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

Chesseroo ... Ian still looks like Ian. And he still has the famous Ian laugh. Unfortunately, no pictures. When the speakers arrive, I promise to take a lot of pix.

I settled on a Marantz 7008 amp. It tested well, including over 200 wpc as a two channel amp. One can also use the pre outs to driven a separate amp.

Originally i read that as "Ian still looks like Alan".
Geez i had way too much of the Chook Shed shiraz this evening.
http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1089652

I'm glad to see Marantz is still chugging along and keeping with some vintage blue light elements. Frankly i quite love any a/v gear that has cool blue lights. Not obnoxious, but damn, bring back the old analog dials and meters. Cool stuff.

Aww, I miss my 2252B.

My first great power amp was a Marantz 510 with the matching 3600 preamp - bought them in 1978.

Last year, I picked up a perfect Marantz 250 amp ... 125 WPC into 8 ohms and 200 into 4 ... bench tested this amp at 166 WPC into 8 / 252 into 4.

It will definitely get a shot at the M100's and Martin Logans.

Based on a conversation with Ian, I pulled the trigger and ordered an ADA-1000-5 and an EP-800 this morning.

For most listening, the ADA-1000 will be used as a 3 channel amp for home theater use, and 2 channel for the tower tests. The Marantz will power the back speakers for home theater usage.

And Ian liked the idea of a direct comparison of the EP-800 to the SS-18.2 we were selling at Chase Home Theater ... think "intelligent DSP and great 12 inch woofers" versus "lots of power and great 18 inch woofers".

The Chase 18 inch woofer is comparable, if not identical, to the driver used in the Power Sound Audio T-18 subwoofer. Both are sourced from Eminence on the best platform/longest throw available from Eminence.

Following closely. This will be interesting.

OK.. so I gather that you went with a 5 channel amp so you don't have to unplug any wires? I have never been to one of these events so I have no idea how they work.

Matt - You just made a good point .. some clarification is a good idea here, in regards to how this type of testing works.

There is the longer term testing between two speakers (in this case, M100's vs Martin Logan ESL Hybrid). I will break both speakers in for at least 50 hours before doing any serious listening, and switch them in and out over a period of weeks.

Over a time period, comments will be posted regarding the listening experience .. with attention paid to bass extension, bass articulation, mid range clarity, treble clarity, is either harsh at a frequency, with a particular instrument, or with higher volumes.

Microdynamics (example - a whisper in a song) will be tested. And finally, the "musicality" of each speaker pair will be posted, based on personal experience.

Some speakers make you want to listen longer. Some don't ... and it is usually the more musical speaker which does.

THEN ... the other type of test is one done at a GTG. In this test, listeners will get the chance to hear each speaker pair for a period of about an hour. Then the process is repeated with the other speaker pair.

The listeners will then write up a "review" regarding what they thought of the speakers, with no comments between the listeners.

After they are done, the results are handed in. I usually am the "host", and collect the notes, without reading them.

The listeners then get to "see" which speaker pair was "A" and which was "B". At this point, we get out the notes from everyone, and review them.

It's a lot of fun - and also is pretty close to what Axiom does at their facility, except they can do instant A-B switching.

Does this help clear things up?

As for the amp - plus center channel and subwoofer - I am getting those just for fun. I have, for a strict 2 channel listening test, a NAD 317 integrated amp with easy switching between speaker pair "A" and "B". For a GTG style setting, no subwoofer would be used, just the NAD amp, a good CD player, and the speakers in question.

I'm looking forward to reading your results and journey there.

I have a couple of questions regarding a gtg setup. Based on some personal sighted A/B tests I did a while ago with some bookshelves I noticed some things. Their "ideal" positions, based on their interaction with my room and listening position, were slightly overlapping. It was not possible to listen to each in an A/B switching setup without physically moving them to their optimal position (room boundry, toe in, etc) and the other slightly out of the way.

How do you plan to address this in a GTG setting where speakers live behind a curtain? I guess how fussy are you with setup and ensuring the speakers are judged on ideal setup? This has always been my biggest gripe with shootouts and GTG setup stories. But I have no idea how to accomplish an ideal test with ideal setup. ::shrug::

My understanding of the options is :

1. (preferred) - speakers mounted on hydraulically operated platforms (or a bunch of garage-sale Roombas rendered surplus after owners tire of posting cat/Roomba videos on YouTube) so each speaker under test moves into the preferred position when activated

2. (practical) - participants move speakers manually (only after participating in this round of blind test) and are rewarded with beer

3. (equally practical) - each speaker pair is slightly offset horizontally to the previous pair, such that ideal listening position moves slightly between speaker pairs. Listening position is a roller chair

4. (what I'm doing today) - each pair of speakers is inside/outside previous pair so listening position does not move, but separation between speakers changes