Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Axiom, lack of reviews

I am aware of the many positive consumer reviews.My original question was about professional reviews in the media.

Hi Asher, good question and one that I and I'm sure many have wondered.

There are no reviews in any of the main stream audio magazines that I have ever seen. The reason I think is very simple. I think its just a matter of marketing strategy. Every company has to make decisions on what is the most effective form of advertising for the dollar. Axiom is an internet retailer so it makes perfect sense to focus their advertising dollars on the internet. People that buy on the internet are most likely to do their research on the internet. If they were selling through distributors in botique audio/video shops then advertising in the traditional magazines would make more sense.

Now that you have a pair of M80's you know that just because Axiom is an internet etailer doesn't mean their products are inferior to anything advertised in main stream magazines. Quite the opposite! I would argue that it is far more difficult to stay "on top" and far more competitive to do business on the internet. Consider this: If a product being sold through a botique store and "pushed" in main stream magazines is lousy who is going to know other than the store and the poor person who bought it and his immediate circle of family/friends. It is way harder for word to get out that a product is good or bad when being sold in the tradional way. Now consider the internet where people like you and me can give our opinions of products within minutes of having recieved them. This is a very powerful way to penetrate a market and can be hugely successful for a company BUT only if a product lives up to expectations and is decent. On the internet it may be possible to fool people for a little while but not for long, as word gets out way fast.

This is what has convinced me to give Axiom a try site unseen. After three years ( or more???) of business on the net and Axioms reputation is even better, people still rave about their products. There's just no way this kind of enthusiasm can simply be from the Axiom "hype machine".

But I agree it does seem counter intuitive that such a great product isn't seen in these magazines, and can be disconcertng at first, but I think this is just due to our own preconcieved ideas and the fact that the internet is still a very new way to market products and a very new way for most of us to make purchases.

Cheers, Jag

Jag-
Nice job on the Avatar!

HiJag Your point is well taken but as you said it is disconcerting to find such a dearth of professional reviews in the media.

Thanks very much Mark!

I tried to incorporate the suggestions from everyone here and I'm much happier with it but I'm still learning the software and its still a work in progress...

Appreciate the encouraging words, Jag

Yup, I know!

And "we" all should be skeptical of things sight unseen and this is definitely an obstacle for companies like Axiom; hence, the 30 return policy. I'm sure once people like ourselves have more experience buying this way it will "feel" more comfortable. For me, my Axiom purchase is only my second purchase off the internet, and this was a 3K purchase , SCARYYYYY... But the WEALTH of individual praises of this company and now my experience with the EP500 that I have recieved has allowed me to sleep well a night

>>but as you said it is disconcerting to find such a dearth of professional reviews in the media.

Yes and no. There is more to "the media" than printed media these days. You've seen what's happening in the PC world -- printed magazines don't even try to compete in terms of product reviews since everyone goes to the internet ANYWAYS when they are making purchasing decisions.

It's getting the same way with audio -- the magazines focus on the high end ($$) since that's where there is enough money washing around to support the traditional industry model of boutique stores and glossy magazines. Axiom is not a real player in that industry so they don't get covered in the magazines. On the other hand, there are a lot of respected internet-only publications popping up and Axiom tends to be pretty well covered there.

I know it sounds horribly cynical to say "no advertising = not much review coverage" but these guys all have to make a living. What happens to advertising revenues 3 months (heck, one day) after the first "hey you don't have to buy all the expensive products advertised in our magazine, just get everything from this Internet company instead" review hits the stands ?

I had my doubts just like you and started off purchasing a pair of M2s -- not a lot of money and besides everyone seemed to say that the customer service and return policies were excellent and honorable.

The main thing to remember is that this whole "internet business vs. traditional business" struggle is not just going on in the audio business. It's a tough thing for everyone to get their heads around, and so far the best strategy has been to either "pretend it ain't happening" or "jump in with both feet".

Axiom has jumped in with both feet. The high end magazines and vendors are pretending it ain't happening. They are probably both making the best decision in terms of their own survival and prosperity.

Axiom might be able to sell their speakers for a significantly higher price by jumping into the traditional industry -- distributors, high end dealers, lots of magazine advertising $$ -- but there is a real risk associated with making the transition and it's not clear they would be better off if they made that jump. I don't see how Axiom's customers would benefit other than being able to open up the magazines and say "see ? see ?" to the doubters

If you were in B&W's shoes, with a well established dealer network and monthly showers of love from the high end magazines, would you want to take a chance on cutting out the dealers, dropping your advertising and shifting to an Internet model ?

You can't have it both ways. Traditional industry models are expensive and companies spend a lot of time and $$ working their way in. You either go the internet route or you go traditional, it's very hard to do both.

Bridgman, Asher, et al,

You have zeroed in on many of the reasons that Axiom speakers do not get reviewed in mainstream print magazines like Sound&Vision, Home Theater, etc., and that is because Axiom does not do print advertising (there is the odd exception--Sensible Sound).

As a former senior editor at Audio magazine (sister publication of Sound&Vision), I can tell you that full-page, full-color ads in prestigious locations cost $50,000 or more each issue, which makes for multi-million dollar ad budgets. That is just one of the reasons that Axiom speakers sell for a fraction of the cost of the high-end lines from competitors like B&W.

As to so-called "high-end" magazines like Stereophile and Absolute Sound as well as others, none use the double-blind rigorous listening test protocol that Axiom has used for 25 years in conjunction with the NRC facility in Canada. If they did, it would put the lie to many of their fanciful conclusions about expensive cables and other products.

And I'll also tell you that as former editor-in-chief of Sound&Vision Canada for 13 years, if you dare criticize an advertiser's products, it is at great financial risk to the magazine and your job. We did double-blind listening tests of speakers at the NRC for the magazine and someday I'll write a tell-all about the grief I went through when $7,000 pairs of KEF speakers did not do as well as $1,000 pairs of Axioms in controlled listening tests. By the way, Axiom did support Sound&Vision Canada and so did Kef. Sound&Vision Canada eventually ceased publication, and it was in no small part because of our out-front stand on listening tests and exotic cables.

Certainly the marketing approach of many of our competitors works for them-- huge dealer networks--and multi-million dollar ad budgets, but you will never see a negative review of speakers in publications which they support with ad dollars. I admire Sound&Vision for the excellence of their bench tests of electronics, but the loudspeaker testing leaves much to be desired. The lack of correlation between the published frequency response curves and the reviewer's opinions are most peculiar. . .

Regards,

You've really been asleep if you havent noticed the large number of Axiom reviews. Go to Ecoustics.com. There are 31 PROFESSIONAL reviews of Axiom speakers since November 2002!

I think Asher is talking about print publications. Agree that Axiom is very well covered by the Internet media.