Axiom-Is the hype to be believed?

[HighFlyer]

Thanks, I was aware of that. Return shipping could be big bucks. GB

[Geoffcin]

>As a newbie I don't/can't really appreciate the terms "bright" and "muddy" yet as I have no reference base.<

Bright would seen to have a more pronounced treble as opposed to midrange response. Bright is not always a bad thing. My maggies are considered "bright" by some audiophiles, and there's even an optional resistor to put into the crossover to tone down the tweeters responce. (although I would never use it) Unfortunately bright has gotten a bad name, as a lot of cheap gear is unseemly bright, and that what we would call "etched," or in the worse case "tinny."

The Axioms are NOT like this, they are just brighter than my CSW speakers. (so are my maggies) I happen to LIKE bright speakers. (perhaps I should have bought the Axioms)?

Muddy anyone can understand, and it's something you NEVER want in your speaker response. It's characterized by uncontrolled distorted bass. Usually only low end speakers have an overall muddy bass, although I've heard some very good speakers that got muddy when they were asked for more SPL than they were capably of. Actually, almost all woofers start to distort at an amazingly low SPL, rising up to 10%-30% distortion or more as you start to get near their limits.

I think trying out the speakers in your home is WORTH the extra $$$ if you have to ship them back.

[RGA]

Make sure you listen to a speaker first...it may also be the case the speaker is so bad no store would want to carry them...why not consider that possibility.

I like the reviews by Hi Fi Choice because they have aa panel of reviewers and listen blind level matched. So, there is no price, name brand and price bias. What Hi-fi also listens in a panel and they review directly against several of the competitors side by side...something most of us don't get to do as one dealer will carry 3 brands another dealer carries 3 nd another etc so we don't listen with the same gear in the same room...which is not really a fair method of listening and evaluating. And even the more subjective reviews with technical arguments don't ever get the measured result to match the subjective(which means the measured result is not telling you everything you need to know...but at least it fills the page and is another feel-good re-enforcer to your bias that you're buying the right speaker). It may sound atrocious but the graph says it's the right speaker so when in doubt ignore what you hear. And it works because a lot of abysmal speakers get sold over and over year in and year out.

I have nothing against what Axiom is doing. They sell you the speaker knowing most people will never send it back no matter what. But they ensure you listen in your own home and will change the positioning to suit your needs and they probably sound ok maybe great maybe not. But it's better than selling in the Wall-O-speakers against competitors - after all competition is a bad thing becaue you might go home with a Polk and not an Axiom. Axiom assures you go home with their speaker...and they know once there it's highly unlikely you'll return them. And most people don't have other speakers in their home. So it will undoubtedly sound bette than comptitors in a store's bad room with wall-O-Speakers so you can say that your Axiom sounds better than anything and everything else. Smart business sense...Magnepan does the same as does nOhr and a whole bunch of others.

No matter how well reviewed and what the leading measurements say...there is no gauarantee you'll like the speaker. I would lean to the B&W 303 in this price range...I have not heard everything but it gets well reviewed by the subjective reviewers and did the best in the BLIND listening panel. Though it is a bit of an older speaker and it may have been surpassed and I'm not overly enthusiastic about its brighter leaning tweeter. The Energy C3 is a few hundred Canadian more and is pretty good as well. I would try for a more natural sounding speaker that integrateds the overall sound smoothly by closely matching the drive units. That means a tweeter and a woofer that have a similar sonic signature. It's one thing for a paper woofer to create a flatter response and a metal tweeter to create a flatter response...it's another for them to provide an integrated sound or mesh together seamlessly. I have yet to hear METAL drivers sound natural and integrate properly with the other drivers. Your mileage may vary.