Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Opinions on Epic 50-350 and Receivers

I am in the market for some good speakers. I used to have a lower end Bose (please don't throw rocks, they were handed down to me) and I am looking for some real speakers. I have listened to B&W, Energy, Paradigm, Polk, Infinty, and Klipsch. I stumbled onto Axiom and have read nothing but rave reviews about Axiom. Would you say Axiom is comparable to the brands listed because I have not had the chance to hear Axiom yet. My budget was $2000-ish and i have a 18x10 room which is open to the kitchen. I was debating between Epic50-350 vs. GrandMaster -350 but leaning towards Epic50-350 with the M50ti, QS4, VP100, and EP350. I listen to 65% movies and 35% satelite radio/CD.

I am having a hard time deciding on a reciever to power my madness. Cheaper is better but it looks like all the local stores have "good" receivers pricing around $600. I really only have looked at the Marantz SR5500. I think i will be adding two ceiling speakers in the middle-side of the room for 7.1 down the road. Do you guys have any recommendation for quality and valuepriced receivers?

I hope i hear good things because the only thing holding me back from buying Axiom is not hearing it first.

I believe with the 50 system an Onkyo SR502 would be a good reciever for about 300 bucks but it is 6.1 and not 7.1. I'm a new Axiom 60s owner and my 502 sound really good with the speakers, at first I thought a reciever upgrade was a must with the speakers but it seems to be holding it's own very well with these awesome speakers. Just my .02!

BTW, Welcome!

Briant, welcome. If you prefer floor-standing mains you should be very pleased with the M50s. As far as a receiver in the $600 area, I'd suggest that you add the new HK435 to your list for consideration.

Ok so I did a little research and this is a list I have compiled off of one online company.

Onkyo SR702 ~ $600
Onkyo SR602 ~ $375
Harman Kardon AVR435 ~ $680
Marantz SR5500 ~ $600
Denon AVR2105 ~ $650
Denon AVR1905 ~ $500

I noticed that Denon has a bunch of receivers not yet for sale. Is there any on that list that should be taken off immediately or others that need to be added? Thanks everyone. These are all 7.1 receivers, i might do some research on some cheaper ones but they are rare to find.

Is it just me or do the Denon prices seem high for those specific models ?

A number of people here have purchased refurb receivers, either from ecost or directly from Harman Kardon. I don't think you could get a refurb 435 yet (it's brand new) but I imagine you could get a real good price on an HK430.

Primary difference between 435 and 430 is that the 435 has HK's spiffy new room EQ system which is supposed to be pretty good if you're into automated EQ systems. When the new generation of HK receivers came out a bunch of us took advantage of the good prices on the previous generation of HKs and grabbed 330, 430s and 630s.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those. Some people would suggest adding Yamaha and the Pioneer 1014, others would say "Nooooooooo !!!" and I don't know who's right

After doing tons of research myself, I ended up with the M50s and an Onkyo 602. This combo fits my needs perfectly for speaker sound and receiver features.

I have the M50s because I had been using M3s in our older house with a smaller listening room. I was so attatched to the M3s after quite a few years, that when I needed larger speakers, the logical choice was the M50s(they sound very much alike-although I believe the M50s sound just a tad bit Better; not just larger, which I expected, but actually somewhat Better, which I didn't expect!)

I followed the same route when I purchassed the Onkyo 602: I had an Onkyo 494 from a few years prior and had good luck with it, so...

Am I happy with the combo? Yes.
Would I recomend them? Sure.

Just my .04US$
(sorry, the dollars' been devalued lately)
Rich.

Welcome Briant,

I demoed Axioms against B&W's, Paradigm, NHT, Klipsch, and Polk. I think I made the right selection with my M60's, they totally rock. Not sure about the M50's but there is rumor that there is a M50 posse running around these parts, that will vouch for them. But if you can scrape up some extra change, get the 60's

Randy

M60's VP150 EP350 4-Qs8's
Denon 2805
Sanyo Z2 Projector
Samsung HD receiver
Toshiba DVD

Only thing about the M60 package is that my room is only 18x10x8. Therefore I am pushing about 1500 cu ft of room. A larger system probably wouldn't do me that much although it is a nice system.

Look at the M22s.
For that size room they would be perfect.

The main difference between M50s and M60s is that the 60s have a dedicated midrange so vocals are a bit more "forward" and clear in some rooms. On the other hand the 50s are supposed to have a more relaxed sound and are probably more tolerant of bad recordings. It's hard to say one is "better" than the other (unless you own one or the other, of course )

Size wise there isn't a huge difference, ie don't worry about room size between 50s and 60s.