i wait all day for my speakers, then they get delivered at 7pm. Of course, I'm working overnight shifts all this week, I didn't get to play with them tonight, I did unpack them.

the only casulty was the grill for one of my T60's. Two of the balls broke off in the sockets (keep it clean). I'm guessing this will be a simple fix/replacement issue.

They look sharp. I'll post some pics. I got the "In-cabinet" versions of the M60's for my entertainment center build that's coming up. I couldn't really find much info on them, not even here, so I'll try to post my noob impressions when I get them hooked up. As you can tell from my sig, the media room is not quite ready, but I was able to pick up an Onkyo 3007 on sale at Newegg, and given their 30 return policy and the Axiom 30 day policy, I figured I need to get them at the same time and try them out.

But without any coaching, my 5 year old, who as far as I know has never really seen a speaker, walked in the room with an instant "Wooooow, cool dad. I can't wait to watch Bolt!!!" He makes me proud. It must be something in the DNA that attracts us to speakers.

I figure the opening action scene from Bolt will be a good place to start, then after they go to bed some more intense stuff.

Doesn’t it suck to just get something and have to go to work. Just happened to me last week with my projector.

Definitely give us a review since I don’t recall anyone else posting their impressions of them yet.

AFIK, you are the first person to let us know you have some and quite possibly you are the first person with a set of retail T60's.

The sales guys said they have been "very popular." I'm always a little skeptical, but I couldn't find any posts about them anywhere. Who knows.

I'll be happy to post some pics. today (if I can get around to it) they will be strewn about my current living room, with the reciever on a chair, the macbook on a chair, and the center below my wall mounted plasma. It's a big, open, vaulted room. If the speakers can cut it in there I know they'll be fine downstairs. At least I get to play with it. I also need to put in a couple of 2x4's where the shower is being installed before the drywall guys get too far down the road... and then sleep for another night shift- but the weekend is off- NCAA football all weekend.

Man, I think I'm most excited about the sub...

Do you have an echo problem with your vaulted ceiling?

I don't know. Probably. We have a speaker bar under the tv with a wireless sub. It does okay. This will just be a test run to be sure all the equip works. I will get stuff Installed in the basement when the drywall is done.

I'm also excited to see what you think about them once you have a listen. As Jay said, I'm not aware of anyone, at least on the boards, that has the 60's Cabinet version....

I know many an Axiomite who has called in sick in situations like yours.... I was fortunate that after waiting 12 weeks (yes, 3 MONTHS) for my factory outlet speakers, that they were ready for pick up at the FedEx location about 15 blocks from where I was working, and they called me about an hour before my work day was over, so it was an easy pick up for me and I had time to go home and play with them...

I was in Turkey when my FO order arrived. However, nice thing was I had a week of leave coming when I got back.


I specifically looked for a house with either vaulted or 10’ ceilings. IMO it really improves the ambience having the extra vertical space. Though I’m not sure about really high cathedral ceilings.

pictures please!

I have a 2 story great room. Originally, I was going to set that room up but the echo effect is horrible. My wife insists on hardwood floors - before we bought a rug, you could not understand conversation, let alone the TV. We bought a rug, hung some quilts on the wall (not enough) and it has helped some. If I had it to do over again - no 2 story great room. I know I have posted this several times - I ended up doing my set up in the Bonus Room over the garage. It has excellent acoustics plus it is virtually separated from the main part of the house. That played to my advantage in that I can listen at louder levels than if it were in the Great room and not disturb the rest of the house.

I was specifically looking for houses that had great rooms. Sound’s like I was lucky all the houses I looked at with “great rooms” the room was usually “L” shaped and I wanted a rectangle for symmetry. I think I would have been happy with either a vaulted or 10’ ceiling (in my case I ended up with 11’ vaulted)

I also need the screen wall to be 9 1/2 feet or higher to fit my M80s under the screen size I wanted.

I wish there was one place where all the good info like what you just posted could be found. When I was searching for info for setting up a dedicated HT room there was no one site that seemed to have all the pertinent info and even in looking at a combination of sites finding everything was near impossible.

I don't really have a dedicated room - I do have a good room. So I never searched for HT specifics. There is a ton of experience on this forum - There may already be a thread on HT Tips or, if not, I can't think of a better group to start one? This is one place where the crowd "gets along" and offers help (complete with excellent sarcasm) rather than making the newbies feel like idiots.

Sorry no pics. Barely had time to set the speakers up and give it a trial run. The drywall is currently being finished, so I can't set them up in the media room yet, and with little kids running around, I didn't want them tripping on speaker wires/knocking stuff over in the living room. So I set it up, played a bit, and took it down. Plus, with the tropical depression that just blew over, we found two leaks in our roof- so I had to deal with that.

Preliminary impressions are good, everything I expected. I will probably get a 2.1 setup in our bedroom for music and further evaluation.

I wanted to ask about some humming from the sub. I hooked up my macbook via mini-display to HDMI adapter, with mini-toslink optical for the audio. When the receiver (Onkyo 3007) was set to the macbook input, I got a very faint hum from the sub. I tried both sub outputs without change. When I change to a different input (where nothing was connected) I didn't get any hum. When the reciever is off, no hum. I tried removing the grounding screw, but that made it worse. Im using a cheap 12' monoprice cable. Both the reciever and the sub were plugged into the same surge protector.

I'm going to try some more inputs tomorrow, DVD player, ipod, etc. and see if I can reproduce it again. Anythoughts? Do I need to return the receiver? The hum is only noticable if I have my ear up to the sub. I can't hear it from a few feet away.

Sounds like you might have a slight dround loop problem as when the receiver is off the hum goes away, maybe try plugging the receiver and sub into different outlets, also disconnect any other equipment from the receiver one at a time to see if one of those components is back feeding through the receiver.

Another night shift, another day away from the speakers...

Come to think of it, I had the laptop directly on top of the reciever when I noticed the hum, and later when I removed the laptop, the hum was gone. I haven't had a chance to try it out again.

I also noticed in the manual for the Onkyo, there's some LFE line filter setting that can be adjusted for hum...

What about the switch on the sub that says "low frequency filter" (or something like that, I don't remember)? It's an on/off switch. The back of my sub looks different from what's on the website, the manual doesn't address it. Did I get an older/newer version?

I also realized that the audessy setup had my front speakers crossed over at 40hz, so as good as the bass was during my test run was, apparently I was just barely tapping into the sub.

More tests tomorrow (hopefully).

The filter is for using the onboard bass management on the amp itself. Leave it off as you are using a receiver that is capable of doing this.

The fronts at 40hz isn't uncommon but you certainly can run them higher say 60 or the more common 80hz, try the mains at different levels and go with the one that sounds the best to you.

And don't be afraid to bump up the levels for the sub if you want/like more bass.

Hi rprice54,

You got the very latest version of the EP500, with the new amplifier faceplate. The On/Off filter switch at the top is the Subsonic filter, which cuts off low frequencies below 20 Hz. Leave it off unless you are playing back vinyl LPs that may generate low-frequency rumble and other anomalies.

The crossover filter should be labeled "Crossover". I'm just editing the latest owner's manual now.

Congrats on getting the T60s. I'll be interested in your feedback on their performance once they're installed.

Regards,
Alan

Well there you go, the real answer.

Thanks for the reply Alan.

Hooked up for some stereo today, again from the macbook, but not on top of the receiver= no more hum. I also set the Onkyo crossover to 80 which made a huge impact, letting the EP500 strut a little bit more. I also figured out I was only outputting stereo surround from my macbook, not 5.1, so I need to try that out again.

The speakers sound great (2.1) standing up in my bedroom. I will be a bit before they are installed in a cabinet- I'm building it around the speakers and the yet to be determined PJ screen.

Need to sleep. I'll post some pics in a bit.

Alan, I spoke with Brent (who's been great) and it looks like the sticker on the back of the T60's says 4 ohms, but he's assured me they are 8.

To any bystanders, the T speakers apparently use the same cabinet, so my T60's are as big as the T80's. So with the grill on, my speakers look just as big- and we all know that's important to how they sound

Installing them may be a bit tricky as big and heavy as they are. I may build the cabinet with them in place. The other question is securing them so they don't vibrate out...

Excellent so far! Go luck with the installation!

Hi rp54,

That's odd--the 4-ohm sticker and all. The T60s (8 ohms) are not as tall as the T80s, and have four drivers on the front baffle--two woofers, one 5-1/4-inch midrange, and one tweeter. The T80s have six drivers--two woofers, two midranges and two tweeters.

I wonder if you've been sent the T80s by mistake? How many drivers are on the front baffle? If there are six, then you have the T80s.

Alan

The PDF Brent sent me listed the cabinets as being the same size. I have the T60's, 4 drivers. I'll see if I can email you the PDF.

Pics of the T60's. I put my VP150 on end for a sense of scale.

And they come with free stands!

I stand corrected. Those are definitely the T60s, and according to the specs on the In-cabinet page, the T60s and T80s both use the same size enclosure, which is 39 inches tall.

How was I to know? The listening tests are double-blind! All I see is a black curtain. . .and an A/B/C switcher in my lap.

Regards,
Alan

Nice touch...

I want one, Axiom should really be looking into selling these......I guess I could stop being so lazy and try making one....

I am interested to know how they sound compaired to the M60's.

I like the idea of a front port. This allows for more flex. on placement. My question is; if the T60 and the M60 sound the same, why doesn't Axiom start offerig the M60 with the port on the front. I also noticed the cabinet on the T60 isn't tapered like all of the Axiom free-standing speakers. What effect does this on colouration?

paul

Hi Worfzara,

In the listening tests, which go on for several days and involve not just me but other Axiom staffers, when the numerical ratings of the speakers under test reach the level of little or no significant difference, then the phrase "similarly good" applies. That means that while two speakers may not sound absolutely identical, any differences that emerge tend to depend on the type of music being played.

When you place a speaker into a wall, the one consistency that emerges is a slight loss of bass. That's true of the boookshelf T models, and to a lesser degree, of the hybrid in-wall/on wall models. In the tweaking of the spectral balance, Ian has compensated in the design for any coloration that may occur. I've rejected various models based on coloration, and Ian goes back into the anechoic chamber and adjusts the frequency response, crossover, etc. until in the listening tests the speaker meets the "similarly good" criterion.

Regards,
Alan

Presumably the high fq's would have been attenuated when designing the inwall speakers too, would they not, Alan? since the wall in some sense becomes one large baffle, giving the upper fq's a boost.

I haven't put these in the cabinet yet, and I'll never have a pair of M60's to compare side by side, so for me, it's just that they sound good and not muffled/restricted when I place them in a cabinet... but you're suggesting these aren't just the guts of an M60 placed inside a different cabinet?

I certainly appreciate the lengths you guys go through to get "similarly good" but for me- my criteria is "Can I put them in a cabinet and still have high quality sound?" I was at an impasse- I really wanted a custom entertainment center, I wanted built in speakers, but I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on speakers only to ruin the sound. I had started looking at in-wall units, but I really wanted full towers too. Then I stumbled onto a forum that recommended Axiom speakers, and then I found the In-cab speakers and here we are.

If the audition in my living room is any indication, the answer is "yes" although I'm sure the sound will change a bit once I install them, that will be a while though. I needed to get these and hear these before I decided to build the entertainment center around them.

I'm keeping them, you can't have them back

PS. I think it's cool that I get to chat with one of the guys who designed my speakers.

I'm sure some people have tried mounting floor standers in walls/cabinets before, but that would compromise the sound for sure. The wall itself would likely create a huge baffle and probably boost the higher freqs, not to mention the porting problems in the lower bass.

I believe the point that Alan was making was that there are design differences in the crossovers between the in wall and the stand alone towers but the goals in the end result remain the same. Your speakers will likely sound better than they do now once they are installed in the way they were designed.

Let us know how they sound once they are mounted, a lot of us are curious about your install.

It sucks that the in-walls loose some bass. One of my favorite features in the M80's are their incredible bass! Of course, if you have a subwoofer then you'll likely never notice the difference.

assuming you use your sub for all applications. I don't use my EP500 for music.

I love the clean look of a built in speakers. I've been an Axiom speaker since 1986 and I am sure that Ian wouldn't let a customer buy his speaker unless it meets his high standards.

I'd be interested in moving from the M80's to the T80's in the future, to get that look. However I would be giving up flex. placement options. Maybe that's not a big deal with the T series.

paul

paul

Sooo, that's how Ian got the idea for the funny shaped rear ports...

Wow, now that is devotion! While I would love nothing more than to sit around reproducing great sounding music all day long, I don't know that I could deal with having two wires carrying up to 400 watts of power stuck up my ass!

You're supposed to loosen yourself up with the modest power of a tube amp.

Paul's post shows how imporkant it is to proofread.

It also goes to show that you truely never know who or what you might be taking to... previous to this, I had no idea speakers could type.

Taking to?

Take me to your leader!

Take me to your speaker.

Thanks.

Now all I have in my head is a sound clip of a Canadian Parliamentary session. But I don't think Mr. Speaker makes much noise... seems to be more of a listener.

snazzed
------------
Shaking my head at my own comment.

Mr. Speaker, is more of a......well.....babysitter, where the Canadian Parliament is concerned, disrespect intended.

QFT

On the internet nobody knows you're a speaker ?

Maybe someone artistic could paint an M60 into this

Nothing really new to add, I did finally get to watch a full DVD with 5.1 DD surround, not just clips here and there. I'm even more sold than I was before.

My wife came out of the next room after an action sequence.

Wife- "Honey, the windows are rattling in our room."

Me- "I know, isn't it great!"

Right now the EP500 is sitting on my main floor, which the entire main floor is solid wood and one big flat surface, so basically the whole main floor was resonating to some degree. The kids came out of their room, on the other end of the house and one story up, complaining about the scary rumbling sounds... SWEET!!!

Should be less disturbing in the basement, will be on a sand filled platform on the slab floor. But plenty of punch for the cannons firing in Pirates...