Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Sibilance - S's overstressed

Thyname,

I have a notion that our listening tastes are similar. Seether, Eve 6 and Revis are in the changer now. I also suspect we are a minority around here, so the replies to this question are going to be very pro axiom, “they’re perfect”, “ it’s your music, not the speakers” kind of replies. This prim Dona attitude used to rub me the wrong way, but I just read, listen and try to learn a thing or two anymore. “they’re detailed, not bright”….lol. that’s a funny one. What the hell’s the diff? that pseudonym ranks up there with “she’s not fat, she’s just big boned”. Axioms are bright, so folks just need to deal with it and call it the way it is. A person either prefers this level of “detail”, or doesn’t. If not, buy something else. But just stop calling the girl big boned, she’s fat. Maybe if someone would let her know she’s fat, she’d get her big ass into the gym and start to feel better about herself and look pretty dam sexy when she’s fitting into a size 6. And maybe, just maybe if the Axiom engineers would actually listen to un-biased opinions of folks not afraid to call the girl fat, they’d do some tweaking and improve an already great speaker. But if everyone continues to say "she’s just big boned, not fat", then there will be no further tweaking to improve their product, and she’ll continue to wear those size 18 trousers and feeling poorly about herself.

Well, the Axioms are perfect speakers crowd can call it whatever they want, no matter to me. I happen to enjoy my system, and have no intentions or desires to buy anything else (and I can afford to do so if I wish). The 80’s are bright, it’s as simple as that, and probably are not the best speaker choice for metal. This is just something that I choice to live with because in addition to the metal that I primarily listen to, I enjoy other genre’s as well. Alison Kraus and the Union Station for example. – a contemporary blue glass. Her vocals and the banjo cords sound absolutely amazing on my system. Instrumental and acoustical recordings also sound amazing. Even Country sounds pretty darn good. And, most of my “metal” recordings sound great too. But the generalized statements that pop and metal are not mastered to the same standards as say…..classical, well I call BS. That’s a cop-out. Metal just has a different tempo with more strings and cymbals. Build a speaker that will make everything sound good. I know it can be done, even if they installed a user adjustable resister in the high frequencies. But, if no-one brings this to the engineer’s attention, then nothing will be done. Stop relying exclusively on graphs and charts and listen to everyone’s opinion. Not all of us metal heads are pot smoking, half deaf, brain dead criminals that are unable to distinguish what sounds good or bad.

The SSSSS is there – end of story. More so with some recordings than others, but it’s still there with most and please stop trying to convince me that it isn’t there. As I mentioned earlier, the Rotels helped, but did not eliminate it. I put an area rug in front of the speakers, and that seamed to help a little. I also placed the 1070 in the L1 position which seamed to help. A little more bass made the SSSSS less pronounced. Didn’t remove it, but with more bass, it’s less noticeable. And when I listen to music other than metal, I run the 1070 flat. But the statements that the speakers have nothing to do with this and it’s strictly related to environment and source material, in my humble opinion, are made from within a whirlwind of BS from people too proud to entertain the notion that the speaker’s performance can be improved. What will the next excuse be, relative humidity?

…..end of rant. Commence the tar and feathering at will. I’m OK with being the metal crowd martyr.

Alan,

Ok, blame it on the source material. I've heard less sibilant yet equally revealing speakers in my home yet there is no explanation for this? I don't think so. Call it colouration if you want.

Does Axiom ever discuss making a softer sounding speaker? Any plans in the works?

Btw, I believe myself and many others are not concerned with purity of sound, rather, good sound. If I want pure sound, I can go see the symphony.

thanks,

Paul

Wow! Sounds like you guys don't like your Axioms anymore (unless you prefer bright, sibilant speakers).
If the tweeter is inherently sibilant, then why doesn't it display that sibilance on every recording?

BigWill, it certainly isn't sibilant on every recording (Luxury Liner by Emmylou Harris for example is magnificent) and I never said it was "inherent".

I've had friends bring their speakers over my house and heard less sibilance on the same recordings. The only different factor here is placement. Call those speakers coloured if you will, I don't care, they were great. I have new speakers on the way (monitors) and guess what, I decided to keep my M60s for now...because I like them very much. They need more smoothness however.

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Not all of us metal heads are pot smoking, half deaf, brain dead criminals

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hey, speak for yourself...

wow, that was a "spring out of the seat" kinda post.. just what i needed to lift me thru the afternoon til i get off.. while i do concur that axioms are bright, compared to other speakers i have heard.. i also feel that is directly related to their quality. or, their ability to correctly reproduce what signals are being sent to them. i wouldnt go so far as to say they need to be "tweaked or improved".

and i think you are dead wrong on pop and metal not being "mastered at the same standards".. there not... i can pull out my old motley crue/ratt/poison/cinderella/etc discs, and they sound horrible compared to discs like dire straits/the police/rush/etc.. that were recorded in the same year, with the same avail technology.

so, is it variables of all, yes.. the last thing i wanna do is argue a point that we partly agree on, but i felt the need to mkae a counterpoint. we both dig our systems, so thats all good.. so, lets quit arguing about it and pass the water-bong..

bigjohn

The issue seems to be what you do in the 3khz range. M3s and M40s seem to be "almost" as revealing but also seem to show less sibilance as a result of a dip in the 3khz range.

I suspect that the "less sibilance but equally revealing" speakers would also have a bit of that dip but not sure. Comments ?

bridgman, exactly!.

I didn’t say that, did not even hint that I don’t like my Axioms. Quite the contrary, I love them. I just think they can be improved, and folks need to stop making excuses for deficiencies that can be eliminated. I can blame my table saw for crappy cuts, or, I can clean the blade.

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Not all of us metal heads are pot smoking, half deaf, brain dead criminals that are unable to distinguish what sounds good or bad.

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Unfortunately Mike (mdrew) that is what most people think about somebody who listens to metal - I don't know why, but (especially here in USA) when they think of somebody who listens to metal they assume some kind of Ozzy biting bat's head off!!!! I love this music, I am raised with it and have no need to argue that the artist quality and musicianship equals that of any other performers, in classic, country, jazz etc. There is so much to listen to in a metal recording and I am not talking about the "hair" stuff of Motley crue, cinderella, and alike.

As a matter of fact I love my axioms. I chose them first for my music, I knew they were bright, but I kinda liked some brightness in my music, a certain feeling of "punch" that they give to metal. However, sibilance is a different issue and I don't like it.

It's true some recordings sound aweful, such Crystal Eyes's "World of Black and Silver". Some just sound great such as Gaia Epicus' "Symphony of Glory" and latest I got Children of Bodom's "Hatebreeder". I enjoy listening to every detail (except for those god damn S's), and yes, I do like those crisp highs.

And please, do think that you need a good speaker to listen to metal. It is a music, has instruments, melody, not noise, has vocals and band members are really musicians, not crazy people under drug effects. I like to think that nowdays, metal artist posses the best musical creativity of all genres, they are actually composing something....

That was in the 80’s. it isn’t the case now a days. The bulk of my CD collection is relatively new Alt Rock (some consider this metal), and they are all mastered very well. Buy the new Seether or Green Day CD and you’ll agree. I definitely agree with you that older metal recording suck. My all time favorite group (AC/DC) is absolutely painful to listen to on my system. But again, that isn’t the case within the past ten years or so.

It just amazing me that anyone would remotely suggest that there is no room for improvement - with regards to anything. If that were the case, we’d still be using DOS operating systems and Bill Gates would be a janitor. Or, we’d still be decimating our front line troops by sending them to the beach without air support, because well, what we’re doing is good enough.