Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Horrific thought

Where to start....

I would guess most members of this forum have quit extensive CD libraries.... likely worth many hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Understanding the "flat" nature(exact reproduction of source) of the Axiom speaker line, and knowing our older recordings have a bright nature, we still contemplate spending or have spent thousands of dollars on a speaker line that will render 80-90% of this collection of music virtually useless. Unless of course you like excessive amounts of mid's and hi's.

Any thoughts on this matter?

There is no perfect speaker. For the most part most of the music I listen to sounds excellent on my 80s.

I have one of those cd "libraries"..............BUT, I have found MOST of my older cds still sounded (at least) a little more detailed, and the instruments more precisely located....with the M60s, and my "new" gear.
Feel free to ask any cd related questions.....I'll be glad to answer them.

Another thing that might be able to help is your receiver. Old films (1930s - 1950s in particular) often have what could be termed "excessive brightness," because of the process used to put audio on film; many HT receivers have an option to curb it (e.g. Cinema Filter). I have not yet ever felt the need to use it, but it might work for this, too.

Well, I am one of those with over 500 cd's, various concert DVD's and probably another 100 records etc. I have listened to my M60's everyday for the last four months and can honestly say that I have come across very few cd's that sounded really bad. Maybe I have been lucky with the selection of artists/music I listen to? Some of the poorly recorded cd's have been discussed on previous forum's. As far as the 'excessive amounts of mid's and high's', that hasn't ever been a problem with my M60's. If you are worried about 80-90% of 'your' music to be rendered useless, maybe the recordings are just plain bad?
Just my 2 cents worth...
Cheers

I agree with Rock Head; I don't find the enhanced accuracy to be troubling at all. Average quality recordings certainly sound no worse to me than they ever did. If anything, it has made me listen to some particularly well-made recordings much more than I otherwise would; I expect my experience is similar to the how HDTV users perceive that content. I was going to write something about now actually being able to taste the ear candy, but that metaphor just doesn't really work, does it?

It reminds me of the disclaimer printed on early CD's - "the enhanced resolution of the digital format may reveal limitations of the source material" or whatever it said.

Oh sure, sometimes I get annoyed that some relatively new music is not as well recorded/mixed as it could possibly be, but I don't think my level of annoyance has increased disproportionately relative to enjoyment. Before I bought my Axioms, I always noticed the "garbage in, garbage out" recordings anyway, but now I am able to more fully appreciate the "diamonds in, diamonds out" concept too!

God, I am having a confusing day. Need more coffee.

My overwhelming response to listening to old favorites on my M22s has been "Wow, it's like listening to it for the first time." or "Holy Crap! I never heard that part of this song before." I have not had any cds that I said "I can't listen to this anymore." I have noticed that some of my 80s rock/glamrock CDs are less than stellar, but I don't expect much from them as it is. I do notice the difference between lower quality MP3s and CDs more easily now, but that's ok with me. EAC with LAME VBR encoding is really nice and a DVD-R with 4 gigs of MP3s will play all day long while I putz around the place. It's like a personal radio station without annoying commercials.

jr

Thanks for the input guys......it's just that I'm a Blues nut and most of the old recordings...pre 70's stuff... can sound bright with little bass extention. I wonder if the 60's will just eccentuate this sound.

Nope.

Good pooint about mp3s, actually. What may sound fine on computer speakers or on iPod headhones sounds pretty revealingly weak on my Axioms.

I've just started to delve back into old vinyl using my new setup, and frankly, I feel my M60s do a great job with these old recordings. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

another thought to consider: Returning to your earlier question of M50 vs M60. One consideration some folks have had when comparring well recorded vs poorly recorded material is the apparent fact that the M3 and M50 do a slightly better job of covering up the warts in the recordings. While the M60 makes a good recording sound great and a poorly one sound, uh.. not so good, the M50 makes all reasonable recordings sound good, but some better. As has been often stated, "they sound very pleasant" Maybe not as accurate, or analytical, but,very pleasant indeed.

I am sad to say that the majority of the music I listen to on my system these days is mp3s (and m4a/aac) streamed from my computer. Since I have a young (14.5 month) son who is currently all over the place all the time, I don't really have time to sit down and listen critically. While in my head, I know the music doesn't sound as good as it would playing from the original CD, my ears really can't tell unless I'm planted in front of the speakers.

Agreed, F107. The M50s are excellent speakers. In fact, I would venture to say that many people might prefer them over the M60s.

I was just listening to some older blues cds on my axioms and I came away impressed. You do hear the hiss but you would hear that on any speaker. I also have a MP3 cd that I play on my axioms and most of the songs sound pretty damn good on it. There are a few mp3s that dont, but they are the same mp3s that do not sound good on my SEAS components in my car as well.

For me, the quality of the music trumps any deficiency in the recording/mastering. You cannot erase the mood and aura of a great performance by mucking up the the mastering job. It transcends that.

You cannot erase the mood and aura of a great performance by muching up the the mastering job.

Oh sure you can. There are some horribly produced albums out there that have great songwriting and performances. And good speakers (any good speakers) just make you notice that horrible production all the more.

I see where you're coming from, but I still think the quality of the performance is of the utmost importance. You can take a hollow, crappy performance and polish it up to no end, but I'll still find it unlistenable, no matter how 'great' it makes my system sound.

I see where you're coming from, but I still think the quality of the performance is of the utmost importance. You can take a hollow, crappy performance and polish it up to no end, but I'll still find it unlistenable, no matter how 'great' it makes my system sound.

On this, we agree. I was simply saying that the converse isn't true - a crappily recorded or (more often the case) crappily produced but brilliant performance can be pretty unlistenable.

I agree. But if the performance is brilliant enough... Think of Miles Davis playing through a Victrola stuffed with gauze. It would still sound sweet.

Or The Joshua Tree.

Miles Davis playing through a victrola stuffed with the Joshua Tree?

LOL!!