Axiom Home Page Forums Thread Like Summary - a lifetime of audio

I just found this account's information after a long hiatus.

I started getting excited about high end audio from reading the hydrogenaudio forums, then many other boards when I was an early teenager. I signed up here when I was 14. I can't believe it's been 18 years. More time has passed from my signing up to now than from my birth to the day I started pining for hifi audio!

I saved up for my first set of M22 when I was 16, working at a low end retail job. I bought them with a harman kardon 3380 or 3480 stereo receiver and a used HSU STF-2. I got a set of thiel cs 3.6 for $1500 on audiogon years later and gave the axioms to my dad and he's loved them ever since. I now have a set of vandersteen 3a signatures, and a set of M60 for my office which I absolutely love.

I am looking at the prospect of buying a house soon. It's insane how the hobby evolves - I am at the point in my life to buy a home and a big part of me is browsing based on which one has the best living room for audio, imagining the positioning of owens corning 703 panels/bass traps, etc. I don't want more bedrooms, bigger dining room/kitchen - the rest of the house can be outside for all I care. Give me a big ol' listening room and enough space to no bother the neighbors when I crank it and I'm a happy man.

This forum, and hydrogenaudio, were the two most important ones to ensure I didn't fall for BS - magic cables, $10,000 DACs having audible differences, always use an ABX test or the results are irrelevant, etc. And for just learning the science of high end audio. I remember the regulars like 2x6, pmbuko, alan, etc and their helpful posts.

How many of you started in this hobby as teenagers aspiring for your first job that'd allow you to buy a set and grew up, all under the same account? Those M22s my dad has from 2005 will always hold a special place in my heart. I don't know how much you guys can measure return on investment on people like Alan who posted here regularly, but he definitely got at the very least the sale of the M60 & M22 out of me.

I started when I was 17 heading to 18. Hung out a lot at a high-end store where one of the owners had a doctorate in history so lots of great afternoon chatting. Used to hangout (when tgey had customers) to a little lunch counter operated by one of the brother in laws of... Céline Dion. He used to do the lighting in her shows when she was younger. Anyhow, i met and talked to her about two dozens times (we're the same age so she was only qell known locally). She did her own makeup then and it was awful. But fairly smart.

After almost a year of shopping, i got a great deal on what i really wanted, i ended with a Luxman 90, their first non-lamp amp, and a pair if DBX-1000, providing 180 stereo, a feat i only heard again in the LFR1100 that i got to experience when Axiom came to the big audio show in Montreal... some years ago.

In 2007 those speakers started to fall apart read and i decided to start looking for the next big move. Read TONS of stuff, talked with people who had high-end equipment (like Paradigm and stuff). Finally, i kept falling on reviews of an internet-only company named Axiom who had 1 or 2 years before replaced their TI line with v2s. Anyhow, looked at the specs, looked at the price. Knowing how much the prices are getting crazy with distributors and retailers, i calculated that it COULD be possible to produce great speakers at that ridiculous price (at that time, M80s were under 1000$).

So i replaced the weakling in my system (cheap center) with a VP-150. It quickly proved to be the best speaker in the system (it was really starting to be dated). For those who know the VP150, that difference was not flattering for my nearly 22 years old mains. Then i replaced the surrounds by QS8s... wow... it was getting embarrassing. I then went for M80s and eventually added a EP-500. The first thing i listened to on the M80s was Bach's first solo violin sonata and I actually shed tears of bliss. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.

So i kind of stuck with Axiom. I now have so many Axiom speakers that it's impossible to cross my entire home without tripping on one.

My next dream is to be in a place where i can have a dedicated music room with LFR1100 active main and possibly M100 as surrounds.