[pftechnician]

I don't know, because I never heard them but how does Axiom home theater speakers sound? What is the word on them, because they look absolutely beautiful. I am a Def Tech guy, but have been a lurker on the Axiom website for a few years now, because they look so beautiful. Why is there very little talk on here about them, no owners thread like almost all the other companies have? Not much on You tube either, not a ton of reviews online for that matter either. So what is the deal with them, thanks?

 

[airgas1998]

in the past they were scrutinized for inferior parts.....i believe however today is another story. the m100 were at a shootout on another forum, and they did quite well. i wouldn't hesitate to buy from them.

 

[Five28]

As a Definitive Technology owner I find your post rather disturbing. Nah, just kidding.

I looked at Amazon for reviews and there are only four for one of the floor standing models. The four reviewers all seem to like these speakers. Bottom line though, is that you would need to audition these for yourself to see if you like their sound, but I'm sure you already knew that. The wood grain is actually vinyl, which sort of left me a bit disappointed.

http://www.amazon.com/M80-Floorstan...&keywords=axiom+M80+v4+Floorstanding+Speakers

 

[pftechnician]

As a Definitive Technology owner I find your post rather disturbing. Nah, just kidding.

I looked at Amazon for reviews and there are only four for one of the floor standing models. The four reviewers all seem to like these speakers. Bottom line though, is that you would need to audition these for yourself to see if you like their sound. The wood grain is actually vinyl, which sort of left me a bit disappointed.

http://www.amazon.com/M80-Floorstan...&keywords=axiom+M80+v4+Floorstanding+Speakers

Yeah I'm a Definitive owner/fan through and through, but was just curious. Not much talk about them. Just found it odd.

 

[newfmp3]

There are some guys here that really, and I mean REALLY went out of their way to trash Axiom like it was their life mission. A simple search here will reveal the same names in almost every discussion. Most of their claims were complete nonsense and usually for personal gain.


I have quite a few of them in my house and I'm happy with them. Take advantage of their B stock/outlet/refurb area's on their web page though as at their normal non discounted prices they have a lot of other competition to consider. They have free shipping and 30 day in home trial. If you are in Canada, they are one of the better brands to consider. If you are in the USA - you guys got lots of options, but I'd still consider them but not at normal prices.

 

[pftechnician]

They just look really beautiful, but that doesn't mean they sound incredible. I mean I love Definitive, they look good in a lot of ways, but in my opinion sound much better than they look. I wish I could hear these somewhere. I'm not about to switch from Definitive so at the end of the day it doesn't matter a ton, its just a curiosity. Thanks for the replies, look forward to reading more of them.

 

[Knucklehead90]

The only thing that I've heard about Axiom is their use of dual tweeters mounted outboard of the three woofers. Lots of experts seemed to think the diffraction of sound would occur. More than a few users seemed to agree. 6 years ago I was in the market for main speakers with a budget of up to $2k. I ended up with some Emotiva speakers which were very good - I came very close to ordering the M80's from Axiom several times. Reviews of them have always been quite favorable. The only Axiom speaker that I know of that gets (consistently?) bad reviews is the VP150 pictured below. YMMV.

 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

The only thing that I've heard about Axiom is their use of dual tweeters mounted outboard of the three woofers. Lots of experts seemed to think the diffraction of sound would occur.

Comb filtering, not diffraction. Either way you don't want to have it.

The only Axiom speaker that I know of that gets (consistently?) bad reviews is the VP150 pictured below.

That's due to the tweeter placement, and the unavoidable comb filtering that's the result. It's very odd, since most of their other products appear to be competently engineered. I say most, as the VP180 is similarly botched.

 

[wlhungdude]

I tried Axiom, in my home, and sent them back. YMMV. Good luck.

Joseph

 

[Knucklehead90]

Comb filtering, not diffraction. Either way you don't want to have it. That's due to the tweeter placement, and the unavoidable comb filtering that's the result. It's very odd, since most of their other products appear to be competently engineered. I say most, as the VP180 is similarly botched.

Diffraction was the only thing I could come up with at that moment! Thanks for clarifying my post. I knew what I wanted to say but came up with the wrong term.

Thanks Bill.

 

[wlhungdude]

Comb filtering, not diffraction. Either way you don't want to have it. That's due to the tweeter placement, and the unavoidable comb filtering that's the result. It's very odd, since most of their other products appear to be competently engineered. I say most, as the VP180 is similarly botched.

very 'botched', ... euphamism for complete garbage... and IMO... no reason to think they know anything about speaker design and execution.... even if some of their other offerings currently, or previously were ,,, ok....please...even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often.

What competent accoustical engineer, or CEO, worth a #hit , who cared about the product,, or customer, and knew the difference between their arse and a hole in a hill, would sign off on such garbage...

Sorry, I'm really trying to be positive... let me try again...ummm... you could certainly do worse, so Axiom isn't as bad as some choices, that are worse, that you could make... yeah,,, that.

 

[ex-labdriver]

I have 3 sets of Axioms throughout my house & I consider them to be as good as anything in their class & price point. My wood veneer High Gloss Rosewood M22s & EP-800 subs look rather magnificent in my HT & certainly sound just as good.

Go to Home Theater Shack (and elsewhere) & check out the credible reviews that were done there in the past couple of years. That is the real story...

TAM

 

[Gmash]

very 'botched', ... euphamism for complete garbage... and IMO... no reason to think they know anything about speaker design and execution.... even if some of their other offerings currently, or previously were ,,, ok....please...even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often.

What competent accoustical engineer, or CEO, worth a #hit , who cared about the product,, or customer, and knew the difference between their arse and a hole in a hill, would sign off on such garbage...

Sorry, I'm really trying to be positive... let me try again...ummm... you could certainly do worse, so Axiom isn't as bad as some choices, that are worse, that you could make... yeah,,, that.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you don't see much about Axiom on this forum. Every time someone brings them up, they get shouted down by people like this. Never heard them myself but there are many happy owners out there.

 

[newfmp3]

Exactly.


I have in my house:


QS8's, VP150, M80, M3 bookshelves, M22 on walls, M2 on walls, VP 150 on wall, M3 in ceiling for atmos. And I'm looking to get more on walls for another room + a sub which will probably be SVS again as I do not consider the Axiom subs a good value. But I've never heard an axiom sub so really I can't comment on it. I have SVS and HSU subs as well as a small Polk.


I replaced Polks, Paradigm, Vega's, and a few other brands all with Axiom's. As a DJ for 12 years, and I worked in a/v sales for years as well, I've seen a few speakers. The only speaker of the bunch that disappoints me is the original VP150 center channel (it's old, from 2004) as vocals in movies could be a little better. It's not horrible but compared to the rest, it's the weakest and I need to run it a touch hot, multeq seems to have fixed 90% of the issues I had with the speaker when I switched from Yamaha to Denon. The On Wall VP 150(brand new 2014 model) is perfectly fine. I'm also struggling with qs8's now with Atmos, as Atmos really requires directional speakers. They are excellent otherwise though and one of the better surround speakers on the market and I'd highly recommend them for any 5.1/7.1 setup.


People are entitled to their own opinions of course, and I always welcome other suggestions. Just like anything on the interweb, make sure the advice you are getting is from valid sources with real hands on experience vs. rumors, speculation, accusation, and self profound experts. But at their price point, they are good deal imho. Sure I'd rather have studio 20's instead of my M3 bookshelves, but I paid $400 for my maple M3's, and around here (Canada) studio 20's start at 1400/pair for black - so yeah they better sound better.




Just to add, weirdly enough, I'm sorta the opposite of the OP. I have always wanted to try Def Tech, especially their on walls. But their prices really scare me off. When you get into that price range, you really have a lot of choices out there

 

[C0rk]

Like a few others have mentioned, two or three years back there was a guy who went out of his way to trash Axiom and that spun up some other posters. It turns out he was employed by a a magazine that lost Axiom advertising, so his views were hugely suspect.

It also seems they have the one center (VP150) that was mentioned above that has a very wide separation of the two tweeters, and that has caused some controversy. I've never heard it and can't comment.

I have Axiom, M22s/VP100 on one system, M3s on another, and love them. The M22s are very neutral so perfect for classical and jazz. The M3s have a mid-bass bump so are good to use for rock without tone adjustments. I use Axioms for my audio systems right now; when I'm ready to get new speakers (towers) for the HT room they will be the ones to beat. That said, I've always wanted to compare them to Paradigm and PSB. Def Tech has also received a lot of good user feedback so I'm guessing are comparable.

I also was drawn to them by the clean design. The standard Axioms are vinyl, but not that you'd notice from even a foot away. They also have an upgrade that adds wood veneer.

 

[Billy p]

Yup...Axiom sure gets a bad rap both here and another forum I frequently visit. I will say this....I started out with the Axiom Q's which I thoroughly enjoyed but I didn't have the same success with their other speakers. In no way am I trying to say the Axioms were bad but more a lateral move at the time. In the end, I went another route(current speakers) that I felt gave me the significant or worthwhile change I was looking for.

I do agree though...they(Axiom) offers some really nice veneer upgrades. You'll have to ask yourself the hard question if you decided on the Axiom "are they going to be an upgrade or not"...I personally didn't not feel that way at the time when I compared them to my Energy RC's....YMMV...however.


Good luck....

 

[jdcrox]

Some like em, some don't. They do tend to be bright, but so do Klipsch, and lots of people love those also.
I had M22ti's years ago, I wound up selling them. Too bright for me. Sounded pretty good on jazz horns, especially with a nice warm tube amp. I thought they were particularly bad on hard rock or metal.
YMMV. Certainly worth a listen, you might love them.
John

 

[C0rk]

Some like em, some don't. They do tend to be bright, but so do Klipsch, and lots of people love those also.

I disagree, I definitely do not think they are bright, not anywhere near Klipsch.

Other than personal preference driving our differing assessment, it might be that they have changed over time. The M22ti line came out around 2000, Axiom has updated their crossovers several times since then, I think they are on what they call v4. So I'm thinking the crossover updates are likely what fixed that problem. (For what it's worth, I have v2 crossovers.)

 

[Elihawk]

Wel, there is a Axiom owner thread and I think you will find the amount of discussion is about right considering the volume of sales. For instance, you will see that Def Tech, Polk, Klipsch and a few other high volume speaker manufactures with lots of models for sale get the most discusssion. I don't wonder why there is not more discusssion about EMPtek speakers, I assume the amount is about equal to the number of us who own them- which would be WAY LESS than the number of polk owners...

 

[ex-labdriver]

The current V4s have updated drivers & crossovers to accommodated them. My new M22s are V4s & sound just fine - accurate, articulate but not overly bright at all in my setup...

TAM