Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo I'd Like to See Axiom ...

I'd love to see a new Axiom speaker ... an open baffle speaker. I have heard some, and they sound spectacular.

There's a lot of beautiful hardwood up there in Canada. Hardwood baffle, no more mdf, 3 x 8" drivers, 3 x 12" drivers better (bigger = better), maybe time for a new tweeter anyway.

What are you after 2x? A look? A sound? What characteristics did you find enticing? (over what Axiom is providing now)

I interpret open baffle as another word for dipole radiators, and they’re tricky to setup because just moving the speakers or your head a few degrees or inches can radically change what you hear.

Axiom is more about following the NRC recommendations for what wins double blind listening tests, and it also makes for a great marketing story. That does mean that they tend to be plain boxes.

Dipoles tend to introduce diffraction and resonance issues. If you find one you can live with, they usually have great industrial design, so they make a great statement piece.

I personally listen to Dolby Digital 5.1 upmixing, so I’ll switch music modes and move my L/R fronts to 30° off center if I want more ambience and soundstage.

I was right, they are dipoles. It's probably the sort of tech that would have high customer returns for an internet direct-to-consumer model.

https://hometheaterhifi.com/editorial/oped/are-open-baffle-speakers-a-flawed-technology/

I'd love to try a bipolar or omnidirectional speaker, but it would have to be in a different house with the right symmetrical layout. I remember being wowed by Mirage speakers back in the day.

Yup Hambrabi, they're dipoles, although some have tweeters which are not.

As to rrlev's question, permit me to pose one of my own ... have you ever heard open baffle speakers? I've heard the Pure Audios, Clayton Shaw's Caladans and the Emerald Physics EP800s. They have an incredibly natural and open sound.

I thought Axiom might need a new budget, but high performance, speaker line since the price of their floor standers pretty much start at $2000.

Have a feeling that open baffle speakers wouldn’t save much over a boxed speaker in manufacturing cost and would not market well to the average budget buyer … being 1/2 a speaker in their mind …

I've heard both Magnepan and Martin Logan. The cheaper ones were in consideration before I settled on a pair of conventional towers by Nuance. The weird power supply of electrostatics scared me, they couldn't be driven directly from a receiver or integrated amp.

I wished I knew what was going on with Axiom and Bryston. Ian did an interview on Soundstage Network earlier in the year that promised a new speaker line update by fall 2024. I was assuming there was a new update but retain their v.4 sound profile.

I assume that the main driver of the new version has to do with the “drawer” idea of swappable crossovers and electronics. Manufacture a single box for each speaker version and provide user exchangeable plug-in’s for conventional, amped, or wireless. This makes a lot of sense since the next step is to go completely digital straight to the speaker … just another plug-in option

I’m sure if there are improvement to be had sound-wise that they are about getting closer to Axioms target curves … I.e. the same profile that v4 was going for …