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

Hi guys - Most of the Axiom speakers arrived today. It was funny - I get home, and am looking at the boxes, and thought they accidentally sent an EP600 instead of an EP-800.

Turns out this was the box for the center channel.

Anyway, I fired up the M50's where the Martin Logans were, and they are now burning in for the next 48 hours. More later ...

Hi craigsub. I'm just commenting on the fact that you are "burning in" your new Axioms. Good move. There is debate about whether it's needed or not but mine took about 60 hours before the sense of ear strain disappeared. Enjoy

Good morning guys .. time for a quick update. All the equipment has arrived - I now have a pair of M100's, a pair of M50's, an EP800, a VP180, and an ADA-1000 5 ...

Last night, while relaxing, I listened to some music on the M50's with about 10 hour's worth of burn in time. Coming off the Martin Logans, I have to say they are one impressive small tower.

The last disc was Supertramp's mid 80's "Brother, Where you Bound". This is another reference quality disc, with an 18 minute long song having the same name as the Album. The M50's, while still needing time to "breathe", did a terrific job on this disc. Bass was deep and tight, the sound effects were quite noticeable, and the overall presentation was powerful.

In the title song, there is one portion where a military formation walks from the right side to the left of the "stage". Good speakers will give the effect that the marchers start "outside" one side and to the outside of the other ... and the M50's handled this with ease.

There is a lot of "work" to be done, but so far, the M50's are sounding good.

The Legacy Signature SE's get delivered today, and the M100's are sitting in the same room with the M50's.

The fact that I am not experiencing "let's get the $1000 speaker test done so we can do the $3000 and $7000 speakers" is pretty cool.

Craig -- Exciting. Looking forward to following this process. My long anticipated M80s + EP500s also arrive off of layaway in about a month so we are on a parallel timeline. (center VP180 & surrounds too, but the projection room is not quite done, so it will be stereo music + subs in the office for a while).

cheers - DSQ

Guys ... posted this on Home Theater Shack tonight:

The M50's arrived two days ago (along with the M100's, but as promised, the M50's are first up). They have about 20 hours on them, and tonight is the first round with Diana Krall. The M50's are a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a let down after 6 weeks of listening to the Martin Logans, and they are anything but a let down.

Krall's voice is as seductive as ever, the stand up bass clear, guitar work sounds wonderful, and even the light cymbal work by the drummer is coming through naturally. Where most speakers in the $1000 range are lacking is dynamics, but the M50's will easily play louder, without strain, that I will ever want to listen. On the flip side, they also get "quiet" in the way a much more expensive speaker would. I can't say the M50's are "better" than the Martin Logans - but they are making for a similar experience on the Krall disc.

Neither the Martin Logans nor the M50's deliver subwoofer bass, but both do 40 Hz well, and both a comparably tight and musical. It is only the first night of serious listening, but so far, these are some very fine speakers.

As I've said before, I've always liked the simple driver compliment of the M50s & always wondered how they sounded. They would be my choice for towers if I went that way.

I'm glad to see that they are faring well...

TAM

Hi guys - Time for another update. All the speakers have arrived, including the Legacy Signature SE's.

I did some more listening last night - Dire Straits "Making Movies" and a test disc that Legacy includes with a speaker purchase. The Legacy disc is a mix of male and female vocals, several classical selections, Acoustic Guitar ... etc ...

The First song is "Novocaine" by Amber Rubarth. This was my first listen to her music, and I already have ordered a disc form her called "Sessions" from 2012. She has a distinctive voice, and there is so much air around her in this song "Novocaine" that it got 3 listens last night.

The M50's are continuing to impress a LOT. Deep soundstage, very smooth on vocals, yet with lots of detail.

Starting tonight, the M100's will get their 60 hours of break in, with some listening early next week, then next week will finish with the Legacy speakers getting the same treatment.

After all four sets of speakers have had break in time and this initial listening, it will be "round robin" listening for several months.

Keep in mind, we are looking at a pair of $998 delivered M50's, $2498 in a store Martin Logan Electromotion ESL, $2660 delivered M100's and finally $6995 delivered Legacy Signature (with what most companies would consider a premium finish as standard).

Axiom prices are for vinyl, and from Outlet Store.

This is getting more fun all the time.

Guys ... just posted this on Home Theater Shack (edited for here to avoid redundancy):

All four speakers have now arrived - plus the original Klipsch LaScala II's. We now have in ascending order by price:

1. Axiom M50's
2. Martin Logan Electromotion ESL Hybrids
3. Axiom M100's .
4. Legacy Audio Signature SE's
5. Klipsch LaScala II's @ $7000 per pair

Our Martin Logans came from Audio Advisor, while the LaScala II's came from One Call. Thanks to both companies for superb service.

The Axiom M100's have spent the last 50 hours burning in, and we did some listening today. My daughter is studying music theater at the university level, with 2 years of opera training. She stopped by today and spent about an hour listening to various vocals and other tracks of unamplified music.

She was very impressed with the Axioms - for someone with her training to comment that the "performers sound like they are here singing" is quite the compliment for a speaker. The M100's are in that "high end" speaker arena in which one hears detail one usually misses with other speakers.

I am definitely looking forward to spending time with them - especially with a weather forecast of rain the next 2 nights.

The Legacy Signatures are standing by - and looking fantastic in the high gloss black pearl finish.

I would be really interested in knowing a couple things with the M100
1) size of the room you are doing the demo in
2) how far they are from the back wall and side

Andrew suggested these ,however if, I build a movie room it will be 15 x 23 or 17 x 23. not sure yet. or I will put them in a renovated room that's 13 x 17 and I believe that's too small for these.

Troy - Our room is 44 x 14.5 feet, but the sitting position is only about 12 feet from the M100's. They are appx. 2 feet from the side walls and 3 feet from the back walls.

Did you and Andrew discuss the smaller room when he suggested the M100's? Or was this in context of the larger two room options?