Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Hearing Things A six month long test of an Axiom Tower vs. ???

What about the Ascend Acoustics Sierra Tower, has a similar number/compliment of drivers, 2 woofers, 1 mid, 1 tweeter, (compared to the M60) with the dome tweeter it does cost 25% more, both companies are ID businesses.
Compared to the M80 the price is more similar but the M80 has double the Mids and Tweeters.
The Ascend with the Ribbon Tweeter is similar in price to the M100
Just a suggestion.
Jeff

Strider - The Ascend Towers are a pretty compelling speaker. Comparing just those to a pair of M100's would be a pretty tough task - tough in a good way.

I am heading out on vacation tomorrow ... back on April 13.

This vacation will include a lot of golf in Central Florida. At the age of 54, there has to be some stiff shaft jokes in there somewhere.

Once I get back, some speakers will be ordered. This will be fun!

Would love to see some blind tests of both high end and budget amps against each other to find out if there's really any difference other than the extra 0's on the expensive ones. Not sure how one acquires a bunch of amps without having to lay out some serious coin...I doubt if companies at the higher end would loan out any equipment knowing they'll be tested against amps costing less than a 1/3 of theirs.

Another vote for Ascend Towers. My plan was to either buy some M60v4s sooner or save a while for Towers with the RAAL tweeter (nearly 2x the price).

I went with M60v4s. They arrived yesterday (yay !!) and are sitting beside a pair of Ascend Sierra-1's. I'm really struggling with the comparison, partly because I don't have a switch box and partly because there are a bunch of big vs bookshelf factors mixed in.

There are a couple of things I prefer about the Sierras (percussion sounds a bit tighter in busy spots and acoustic piano sounds a bit more realistic) but I remember hearing some of the same things I liked about the Sierra's when I had a borrowed pair of M3's sitting beside my M60ti's. Small box vs big box. Bleah.

I really need a pair of M3's to do this comparison properly. And a 3-way remote speaker switch. And an assistant. And, as long as I'm whining, I need more free time, more hair for the back of my head, and a couple of yards of crushed stone for that big %^$#&^%$ swamp at the end of my driveway.

Hey, I have a better idea. How about if I give up on my comparison and bring M60s/Sierra-1's (and beer) down to your test instead ?

I haven't put the M60v4's side-by-side with the M60ti's yet but my immediate impression was that the v4's had a more neutral balance. The M60ti's only needed to be toed in to make the stereo imaging "pop" and otherwise sounded a bit better when pointed straight ahead, but the v4's image AND sound best when they're toed in and tweeters are at ear level. For me (6'5" with sofas & chairs raised 4") that's either a 6" plinth or a 1x2 under the front feet. Guess Mark was right about the M100's.

Not sure how to do an amp shoot-out without a really fancy switch box unless someone's memory for sound is a lot better than mine. Even the time it takes to swap speaker cables is enough to muck up an A/B comparison for me.

Bleah. I had forgotten that in my room M60s need to be further away from the wall than Sierras. Pulled them out another foot (36" from back of speaker to the wall) and sound improved significantly.

... and once I pulled the speakers out far enough from the wall I no longer needed to tilt/raise them to get a balanced sound. Definitely different from the ti's, in a good way.

Good thing I don't test speakers for a living.

If there is a comparison for amps I'd like to recommend using low efficiency bookshelf speakers for testing. There are a few models out there that are around 83-84db/1wm that are ideal for this kind of test. I mentioned it in the amp evaluation prep thread over at HTS but it didnt take.... They ended up using high efficiency speakers and I suspect the results will show differences, but not as vast as they would have been otherwise. I can recommend trying Leema Xeros and Dynaudio Excite speakers.

Bridgman ... I get back from vacation, and see your hilarious posts. That's something we need more of in this hobby. You are welcome here any time!

Today is also tax day in the US, so it's been a wild couple of days since we returned.

Hopefully, over the next couple of days, we will get things firmed up for this test - I am leaning towards getting a pair of M100's, a pair of M50's, possibly a center channel, a subwoofer and one other pair of towers or bookshelf speakers.

The M100's are under serious consideration because the one pair of speakers I have missed the most is the M80's I got about 9 years ago. The M100's would eventually be tested against something like the Goldenear Triton 2's. They are getting raves, and are a solid Class B in Stereophile.

The M50's would be tested against possibly a pair of SVS Prime Towers and the Home Theater Direct Level 3 towers. This test would be, unlike most one sees, a realistic test using a hime theater receiver.

Too many of these tests are done with $9000 in amps driving a $1000 pair of speakers. I never read where a guy looking for something like an M50 based home theater was going to use amps that cost 9 times the price of the speakers.

Of all the AV Forums I frequent, this is the only one with any humour.

That says a lot about the folks who hang out here...

TAM

We were all dropped on our heads as kids?