Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Axiom speakers for classical music?

Hi folks!

It looks like quite a few people here are classical music fans. I listen mostly (but certainly not exclusively) to classical music, including orchestral, chamber and vocal genres.

I would like to hear about your personal assessments on the Axiom speakers specifically for listening to classical music. All positive and negative comments are welcome, especially those comparative to other reputable brands. How do they behave either in the traditional stereo or matrix multi-channel (e.g., DPL II) setups?

Thanks!

If you're a fan of brass heavy classical, prepare to be amazed.

Sushi, my own music listening is essentially classical only. On occasion I borrow pop CDs to check reports of poor recording quality, which often turned out to be accurate. All music should benefit from speakers which have very wide frequency response, wide dispersion and low distortion; classical music doesn't have any unique requirements. If a significant part of your listening includes low organ notes, you would want main speakers and/or a sub with very extended bass response.

I use M22s in a stereo setup without a sub for much of my classical listening. As I've said before, the mid-range and treble are extraordinarily accurate and are as good as any speakers I've heard, regardless of price. In-room bass response is usable down to about 40hz, as determined from a test-tone CD, and is good enough for nearly all recordings. A sub would be required for the lowest(20-40hz)octave of bass.

This very accuracy has resulted in some complaints of "brightness" or even "harshness" about Axioms, but I've established to my satisfaction that this occurs only on poorly recorded pop items with a pumped-up mid-range and/or treble designed to be more impressive on mediocre equipment. For well-recorded performances the Axiom M2, M22, M60 and M80, depending on your needs, will give you exceptional performance at a very reasonable price.

I have to agree highly with JohnK here, especially his last paragraph.

Just yesterday i pulled out one of my wife's James Taylor Live cds. Unlike many other mainstream recordings i have, James Taylor was sounding smooth, accurate and sweet. No harshness, no brightness, just a really beautiful sound. It was probably one of the most impressive recordings i've heard yet, beyond Diana Krall and beyond Patricia Barber, but perhaps this is due to my preference for a particular type of voice over another.

In any event, the classical acoustic guitar was simply excellent. The recording style makes all the difference.

Thanks guys for your responses...

Semi On: Yes, I like very much the brass sound of the Chicago Symphony in the good ol' Solti era, as well as the Philly Symphony when they were with Eugene Ormandy -- those brasses that are simultaneously brilliant and heavy-duty. Also, in honor of the folks who are living in the north of the border, I am a big fan of Canadian Brass. I had a chance to go to their recital a couple of years ago; they are not only technically and musically superb, but so hilarious and entertaining on stage! A trait you rarely found in classical artists.

JohnK: It is very nice to know that one of the most knowledgeable, informed and eloquent participants on this board is also a classical music fan. While I entirely agree with you that there is no unique requirements for the accurate reproduction of classical music, I cannot 100% convince myself only with reviews/comments that do not mention classical music. This is simply because I realize that I myself have a much broader tolerance on sound quality when I listen to pop/rock genres. I know this also reflects my personal bias, but to me classical music tends to test the speakers in a most critical, unforgiving way, perhaps in part because its all-acoustic nature. I just feel much more assured when somebody says that the speakers sound great on classical music, too.

chesseroo: I too agree on your general points. My own assessment has been that there are definitely fewer recordings in classical music CDs (as compared with other music genres) that are "hot" or intentionally EQ'ed, as long as you select from reputable labeles. Again, this probably relates to the fact that classical music is mostly 100% acoustic, so the audience has a "golden standard" so to speak, for what they should regard as the "right" sound, which is of couse the sound you hear in live concerts where they usually use zero electronics.

Well, your posts make me even more anxious to listen to the Axioms...

Someday, some kind of speakers will be able to accurately reproduce the sound of a symphony orchestra. I've never heard it done, yet. Of course there are some $100,000 speakers out there, (I've never heard any such thing myself) but they'd have to move a lot of air to sound like an orchestra.

I agree, 2x6spds.

And the challenge comes in part from the enormous difficulty in reproducing the stunning ambience and auditory atmosphere of a carefully designed concert hall, or perhaps that of a 16th-century ball room for baroque orchestras.

Personally, I am optimistic that technologies like the DPL II will help on that aspect, and this has been one of my motivations to upgrade my stereo to a 5.1 setup. Am I erring on this thought? I know there are many people who would never listen to 2-ch materials via anything other than the straight stereo mode. Do things like DPL II and neo:6 more often degrade rather than enhance the sound quality and listening experience of 2-ch recordings?

Hi Sushi

I have one HT/music system driven by a Toshiba SD9200 DVD Audio player and another by a Philips SACD 1000. These multi channel (direct) formats are pretty dramatic and work especially well for rock, blues, celtic faery folk. I haven't found any classical orchestral multichannel recordings which work for me.

For kicking back and enjoying music, my favorite is a 5 watt per channel tube amp driving a pair of M50 like speakers and an 8" Velodyne sub (just received my partsexpress.com Vance Dickason 10" Titanic Subwoofer kit which I will swap for the Velodyne this week end). This system is sourced by an Ah! Njoe Tjoeb tube output CD player. Enormous soundstage, high and wide, beautiful, beautiful music. Getz/Jobim's CD sounds like someone is singing in my living room. Jazz? Sounds pretty darn realistic. But orchestral/symphonic music? Nice to listen to but no mistaking it for the real thing.

Maybe someday!

Sushi, although the majority of the time I listen to CDs on my stereo setup, I think that the better surround processing modes(CSII, DPLII, Logic7)make for interesting listening on occasion. I don't know if that's enough reason in itself to go multi-channel if you're not much into movies, but you could take a CD or two to a local shop to sample the ambience effects.

Sushi, do you live in Southern California? If you do, I'd be glad to audition these systems for you.