Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Help needed with M5HP receiver options

I wasn't upset at all with the M100 mix-up. I just wanted you to know. From the front, you'd never know the difference between an LFR1100 and an M100. Recognize too there is a passive LFR1100 and an active. I have the active.

Regarding how long it's going to take to fulfil your order, Axiom's AI monitors these boards. Those who are impatient with their order get de-prioritized in the factory.

As you know, I had the M100 before they were hawked. I had a love/hate relationship with them. I loved them because they were high fidelity with BIG sound. I hated them because they could not acoustically disappear as well as M5, M2, M3, M50 in any of my rooms. This is not a trivial thing for me. I take soundstage, imaging, and acoustic disappearance over big sound and fidelity. Thankfully, with Axiom I don't have to give up big sound and fidelity. Even the humbly-priced M2 give big sound.

Yes, the active LFR1100 are a completely different world. Even my klepto buddy - you know, the one who made off with my M100s - sees the benefits of the actives over the M100s. This poor guy never gave audio a second thought and now he's gone mad. The last two weeks, he's been moving the M100s all over his house, furnishings and wife be damned, trying to position them in such a way so they sound like my actives. It will never happen. He will never get the holographic soundstage, precise imaging, total transparency, immediacy and acoustic disappearance that I enjoy. You get all those characteristics in all Axiom speakers but the actives take it to a whole different level. He's just going to have to stop listening to my system and be happy with the sound out the M100s he never even dreamed he could get.

Omni-directional speakers make sense no matter where you listen from. In my set-up, the seats to my immediate sides enjoy the exact same sound I do. Note I don't need a center. I sit 14 feet away BTW and mine are 12 feet apart. The actives have worked in every room with no EQ. You do need space for them though. In my living room, they got in the way of themselves and could not give me the soundstage width or acoustic disappearance that on-walls do. In fact, M2 bookshelves did better in that room than actives in the soundstage department. But...BUT...OMG the bass out of the actives was a complete revelation. And the images between them were very crisp with lots of space (quiet) between them.

This may be a good vid for you to watch if you want to learn more. I was always skeptical about this science until I got my v4. Of course the active LFR1100 just re-enforced my belief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dRiJUYxnHk

I'm so glad my buddy pilfered my M100s. They sound so great in his very large vaulted ceiling living room after my 2 minutes of skillful calibration. No sub needed for music.

He's running them off a second hand 70W Denon he bought on Kijiji.

From the video I learned that ominidirectional speakers have near-ideal characteristics when it comes to spatial and harmonic sound distribution. At least that's how I captured a very short passage. It looks like the active LFRs come with DSP/DAC and power-amp box, separate for each channel. I understand that is the whole "secret sauce" where the "family of curves" is processed and turned into right shapes, in ideal timing and perfect portions of energy that power the drivers. This makes a lot of sense and, I believe, fully justifies the price. Given the amount of research necessary to put product like that together, the price is not only justifiable but, perhaps, a bargain. And from your post I can tell that LFR1100 must be truly remarkable.

When it comes to my order fulfillment, I am anxious but also very patient, so I hope AI-bot will notice that and I will not be punished by getting extra delay Joking aside, I personally think that in any type of craft-work the quality cannot be achieved fast. And too me, building a solid, beautiful and well performing set of speakers is a craft-work. Mind, I am talking about solid+beautiful+well-performing. If one or 2 of those factors is removed, then we are talking about current mass-market, in which case there is no quality and no craft-work involved.

I cannot believe this thread has continued so long and we generated so much content! I am not hyper-connected [to Internet, social media, telephones etc]. In fact, I am hyper-disconnected. So the that makes it even more wild. I truly enjoy this conversation and thank you (and other friends who posted here) for being so engaging and sharing so much of a great information.

M100s are amazing speakers. I've listened to many from several different manufactures. Not the actives though, but many nonetheless. No doubt, M100s are without question the most bang for your buck speakers on the market today! Thats why they are sitting in my living room! There is so much thunder from down under with those fellows, it's not even funny!

Sinclair, you got all that right. This is another cool video from 6 months ago.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sL-W3qn4-WU

Mojo, thanks a lot for the second video and kind affirmation that my learning about speaker systems goes right way

The second video (from 2020) is far more explanatory. Andrew and Ian flush out some ideas about building high-performance and high-quality speakers and Ian briefs us on his background and how everything started. I really appreciate videos like that. I learned a lot by watching Paul McGowan's channel from PS Audio.

Hey, Rebulx,
thank you for sharing your impressions. Its's always great to have word from a sailor who's been to many ports. I can see B&W, KEF, and even SVS on your list and that is a beautiful collection but also truly challenging test for any new brand that you add to the list. Nice to know Axiom M100 came out high.

As you may know from this thread I am waiting for my order of M5HP and will be comparing them to Totem/Arro and PSB/T5 (that's what I currently own). To tell the truth, it is probably not fair to measure M5HP against T5 as they are different category speakers altogether. Arros (which, btw. are "nearly-bookshelf") although very brilliant and well-sounding , do not do much in the power department. So, in the end, expect a *different* experience; i.e. better soundstage would be desired/great-to-have.

I dont discount Paul Mcgowans years of industry experience, but be very careful with his videos. They are full of soft science and in the end are intended to comfort you into buying from him. He is a marketer and businessman first. He is a waffler and a vague dreamer but little else in those vids. His products test mediocre and are very expensive for what you get. Often he doesnt even answer the question....

The M5s will test favourably vs the T5s in the right room. I have worked with PSB product in installs. Nothing special when compared with Axiom. Just another option.

I often help with installs with well heeled home owners. They could buy anything they want. Recently purchased some M5s after years of being on the boards. I now push Axiom for my installs.

I would say the M5HPs are about the best you are going to do in that cabinet size for the price and recommend them highly.

Btw, in installs the room and integration of products are often more important than what the product is.

When you compare the M5s to your other speakers throw out the notion that they should be set up in the same places etc. Let them run in for a few hours then dial them in. Give them space behind them. If you dont want to buy anymore speakers you wont have to.... they are end game medium sized room speakers.

Hi TrevorM, it is great to have another positive review of M5HP. Opinions and assurances from this forum fully convinced my mind. I just need the speakers to convince my body. And it is highly probable they might be my "end game" speakers indeed.

Yes, I realized that Paul McGowan's videos are also his marketing pitch but I think it is fair, after all he is a businessmen. I never had an opportunity to listen to PS Audio. I agree they are expensive. I was considering their Sprout100 for my basement but eventually moved on with a different plan and decided to go for full-size Yamaha Receiver.

Thanks a lot!

I now mostly watch the P.S. vids for entertainment, along with Zeos. No real info just something to watch. With Zeos it's pretty much how many times will he drop the F bomb. Recently he's been putting a portable HT in his new basement. A little more info than normal/ though nothing more than entertainment.

Much better checking out RadioTVPhononut old school refurbs or one of the XRAYTONYB or 12voltvids. With real info and repairs/Diagnostics.
One I'm really anticipating is NextBestThing and Jay's review of Axiom sometime soon.