For you Epic 50 owners, you may want to check out the latest Axiom review at Designtechnica.com -

Epic 50 Review .

An excerpt:

"The Epic 50 home theater system is an extremely well priced system that delivers the performance of much more expensive systems. Good engineering teamed with good drivers delivers outstanding sound quality. The cabinets are attractive, but if exotic woods or a unique appearance are desired, look elsewhere. The Epic 50 system puts your investment into the sound not the furniture. The result is right on target for those on a budget who desire an attractive system with the sound quality of systems costing many times more than the Epic 50." Mike Bell, Designtechnica.com

Hmm, they didn't like the vinyl.
Perhaps Axiom should consider switching to a nice upholstery, maybe a 70s plaid.

Or a nice "tuck and roll" leather - sorta like the back seat of my '62 Chevy!

I dislike it when a reviewer will not like a speaker because of the finish.. just get another finish!!

geez, it doesn't affect the sound at all, and if you ask me, the speakers look great! Everyone who has come over thinks they are real wood. Then I point out that they have no seams and they freak. I keep telling people the M22's are 2000$ a pair, and they believe it!

Ravi, you are a wild and crazy man.

I think he objected to the fact that they were vinyl and not real wood as opposed to not liking the colour.
How could he not like the colour? I love the boston cherry. Sweet red cherry colour.

It is interesting to get people's feedback on the finish. You never know what reviewers will like until you see it in print! Although, I imagine we would get a phone call right off the bat if we did send out the 70s plaid . . . LOL! Or shag, to match the back of the van . . .

Matching the back of the van?
How about matching my living room? It's shag too.
Not all of us live in the 2000s yet.

what? you mean it's not the 80's anymore?

You segue perfectly into a long-standing debate between Ian and I . . . are phono amps still a necessity? One of us says YES! One of us says NO!!

WOW! How could you ever debate such a thing? Of course phono amps are still necessary! How else could you enjoy that really fine old sound of vinyl - complete with pops, ticks, background rustling, et all.....?

Randyman

Hi,

Of course phono preamps are necessary--if you want to sell to anyone over 40. Besides, not everything is reissued on CD, and it's a pain to have to buy a separate phone preamp.

Case in point: enthusiasts of huge, big-voiced female blues singers have no doubt heard the great Bessie Smith, who influenced just about everybody. A wonderful big-voiced singer named Linda Hopkins did a one-woman off-Broadway show in the '70s called "Me and Bessie", in which she told Bessie's story in song, singing (as well as Bessie Smith) the great blues standards. CBS issued the album in 1976 on vinyl. It has never been published on CD. I heard it on CBC radio, in Canada, in the early '90s and have been looking for it ever since. A month ago, I was browsing a street fair on Broadway and found a mint copy ($6) at a vendor who sells nothing but vinyl discs of obscure shows never issued on CD. I also found another show she did called "Inner City", also never available on CD. If you've never heard Linda Hopkins belt out a blues, she also did a Broadway hit years later called "Black and Blue" with Ruth Brown. She was already in her '60s but you'd never know it from the voice. "Black and Blue" is issued on CD.

Regards,