Wow are my new Axioms ever BRIGHT! To bright for my taste. How can I reduce the brightness? Will a EQ help. I don't want to send them back if I can reduce this brightness...what should I do? I am using a brand new Denon reciever...it sounds great on my old speakers so I don't think the problem is my electronics.

Bensch, the treble of the Axioms is accurate. It may be that your old speakers are significantly less accurate in that area and that over time you're gotten used to that. The simplest adjustment is to turn down the treble on the receiver, but obviously this reduces the accuracy of the reproduction.

Which Axiom speakers did you get?

What make and model are those old speakers?

CAV104

I agree with JohnK.
I prefer the accurate high end frequency reproduction that the Axiom speakers provide. I have found that listening to other more laid back speakers sounds to me like something is being filtered.
I have yet to come across my perfect speakers where there is no sharp brightness upon the first audtion and yet maintain a truly accurate sound reproduction. Only time will tell with thousands of speakers yet to be auditioned....

Just offhand, if you don't like the speakers, why don't you return them or for that matter, why did you buy them? I'm assuming you did audition the Axiom before you bought, or was this a leap of faith type purchase?

My old speakers are the no longer made Dynaudio audience 40, they are small bookshelf speakers about the same size as the M3ti. My new M60's were going to replace the Dynos. I was surprised to find the little Dynos have better bass than the M60's. I guess the Dynaudios will be staying and the Axioms going. I'm not saying the M60 is a bad speaker, I'm just saying they do not suite my taste. The little Dynos have better bass impact (better for rock), less bright mids and a softer more pleasant sounding highs. The M60 sounds like very accurate hi-fi (all frosting and no cake) and with the Dynos I can get down to the emotional meat of the music. With the M60s I simply do not become emotionally involved in the rhythm and impact of the recording...if I turn the treble way up on the dynos and turn the bass way down they sound close to the M60...I guess it just comes down to taste.

I have to wonder if there is something wrong with your setup, because I can't imagine any smaller bookself being able to even produce as much bass as the M60s I have. What size of speaker wire are you using? Are you sure that the straps connecting the top and bottom sets of inputs are in place and tight? Maybe your signal is only fully making it to the upper range inputs.

Michael

(The only way I would let you take my M60s away would be if you were replacing them with M80s!)

Michael, you may have hit it! About 3 months ago I diagnosed a problem kayizm reported. He had returned M50s for M60s and reported very muffled sound with poor highs on the M60s. Pondering this a bit, I noted that the M50s had only one set of terminals, while the M60s had two, allowing biwiring. After suggesting to kayizm that his tweeters might not be working if the straps weren't connecting the two sets of terminals, he reported that this was the problem and now all was well.

It's possible, as you suggest, that here the opposite problem exists. Now that I read from Bensch that his old speakers are Dynaudios, I know that they have one set of terminals since Dynaudio(correctly I believe)takes the position that biwiring is nonsense. If Bensch isn't familiar with this and has only the upper terminals connected on his M60s, this would mean that the woofers aren't operating and would tend to explain the brightness and poor bass. He should make certain that the connecting straps are tight or use the lower terminals anyway, as a test.

I vote, that if Michael hit the solution dead on, he should be upgraded from frequent flier to first class (old hand in Axiom speak)!!!

I was going to wait for a responce to the 'binding post straps' suggestion, but what the heck..
I'm betting it's the straps, or something to do with the way the system has been set up.. Cross phase wiring, bad or faulty connection, etc ?
Now, to address the brightness issue.. If, after all this, you still find them overly bright, just give it time.. It's been said before, but again, it does take time to adjust to a new set of speakers.. Not that 'they' need to be broken in, but that 'your ears' do.. Like a new pair of sneakers, they never really feel right at first.. You compair them to your favorite beat up old pair, and think the new one are too tight, or they pinch, etc.. Next thing ya know, the new ones are broken in, and in no time they are the only ones you wear.. Same same with a new car, new job, etc..
Bottom line, get those Sixties hooked up right, to a working power source, and get yourself broken in..

I had a similar experience with the M60's being too bright. Call Joe Vasello (sp?) in service. He has a fix to try out. It has worked nicely for me. Part of my problem was that these are bright speakers AND I have a bright receiver. Aimee may extend your trial time too in order to give you a chance to see if you like Joe V's fix.
Overall, I am very happy to have kept these speakers.

Just curious....Why not post the fix here so everybody who have experience same problem can do the fix right away???

I too am very interested in what the fix is. I don't think my M60s are too bright, but maybe they already 'fixed' mine.

I would definitely verify that your speakers are properly hoked up. The positive and negative are likely to be inversed if a tiny pair of bookshelves that are not that good are outperforming the M60's.

If you are still having difficulties, contact Joe at Axiom.

OK...here is the deal
The straps are hooked up proper and the two bass drivers are working. After using them for a while I find they do have deeper bass than my Dynos but it is a very differant type of bass. It is deep but does not have the same sense of power to it...hard to explain. I still find them much to bright for my taste but clearer than the Dynos. I think they VERY good speakers for the price but just to bright for taste (it seems I'm not alone here.) I will look into the "fix" that has been mentioned here. No matter how good a speaker system may be if it is to bright it is a deal killer for me. They have to much brightness in the mids and just slightly to much highs for my ears (or perhaps for my listening room.)
Over all however I think they are good speakers that many people would be very happy with.
BTW...the little Dynos were the same price as the M60 and are pretty darn good..but no longer made.

I think at this point you should probably return the speakers.

It seems to me you enjoy more of a silk dome tweeter type of sound.

If you do a search at hometheaterforum ( in the speakers and subwoofer section) you will find many recomendations for these types of speakers.

Although the Audience 40 is discontinued you still could try the 42 or 62 and 72 floorstanding models.

http://www.dynaudiousa.com/products/audience/62/aud62.htm


The Rockets and Diva's also have silk tweeters. You can find out about those products at AVS Forum. They are sold at:

http://www.av123.com/diva_r3.shtml#

http://www.rocketloudspeakers.com/default.asp

the fix is hardware related - Joe sent me some resistors for the tweeters. I thought it best he discuss it with Joe to see if this would even help with his concerns.

Just a quick note about breaking-in a pair of new speakers... I wouldn't normally think there would be a noticable difference after several hours of use, but I'm convinced there is, and it is the speakers. I upgraded from a pair of M22's to M60's a few months ago, going from 200-300 hours of use on the M22's to fresh M60's... When I first got the M60's, I was suprised in how little the bass came out... I even compared with the M22's and the bass output was almost the same from the bookshelf's... But after a few weeks and a lot of hours of use, the bass really comes out of the M60's. The only reason I'd ever get a sub now is for home theatre, and then only if there was a good sound barrier between me and my neighbours.

As for the trebble, I do think Axioms are a bit on the bright side, or rather accurate side. But I find that for most of the music I listen to, if it's well-recorded then it sounds superb. For some CD's, I turn the treble down a decible or two. But it is definately a matter of developing tastes, as well, since I now spend a lot of time listening to the trebble lines, whereas before I got into hi-fi audio I cared more about bass.

Another note for those thinking Axiom's are lean on the bass side is that they aren't designed to bloat the bass out at around 100 Hz, as other speakers I've listened to seem to. Room placement is critical for fixing or causing this "problem" as well.

Scott

Dynaudio speakers are amazing speakers. They have won many awards in the bookshelf category because its great bass extension in a small bookshelf format. Even their new lines have out bet lines by B&W, Celestion, Monitor Audio.