Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Epic Sound 80 speakers

I just purchased these speakers and was asking any information or opinions. I am using them in my theater room and they sound great. Is this a vintage speaker product made by Axiom ? I can't find a way to post photos. They are floor speakers 38" x 10" 12" and say Epic Sound 80 on them. Black in color.

Axiom became a direct-to-consumer company in 2000, and their claim-to-fame were great prices shipped anywhere, a credible return policy, and a design philosophy of neutral loudspeaker sound using National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) based research.

I vaguely remembered the home theater packages changed as speaker models were updated, but these are some early web archives of the Epic 80 specifications.

This is a snapshot from 2001:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010617124658/http://axiomaudio.com/180htp.html

Here's a snapshot from 2002:
https://web.archive.org/web/20020609131313/http://www.axiomaudio.com/epic80.html

They're still a great home theater package even by today's standards. They would have been competitive with Paradigm's Signature series, Energy's Veritas series, PSB's Stratus, and Angstrom's Modular series.

The old VP150. Wow! Check out those CTS subs. I have a down-firing Yammy I picked up for $70 and I absolutely love it!

Check out the M0 and M1. The M1 was the Totem Dreamcatcher killer. The M0 became the M0.5 (audiobytes).

Damn. The M40. Dreamy. The only Axiom I don't have. Maybe I'll ask to get a pair made. Ebony. Dreamy!

Look at those itsy bitsy centers!

Oh hell look at the QS2. If I fart in its general direction, it would disintegrate.

https://ibb.co/vZCTjw5
https://ibb.co/XsN9SzW
https://ibb.co/crQ3MHS
https://ibb.co/2Y9Q5y5

Photos o Epic Speakers

Doesn’t look very Axiom to me … Does it say Axiom anywhere on them … think these may be a brand “Epic Sound” … anyone else have an opinion …

It doesn't look Axiom to me either. I understand the confusion, it's hard to differentiate between Acoustic Energy, Acoustic Profiles, or Acoustic Research.

My skillset in finding counterfeits doesn't apply here, I'm just not seeing "Rollex" or "Real reather" labels.

No, does not say Axiom anywhere on them. Searching Epic speakers I think brought me to the Axiom web site

Those aren't Axiom.

And they weren't made by a speaker manufacturer. WTF is "normal impedance", frequency response of +/-20% and sensitivity of +/- 3dB?

If they sound good, that's all that matters!

Somebody manufactured them …. Best guess is they were created for an Audio dealer “Epic Audio” or “Epic Sound” (forgot the exact name which came up). The funky spec’s are interesting … somebody was trying …

The reason Axiom popped up is because they have a home theater speaker bundle called the “Epic80”

Axiom's "Epic" was re-branded as "Millenia". That's where the "M" comes from.

Note the slogan "Innovative sound & bass". LMAO!

Regarding the slogan, I found this:

DiVinci Innovative Sound & Bass is one of the all-time greats of loudspeaker design.....

This is mainly because we've always preferred to follow our own design instincts rather than convention. Our first product was one of the earliest cone loudspeakers, based on a radical new cone design in 1982. Within three years, we launched the world's first DiVinci speaker; by the end of the decade, DiVinci was already established as the high-end loudspeaker brand.

By 1995, the DiVInci logo was on well over half the new speakers in Britain. During the years, our innovative designs allowed movie and music lovers to enjoy new audio technologies like the Pure-Phonics Pro III Decoder. We pioneered the woven silk & titanium dome tweeter and the liquid aluminum dipped cone.

More on Divinci.

Here are examples of known “White Van Speaker Scam” brands to look out for: (Note: List compiled from internet user forums)

Acoustic
Acoustic Response
Acoustic Image
Acoustic Lab Technology
Acoustic Monitor
Acoustic Response
Advanced Sound Technologies
Audiofile
Audio Tech
Dahlton
Divinci Sound
Digital Audio
Digital Dogg
DanWave
Cavelli
Bach & Odin
Divinci
Denmark
Digital Audio
Digital Research
Dogg Digital
Dynalab
Epiphany Audio
Elite Audio
Epic Audio
Fleetwood Audio
Genesis Audio
Grafdale
Hauffman
Nolyn Acoustics
Hennessy
Panorama Innovations
Kamron Audio
Kevlan Media Labs

Jake should enjoy his new speakers anyway. The joy of music listening ought to come from software, not the hardware.

Spinorama dot org is a great site for new speakers; most speakers on the market don't sound good. Anything scoring over 4.0 will sound great as long as you add a subwoofer; a score above 8.1 with "perfect subwoofer" (whatever that is) is considered state of the art. It doesn't have to cost more than $1500 US to reach that nowadays.

Craigslist or Kijiji can be a great source for inexpensive used speakers. I'd stick with mass market brands that aim for neutral sound: Angstrom, Athena Technologies, Audio Engine, Axiom, Energy, IKEA (!), Infinity, Kanto, Mirage, Nuance, PSB, Revel, and Sonos.

I'd steer clear of brands that flagrantly disregard the research or are wildly inconsistent: anything from China/Denmark/England/France/Japan/Norway/Scotland; Bose, Definitive Technologies, JBL, Klipsch, Magnepan, MartinLogan, Paradigm, Polk, and Totem.

Given the list … I’ll assume “anything from” means you’re ok with these … either way the list is not overly helpful as it’s too inclusive and exclusive at the same time

True. But for someone just getting started in good hardware, sometimes it's best to stick to generalities so they don't get overwhelmed. If Jake can avoid the "more money = better sound" myth, he'll avoid the unnecessary expensive mistakes of chasing products that don't provide a good return on investment.

Agreed, in one statement he tells the OP to enjoy the music, then seemingly drops into the "research" realm which focuses on anything but the music. Oh, and a few of the countries and brands mentioned make some of the best sounding speakers, i.e Totem Mani 1 and England's Castle to name a few.

Blanket statements are too limiting.

In terms of the OP's Epic system, I have been an "Axiomite" since the 1980's and I have never seen or heard of the models in the pictures. The only thing that matters is that you enjoy them.

Is that a blanket statement ?

I see … if we stick with confusing and even conflicting generalities they (whoever “they” is … Jake didn’t say he was new at this) won’t get overwhelmed …

Sorry, I had to make fun … watching you dig a small hole and then instead of stepping out of it to recover .. you get a bigger shovel and start digging faster …

Noooo! I always have the best advice!

Maybe I should quit while I’m ahead. Subjectivist, objectivist, doesn’t matter, no one will ever find lasting happiness pursuing audio perfection.

I'm glad you're not taking the ribbing on your neural net personally.

I wonder if the OP can enjoy the speakers knowing they have a normal impedance and the sensitivity can vary as much as 6dB. Or...so the nameplate says.

If happiness is a new toy … I guess everlasting happiness is a never ending flow of new toys …