Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater MA Silver 8s & Axiom M60s - Life is Good :-)

Well, I was able to do some comparative listening last Sunday. It was extremely unscientific: I did not set the speakers up so that I could quickly A/B them, I did not rotate each speaker into the exact same spot for the listening tests, I did not do the listening tests blind.

I did, however, have the dog wandering around inside - occasionally parking his smelly self in front of the speakers. I also had the little boy in my avatar playing with Hokey-Pokey Elmo for much of the session, too. Extremely unscientific.

Anyways, here's Elmo with the introductions:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/bigwill/DSCN0980.jpg

And here's how the speaker cabinets vary in size:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/bigwill/DSCN0978.jpg

And here's a side view of the Silver 8 in the Rosemah finish:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/bigwill/DSCN0976.jpg

And here's how I had them set up for listening (Axioms to the outside ):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/bigwill/DSCN0981.jpg

I listened to the same 10 songs or so on each speaker - one at a time, of course. I jotted down notes as warranted. The difference in "in-my-room" sensitivity was negligible; the MAs may have been a db or half a db louder, but nothing too significant for the way I was demoing them. I do tend to crank them louder than my M60s when listening to music, however.

I'm sorry for the dearth of factual info in this first post, but I left all the listening notes at work. I'll try to give a thorough dissertation in the morning.

My overall impression was:
-the Axioms did more than hold their own;
-the S8s are a little "better", but maybe not $400-500 better;
-my ears had fallen prey to suggestions that the M60s are "bright", "thin", etc...;
-if you like the MAs you should like the M60s;
-the M80s in a high-gloss finish would have been a great comparison;
-I like the fancy mahogany veneers on the S8s;
-the S8s have deeper bass, better bass, a bit more midrange, and a little more forgiving tweeter, but crappy recordings still sound like crap on both speakers;
-I love both speakers. I kept thinking, "Life is good," over and over and over.

And a PS to TNTguy: I have no idea about MA's policy toward speakers purchased from unauthorized dealers. And for HT, they seem to blend superbly with the Axioms - particularly the VP150. The S8s seem to call less attention to themselves in HT, but you do lose some detail.

links

here
and here
also here
and finally here


BigWill thanks for the update by the way. Sounds like either speaker would be a great choice!

Thanks for the links, sid. Bath time!

Very nice BW.
For the very reasons you stated, i bought Axioms. I do like that finish on the MA, and the sound quality, character is very similar, my preference for the high end, but for the price of the S8s locally, Axiom was a better choice.

Some day i will venture the Silver or Gold line but my M60s will still have a place somewhere in the house. I'm thinking Axioms in the HT/media room, Monitor Audio in the rec room, the big Tannoys in the upstairs main floor and then something else for the bedroom and offices. Haven't decided on that yet. Maybe some B&W 700 series...

Bad recordings will still always be just that, bad.

Thanks for the report. I am impressed with how nice both speakers look.

I called MA to ask them about the warranty for online purchases. He said few if any (can't remember which it was) online vendors are authorized. In fact he went on to say that a few dealers online had made "modifications" to the speakers that were sold online and had to be pursued and shut down. Somewhat a risky proposition in some circumstances.

Again good info.

If you really want to upgrade from the MA and axioms try the Vienna Acoustics - Mozart series...very pleasing to the ear.

bigwill- thanks for the mini-review and the pics. always looking to absorb more info, i found it to be enlightening.

so are you gonna keep both pairs, or set some up in another room, or was is just a trial deal?

bigjohn

Thanks for sharing, bigwill. I'm a big fan of unscientific and honest.

What I really need to know is, was one speaker particularly better than the other relative to overcoming soundstage problems caused by wandering smelly dog butt?

And do the other household members have an opinion?

And here's another blistering question BW.
How do you feel the Silver series would compare to the Bronze?

Someday I may get some MA Golds. I tried the bookshelves 2 years ago when I was demo'ing. I LOVED them. But the 2 speakers cost as much as my whole 5.1 system.