Have been thinking this morning, and before going off to catch a few hours of sleep thought I would get the general opinion of the forum. Most have seen pics of the system and I'm wondering if I could get opinions as to what any of you would 'expect' to hear from the Axiom speakers, playing an average quality CD, at say an 80 dB listening level at the sweet spot, in stereo, 5.1, and 7.1.

Trying all differant listening positions, as say 2 to 3 feet from in front each of the 5 M80s, and the QS8s. Also from each speaker, what would you expect to hear from the remaining speakers and so on. Trying to get the general feeling for imaging, sound stage, forwardness, what ever terms one want to use to describe a well balanced/calibrated system.This should not be all that effected with any brand processor, reciever, or seperates, as in any one making an Axiom system go from good to bad.

May be my music hearing is going deaf, and I'm not really be critical to what I'm hearing. Know this is kinda of a diffacult question, but should not be since memebrs have Axioms, and other than a bit large listening area and so on, Axioms are Axioms. LOL There are many memebers in the 60s posse, and as the general comment is the 60s & 80s are close in sound, with 80's being louder.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

Oh, for music, I don't care Cat Stevens, Billy Joel, DreamTheater, Spocks Beard, Tubular Bells, NIN, what ever.

I too have the 80s and am very happy with them.I will try to give you some info on how they sound to me .

First off I have mine in a stereo set up.When I listen to music I like to sit in the sweet spot with my eyes closed.As far as imaging goes when I sit and concentrate on what I'm listening to I can pretty much pick out where each instrument is in the recordings.The 80s seem to sound a bit closer than where the actual physical placement of them are,I would call this forward.It doesn't matter if I sit,stand or sit on the floor the image does not change.

As far as the sound I would call them very detailed.I mean a cymbal sounds like it should as does guitar,piano or whatever the instruments are at the time.There are times when I sit there with my eyes closed listening and when I open them the sound seems to be coming from way out of where the speakers are actually placed.When a singer is front and centered I swear it seems there is a center channel playing.In this respect I would say they are very focused,the sound doesn't wander around it stays planted in that position.

Well I hope this is what you were looking for Dennis.Like I said this is what I think my Axioms sound like.

Feeling a bit insecure, are we?

I would go for stereo listening first. That will give you a good baseline as to what to expect from two. Use something well recorded (Sting-Mercury Falling and Brand New Day are a couple of my favorite test discs). If you're sitting in the sweet spot, you should be able to pick out where all the instruments are (bearing in mind, of course, that with mastering, the producers can do really weird things). Buena Vista Social Club is a great one for this, but I am of the opinion that disc could sound good if you put it in a discman, hooked up the headhpone jack to a pair of speakers from the 70s with blown drivers and cranked it. So it may not be the best test to look for quality speakers with!

Okay.....I'm listening to a new Billy Joel 52 nd Street (SACD multi-channel) that just arrived at the door a bit ago.

Now, I 'm hearing exactly what you two just described, and I have not changed one single thing since Monday.

Here is my offer, I'm at most an hour from downtown SF at non rush hour. I'm not going to touch, spindle, or mutliate one single setting on the entire system till one of the lcoal memebrs can make it out here in the next few days. Whom ever can, I will gladly buy them the best lunch/dinner in Tracy. Paranoid I'm not, determeind to get a third opinion that is respected on this forum...YES.

Ken, how about you and I try to help this man out together?

It sounds like a good idea to me, but I need to see if my back gets better.

I'm not broke yet, so the more the better, can use valued opinions in this matter. I don't expect to have it tweaked 100%, mainly want to prove to myslef, that I do know what I'm doing, and not off in left field some where.

Well don't kill youself. I have no plans for the next few days except building the new CD/DVD rack, its simple, and does not take any thought, so I'm safe on that. But I do have neighbors that like to offer suggestions on those projects, that I can do without. lol

Have you considered using lengths of riftsawn quarterround as an edge finish on your CD rack? I hear that looks really great.

Well I have to kinda stick with the rest of the cabinets, if not, then I will be forced back to the origianl plan, replacing all the kitchen cabinets with top of line, and I'm getting tired of remodling this house, started the day we bought it. lol

Okay, another listening example, I'm in the puter room, my desk faces the listening area, with an 6' x 5' opening, the sub is like 30'' from me. Listening from here with a 90 - 100 dB peaks, I have good sound, I can pick out both QS8s, and two of the front 80's, third is a bit bloked by the wall, but still hear it. Running in 5.1 for the sacd, and to me, for a system that is not tweaked, its cool.

you know I was just kidding about the CD rack, right?

lol, at this point in the day, I would just about agree to givng an amp up I guess.

aw heck. don't sweat the audition. If you like your system, that's all the counts.

Not so much worried about the system, I know its good, jst sometimes I like to prove facts, and amy one that takes an unfair issue with the Axioms, is treading lightly. There is more to the story than I told, so I have some personl reasons as well.

Dennis,
I am still trying to figure out how Dr. Jimmy could mention spending 9k on a car system for his Lexus yet balk at a couple of hundred dollars in return costs if he didn't like the Axioms? Maybe the Lexus was only worth 9k? Anyhow, my condolences go out to you. Sounds like he wasted your time and his.
Maybe one day when I get down your way I'll look you up. Would love to hear that setup as most other board members would. My brother/sister-in-law are over in the Dublin/Pleasanton area. Might be visiting them this summer.
Cheers,
Shaun

I have to admit that I'm guilty of constantly browsing the internet looking for reviews or discussions on some of the audio equipment I own. There is a certain satisfaction in reading good things about your own equipment. However, for the 100 positive returns there is always one person or reviewer who doesn't agree. Unfortunatley, it is that one thing that sticks in your head and makes you think, "Hm, did I make a mistake?" It is tough in this highly subjective audio world to get everyone to like the same things. And most of us, I think, want to have things that are liked by others. When someone comes along and has an experience that is different from almost everyone else on the boards, it kind of throws a wrench in the mix. Is the person being malicious, or just guilty of having different tastes? Finding the right tone to say you don't like something is difficult at best. Especially on a forum dedicated to the product that is being "bashed."

Dennis, as you know, one of the first steps in getting good imaging and the other aspects of a well-setup system is to have the speakers calibrated to balance the levels and distances. Although your C2 has about 13,000 possible manual adjustments(just kidding, it's only about 10,000),it has an autocalibration for level and distance that by all reports is excellent(it better be!). Since those factors may have been significant in the infamous Jimmy Audition, it may be a good idea to run the basic autocalibration as described on p.30 of the manual and then think about the fancier stuff at your leisure. One point though, is that if you have a tripod or other way to hold the mike in position, that may be better than just holding it in your hand as the manual describes, since it gets your body out of the way of the sound.

After a while you have to stop worrying about it and enjoy the system. One problem with the Internet is that it becomes possible sometimes to get ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY THE BEST VALUE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, which wasn't even worth thinking about 10 years ago. Guess what. It doesn't matter. There will always be better systems. There will always be systems that cost 1/4 as much and sound 2/3 as good. Next year's Axioms will be better than this year's Axioms. Who cares ?

Did we pay a fair price for good products of the right type, and did we spend approximately the right amount of money on our systems ? Well, obviously we all spent about twice as much as we planned, but that goes without saying. For the rest of the questions I think the answer is a resounding "yes".

Could I have bought similar speakers from another mfg and been just as happy ? Probably, although they would probably cost a bit more and the customer service probably wouldn't be as good. These aren't the first nice speakers I have owned and they hopefully won't be the last.

I'm not even sure these are the best speakers I have owned but they're pretty darned good, they play music at a quality level I haven't heard for almost 20 years, and I'm really enjoying them. That's all we can ask for.

Right on, John.

One of my goals is to savor the joyful moments of my daily life. I have more of those moments thanks to my Axiom hi-fi.

Like bigwill said, Life Is Good.

aah, one big speaker hug.

Well said, bridgman. As much as we all like tweaking, at the end of the day have to take the time to enjoy the music. That's what we buy all this stuff for, right?

Warm fuzzy feelings for all.


Or is that the chili I had for lunch...
Excuse me.

Sorry, I may have missed stating that in my reply at 2am, the auto calibration has been done with the 30 foot mic, of course only needed about half that lenght to my seating area. and checked with the Radio Shack SLM. So yes, that basic set up has been done and rechecked many times as speakers get relocated for some reason.