Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater My axioms are too bright

Hawkson, I have M60s as well. Some CDs I just don't listen to anymore because they are recorded poorly. I never noticed those CDs to be crappy recordings on my old speakers. On the other hand, just as many CDs now sound great that were crappy before. The M60s are a double-edged sword, and I did go through periods of "love-not quite as in love" with them.

The resistors are one possible idea. Turning the treble down at times, or using an EQ is another. Softening the room could also help. If it is the highest registers that annoy you, then M50s probably wouldn't fix that. If it's the upper midrange, then they might.

Swapping the M60s out for a different brand of towers that will blend well with the rest of your setup is another possibillity. Would cost some bucks though. The Monitor Audio Silver 8s or 6s would probably blend pretty well, but be more forgiving with those crappy recordings. I have some little MA Bronzes that have pretty much the same sound character as the Silvers. If you ask me nicely I'll plug 'em in downstairs and see how they blend with Axioms.

Maybe somebody else has some suggestions for speakers that might blend well with Axioms, but have a little less high frequency response?

thanks for the responses guys

All of the above reasons accounting for the unnaceptable brightness of the m60s are true.
I like everything from hip hop to classical and I don't use CD's but instead MP3s off of my HTPC. This is possibly a reason for the brightness(poor recordings plus loss of quality in the transfer).

Some songs sound greater then great, and a lot of them just hurt a lot at high volumes. Classical sounds great, while hip hop/R&B does not. It is true that hip hop/R&B records are recorded hot. Unfortunately I can not work around this and just not listen to a whole genre because it doesn't sound good on my speakers.

As for the treble, I always keep it below the middle, but they are still bright. The brightness(and the clarity) goes away when I turn the treble down almost all the way.

As for bass, I can't have enough. I currently have an STF-2 which barely gets the job done but it is enough for now. As a result I do turn up the volume on hip hop more then I do on rock or classical which compounds the problem.

Finally, my room is probably not the best for the m60s. My walls are wood panels. Fortunately, I will be moving my speakers from my parents house to my apartment when school starts which might alleviate the problem.

Bigwill-how much were the Monitor Audio Silver 6s/8s?

I'm with BigWill on this one. You owe it to yourself to give the Monitors a listen. If you can swing it, try out the 10's also..................but don't rule out the 50's from Axiom either!!!!!

Hawkson, if you're changing rooms with your M60s, why not wait and see how they sound in the new environment? Maybe try the resistors or just suffer in the meantime.

The Silver 8s retail at $1499 a pair but can always be found below that - even GoodGuys sells them at 25% off regulary. When I was considering them the saleslady offered 25% off AND no interest, no payments for a year. The Silver 6s are quite a bit cheaper, but aren't nearly as good, IMO.

sounds like you need a bigass pair of jbl's....ron

What bitrate/settings/encoder are those mp3s recorded at?

Hey Hawk,

I had this issue with the m22s also. And I even stooped to trying the resistors. All the harshness I was experiencing from listening to them for extended periods, disappeared when I installed the resistors, but so did the soundstage. So I removed them. I vote for giving the resistors a chance with your 60s since it won't cost anything. And maybe, just maybe they will produce the sound you've been looking for.

In reply to:

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What bitrate/settings/encoder are those mp3s recorded at?

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I, too, wonder about the answer to the above question. While a lot of the other things you've mentioned could certainly explain an abrasive brightness, my experience is that low-quality mp3s can be downright unlistenable on my M22s.

Guy's, don't sweat the bitrate as far as treble goes. I have been doing MP3's since before Napster. I have stuff at 128 to 320 and very, very rarely (If ever) will the bitrate make a difference with the top end. If you have a bad disc and it gets ripped at 128 or 320 or whatever, it's still bad. If you get a cd that is bass heavy, once again it don't much matter if it's ripped at 128 or 320, it's still more or less the same. Junk in, junk out. I have been using Exact Audio with LAME for years and I have never and I mean never ripped a CD regardless of bitrate and had it come out brighter etc. That may go out the window if you start using audio levelling or digital correction and all the other junk out there but a disc ripped as is with no digital mods to it, comes out darn near the same as what went in if ripped high enough.

By the way, I'm always looking to share when it comes to MP3's! I'm sitting at 12,711 as I type this and exactly 85% of that was ripped as good as you can get at 320. If someone is looking for something, let me know!

Has anyone thought for just a minute that his speakers are bright? Maybe the next guy with 60's finds them A-Ok but if he say's there bright, there bright. Every time I see someone say something about the treble with Axiom speakers a million reasons come out as to why they are not. If there not, how come people keep posting they are????? Makes you go Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

............and before any of you purist's come out of the closet, not once did I say an MP3 sounds as good as a CD so don't go there. I do however have some MP3's that would fool 99.5% of people!!!!!