Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Just got back from listening...

I spent the afternoon demo'ing speakers. (No have have no intention of "upgrading" my M60's!) If you recall my brother is moving to LA from Boston. He's put me in charge of getting him an all new system from the ground up. So I took advantage and listened to a ton of stuff today.

B&W 704 ($2200) - Sweet speaker. Very nice clarity and warm sounding. Nice details. BEAUTIFUL wood cabinet. But for $2200 it should be nice, right? Oh...and their cabinets are shaped a bit like Axioms...wider at front than in the back. Not quite as extreme as Axioms. Wonder where they got that idea. ???

B&W 705 ($1500) - Another nice speaker. Attains surprising depth (and a nice clean bass) for a smallish bookshelf speaker. Compared to the 704's though, it sounded a bit closed in, and the soundstage wasn't as full.

Theil 1.6 - ($2200) Wow...I'd never heard a pair of Theil's before. These sounded very nice! Incredible separation. Depending on your tastes, they are a good looking speaker as well. Unlike most speakers, they slope backward from bottom to top, and are tapered from bottom to top...wider at the base.

NHT ST4 - ($1000) Not at the level of the B&W's but again, not a bad little speaker. They have 8" side firing woofers. This is the first speaker I've heard with built in "subs", that didn't sound like complete poo. Again, very nicely built, with a really nice looking high gloss black finish.

Vienna Acoustics Bach - ($1500) - These sounded nice as well. I listened to these paired with a $3000 Rel subwoofer, so I'm sure that helped. Playing "Dead Can Dance" they sounded quite amazing, though when I played Prince's "1+1+1=3" the bass got a bit muddy. Not sure if it was the sub or the speakers, but the bass lost a lot of clarity on that disc. Once again, BEAUTIFUL finish.

One thing I've consistantly noticed with all the speakers I've looked at...NICE finishes. REAL wood. Exactly how much more would it cost to have a pair of Axioms with a real wood finish? I LOVE the sound of my Axiom's, but I've always been disapointed that they're not real wood. Those new B&W 704's were MIGHTY impressive looking.

I listened to a new NAD receiver/DVD player unit today as well. The NAD L70. It's an "all-in-one" Receiver/DVD player. I was listening to the Prince track "1+1+1=3" again. I switched from listening to a Rotel 1055 reciver and 1070 cd player to the NAD. Bleck! The NAD sounded thin, and had MUCH more background hiss. Bleck, bleck, bleck...Even compared to the Denon AVR-1804 and the Denon 1600 DVD player, the NAD just didn't stand up. Sorry NAD, but this new L70 doesn't seem like a winner.

Finally I looked at some TV's. (and FP's). I'm still not sold on the plasma technology. From a distance they look pretty good, but if you're too close at all, you get some serious pixelation. Even with dvd's...I dunno. I watched some DLP tv's and thought they looked more natural.

I then saw an InFocus 5700. 93" screen...sweet. The blacks weren't as nice on the rear projection DLP or the plasma, but it's hard to deny that 93" is indeed impressive.

Hey spiff

If I were to replace my Axiom made speakers it would probably be with Thiels, de Cappos or JM Labs Cobalts. The Thiels are laid back so that the high frequencies arrive at the listener at the same time as the mids and lows - they are time corrected.

Your report about the NAD receiver with DVD on board sort of confirms my opinion of most receivers, jacks of all trades, masters of none.

I'm curious what kind of sources you auditioned with the Vienna Acoustics Bach speakers, and the B&W 704s.

The Vienna's were played through a Denon DVD-2900 player, and powered by a B&K amp. (Not sure of the amp model...it was on "sale" for $3900)

I heard the B&W's through an assortment of equipment. Rotel 1055 receiver and 1070 cd player. Denon 1804 receiver and 1600 player. Linn integrated amp and cd player (sorry don't know the models). And finally the NAD all in one. (The Linn sounded the best...then the Rotel, then Denon, then NAD)

If you guys like Theils you should listen to the Maggies. ... but don't listen to me...last time I mentioned Theils someone said they were bright and was not as good as Axioms.

I'll second the suggestion to listen to Maggies. Great speakers that disappear. You can play them really loud and still have nice clean sound.

hey, if your brother wants to come see & listen, i'm in pembroke; 'bout 30 to 40 minutes south of boston.
dan

He's probably going to get Axioms as well. He's heard my setup and really liked it. All the listening I did yesterday was mostly just for fun. I just used him as an excuse.

just thought i would offer.
dan

Appreciate the offer.

Just curious, but where did you go here in LA? I had a funny experience at Ahead Stereo on Saturday afternoon while auditioning some preamps. They were highly recommending the Rotel unit you have, and it did sound incredible, though at a $1500 price tag, I think I could do much better Audiogon or Ebay. But I didn't say that to them. However I got a little miffed at the audio snobbery from the salesman when I mentioned that I love my set of Axioms and he turned his nose up and said, "Well, we've got nothing to do with their stuff." I almost walked out, actually, and not just because the B&W speakers we were listening to didn't sound as good as my M-60's. And that was with a much better set of electronics hooked up, too. Idiot. You may want to be prepared to experience this if you go in there and mention you've got Axioms.

But if you've not been to LA Stereo on Western (one of the best shops EVER!), take a few hours and your favorite music to check out their upstairs setups. All high end Krell, Mark Levinson, Wilson, Martin-Logan gear. You won't be disappointed and the owner is always willing to give anyone a listen. He seems to enjoy it just as much as his potential customers do.