Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M60, M80, Studio 100, 1909, 2808 Shootout ? ? ?

Neanderthal.

Heh! I resemble that remark!

I would not use Audyssey at least at first and just listen to them as they are. Use an SPL meter to level match the speakers to assure that they all have the same loudness in the main seating area, otherwise there is a chance the louder on will always be the prefered or better sounding one.

Here is a link to a large comparison that Mojo(must remember to contact him later this week ) and I did awhile back for some ideas as to what you can get away with in our non-scientific experiments.

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=181868&fpart=1

and one more

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=12983&Number=179405#Post179368

Jay,

I remember enjoying that read. Thanks for the reminder. I will re read it. Actually, from you guys noting that the pair on the 'outside' had a sound (stage) advantage. From your experience,do you recommend physically removing the non used pair(s) away and having the 'tested' pair' always in the same position by themselves?

I think we played around with the toe-in and found that with a little added toe-in the soundstage was nearly identical across all the speakers, I believe I noted in our first encounter that the wider set of M60s had a little more width to it's sound but Mojo didn't find it that way. For the other tests we never moved them around due to time constraints.

I have done some recent M22 comparisons and with only 2 sets of speakers, I swapped them from inside positions to outside positions and the sound never really changed.

As you are looking at floorstanders I think you could run all three through a switcher like we did and after one full list of songs swap the positions and see if the sound stage changes at all.

And just remember the biggest thing is to have fun I wish I could be there, I wonder if my sister in Foster City would like a visit, albeit a very, very short one

Jay,
Your sister is more than welcome if she is interested. My wife will likely find things to do away from home. She does not 'get' all this energy over HT/sound. It's not like we are talking about something important like shoes/clothes or something! ;o)

HEH! I just remembered I have a speaker switch stored away that I used at my old house for stereo to multiple room. I just got lucky and found it! Ha! It is a GC Electronics Cat.No. 30-8712 with A/B source input (woo hoo, I can A/B test my 1909 to a 2809 or 3808 if I get one) and switching for 5 pairs of speakers. Instructions (even more amazed I found them!) say it can be used with amps rated up to 100watts RMS and is designed for amps which accept a minimum speaker impedance of 4 ohms.

Does this sound like it would do the job?

It can select protection circuit on/off. It notes: "Some audiouphiles may prefer to switch off the protection when it is not needed". I wonder if it hinders the signal? If I do get 2809 or 3808 to test along the 1909, do you think their 115/130w would be a problem? It says connect with 18 ga wire. Pfhht! Getting my current 12 ga wire in the small terminal block may be a challenge. But if I connect speakers with 14 ga wire that should be more than adequate and not impinge on SQ, I believe.

Hmmmmn... I wonder if I hooked QS8 surrounds to speaker pair #4 and QS8 backs to speaker pair #5 on the switcher:

I wonder if there is any analysis worth trying with them, like A/B the two amps at a given 1) amp volume know level 2) See if there is a discernable SQ difference at a matching SPL/dB level between amps? Actually, I guess this is what I'd be looking for on the Amp A/B switching on one or more pairs of fronts, so I'd get the 'amp difference' more easily noticed there (if at all?)

The switcher sounds like it should work and I would turn off the impedance matching just in case the resistors color the sound and I am sure they would to some degree. That is why you level match the speakers anyway, to ensure they all play at the same sound level and as long as you are not at or near max levels, the impedance differences shouldn't matter once they are matched with the meter.

I very much appreciate Ken having me over this afternoon to be able hear his M80's. They sounded very good and another decision has been made. I waffle a lot. One of the main reasons I ordered both 60's and 80's was in case the 80's were too bright, or having 4 ohms be an issue on my 1909. Well, they sounded good on Ken's comparably powered Harmon Kardon, so that factor is a non issue. Especially since, in the last few days I decided I will likely upgrade to a 3808 soon. I will contact Brent at Axiom to cancel the M60's. Now I save the hassle of doing this testing thing. Also, I felt like asking my Paradigm dealer to borrow a pair of 100's was too much after being in his shop the other day looking at the 3808. He asked if I had made a decision on speakers, and I told him I had ordered Axioms. He did not say anything disparaging, or anything at all. But my asking to borrow speakers for a demo, now seemed like a stretch.

So I will not be able to have a speaker comparison meet, the invitation is still open to you guys if you'd like to have a mini Axiom meet out here in Discovery Bay. We'd call it... 'Mini Meet'! Ken said there had not been any Bay Area/Northern CA Axiom gatherings. What? A few more of you Californians need to hop to, and buy some Axioms, so Northern Ca. can be represented better! While we could not compare 60's and 80's, we could see how the 1909 drives the M80's to a nice high dB level. Ken, if you had time in early to mid April before it got too close to the new arrival and Adam was available too, it would be fun to have you guys out. I fully understand, Ken, that that period may be crunch time for you and your wife. Afterwords certainly will be!

Again let me say how grateful I am that both Ken and Adam were able to open their homes and share their time with me. Great Thanks!

Dave
PS. Adam, Peter, Tom: You guys were full of it in your PM's talking about Ken. He is a very nice guy! You guys should lay off the gossip.

Glad you had a great time!


Well, he must have eater recently then.