Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater They're Here - New Axiom Owner post

I wasn't expecting them until May 1st and luckily I was home yesterday getting ready to head out on vacation. FedEx dropped off 2xM22OW, 1xVP150OW, 2xQS4, and a EP175 all in Boston Cherry. So what led me here?

Couple of things. I was looking to get something nice for my birthday and my 2002 Yamaha HTiB (RX-V540 and 6.1 speakers) wasn't keeping up with the times. I had run out of HDMI inputs in my 65" TV forcing me to run my X-Box 360 on component video as a consequence. Anyways, solved the AVR problem with an ONKYO NR-TX656 on sale at BB and started thinking the dinky Yamaha speakers with 6.25" sub could use upgrading themselves.

Unfortunately, due to an odd room configuration, I am limited in speaker choices. Though my room is about 14' wide and 26' deep, the front of my room has two doors forming a corner on the left side and an angled fireplace on the right side. The back was has 2 windows. The TV is centered perfectly leaving me with 9" on either side. This left me with only on-wall speakers as a viable solution.

Originally I was looking at either PSB W1's or Paradigm Millenia 20's. Other options included the Magnepan MMGW's and Martin Logan Motion Series. However, the Magnepans were too wide and I was concerned the ML's 100Hz bottom limit and total dependence on a sub would be too bright. I had the chance to "audition" the PSB's and Paradigm's, both of which also had 100Hz low ends and the result was as I feared, hard on the ears when played alone.

The Paradigm dealer also carried Totem $peaker$ and the Tribe 3's were exactly what I wanted. I have a pair of Totem Hawks in my 2ch system that I absolutely love but, unfortunately, the Tribe 3 price tag meant I could only really afford 1.5 speakers, let alone 5 of them and a sub based on my set budget! However, I realized the reason the Totem's sounded much better on their own was their low end capabilities due to their ported design.

After some google research, I found a review of Axiom's on-wall M0 which lead me to Axiom's website. I had visited the website years before (10!) but had forgotten about them. Here I discovered that for $2500, I could have my cake and eat it too! The M22OW were bottom ported with a low end rating of 60Hz giving me hope. Unfortunately, the internet is rife with negative reviews making me gun shy at first. Then Axiom posts a notice that April 5 would see a price increase! All of a sudden my $2500 budget was at risk. 30 days free trail? Pulled the trigger and ordered at the deadline!

Now back to yesterday. 6 boxes left on my front steps in what I thought were wood crates. On closer inspection, I realized they were cardboard boxes with wood pattern. Nice touch. I hefted all the boxes downstairs and carefully unpacked them all. I don't want to be sexist here but when I took the lid off the first M22 box and found the speaker inside it's own black cotton drawstring bag, I immediately thought of my wife's higher end purses that have similar dust bags! Again, nice touch Axiom! All speakers were in perfect condition. (wondering if I'm supposed to put them back in the bags when not in use *joke*)

Installing the on-wall speakers wasn't too difficult but I'm glad I won't have to do it again. The T-brackets make positioning the speakers extremely easy but what a pain it was to get the little Allen wrench into those tiny screws while trying to keep the speaker wire from falling out! By the 4th one though I had it down pat and the 5th one was easy!

I haven't had a chance to thoroughly test the new speakers yet and my plane leaves in 6 hours but from what little testing I did, I know I won't be returning them. We had just watched Rogue One on my Yamaha speakers so testing them on the Axiom's was a priority. What a difference! The EP175 is so much more capable that when the AT-AT's stomped down, the room shook instead of the sub rattling. The QS-4's did a great job of somehow positioning the fighters above my head and debris from explosions were scattering on the ground. Just awesome.

Of course, the biggest difference were the vocals handled by the VP150. Normally the music soundtrack overpowers the voices but not with the VP150. Dialogue was crisp even at low volumes. Instant wife approval.

Next up, the proverbial Matrix lobby scene. Bullets flying everywhere, metal casings hitting the ground, just awesome.

As for Music... Bach's No 5. for organ on SACD... tough test for the M22's on their own... Though not earth shattering bass and not as detailed as my Hawks, the M22's did very well! Turn on the EP175 for support and I'm in organ bliss. Quickly ran through some jazz and run of the mill pop over a SONOS connection and all is good. Leaving for vacation knowing I didn't make a mistake!

Pretty impressive performance for the lil' old EP175!

This is a REALLY nice write up / review of your system. Kudos for being mature enough to wade through the negative nonsense on the other forums.

If you want to smile, check out the Bryston sub-forum at Audio Circle - Their speakers are made in the Axiom Factory, and suffice it to say that Bryston has a serious following of people who LOVE their speakers.

Once again, a terrific summary of your experience. Thank you !

Thanks craigsub.

I had quickly browsed Bryston's forums prior to purchasing which made pulling the trigger easier.

I'm back from my fun in the sun vacation and hope to play around more with my new system and speakers. I did put the boxes away in the attic so I'm pretty committed to keeping them... Perhaps, though, I should have kept the QS4 boxes handy as my initial impression is I should have gone with the QS8's! That said, I'm playing around with my AVR's settings and "fooling it" into thinking the speakers are further away which seems to have the desired affect of increasing their volume a bit. My old AVR had actual +/- volume settings for surrounds but not this one.

I'm also now debating if I want to go 7.1 (from 5.1) or wondering if going 5.1.2 for ATMOS... got to love this wallet sucking hobby

I've used the QS4s & presently have the QS8s. Interestingly, in my room, my Audyssey 'heard' the low end of the QS4s as 80 HZ & it hears my QS8s as 90 Hz.

Due to the sporadic nature of surround content, I have noticed no difference in the performance of my system between the 2 models. IOW, the QS4s will work just fine unless your room is really large...

TAM

Thanks exlabdriver. My room is fairly large at 14' x 26' but you are right, tweaking the crossover and distance settings seems to have fixed any perceived performance issues I was having. I think by adding a pair of rear surrounds for 7.1 (or .2)in the near future will also have a positive impact to cover more "dead" space behind the listening area. My "sweet spot" is located about 18' back from screen and my QS4's are about 1' further. All in good time.

Glad you are enjoying your new system TDIPablo. I am impressed to learn the EP175 is able to fill that large of a space. As I said yesterday in my M5 post, the M22's with a sub are one heck of a good speaker. I've been loving mine for the past 7 years.

While you are in your audition window, I do suggest you look at a vertical center if it can physically work in your space. I switched from a VP150 to an M2 and for me in my space it was a nice improvement - and cheaper too!

Feel free to PM me if you want more info

Cheers,

Thanks CB919. Though I appreciate the theory behind matching LCR and vertical placement (it's what THX recommends as well), I have to admit I like the aesthetic look of the VP150 flanked by the M22's. I likely have the room to place the M2 where the VP150 is located but it would be a tight squeeze and would likely require I move my X-Box 360 Kinect module off center.

At some point in the future (X-Mas?), I'll probably get a pair of M2 or M3's for rear surrounds and I may do a quick test using one of them as a center in a 5.1 configuration to satisfy my curiosity...