them, yeah, I'd buy those.