Ha! I've never even posted anything on the Axiom forum! I'm also not an Axiom fanboy. I'm not even "on their side"
I just think the whole thing got utterly ridiculous. I thought the hype about Axiom speakers when they were first really building up around the interwebs got out of control too. I guess they were "due" for some sort of backlash. But it really just all went sideways.
I mean, basically, Axiom's speakers really haven't changed in, like, over a decade! there have been subtle changes, but they're very much largely the same. They were solid, good speakers (most of the models, anyway) when they first came out as the "Millenia Line". Since they really haven't changed much, it just boggles me that they somehow "morphed" into "bad" speakers in some people's view. It just doesn't make any sense at all. But there were people who'd never heard any Axiom speakers who were hyping them to the moon, and now there are people declaring them to be "crap" who also have never heard them.
That's just stupid
What HAS changed in the past decade is that the competition has gotten a lot fiercer. Axiom was one of the early internet-direct speaker companies to get some exposure and gain in popularity. Back then, store prices were still considerably higher for similar quality, and that's really how they built their "value" image and gained all the "sound just as good as speakers costing twice or three times the price!" pull quotes.
But now the landscape has changed and everybody is pricing their speakers the same way that Axiom does. They're no longer a "value" leader. But at the very same time, they haven't magically morphed into Bose either! They've stayed static, everyone else has shifted. Maybe they deserve to take some lumps for that, but they didn't suddenly get way WORSE, which is what all the haters are trying to make it sound like.
I actually had an email conversation with the folks at Axiom WAY back - about ten years ago now - where I was asking them if they were planning to maybe design and release any higher end, higher priced speakers using higher quality parts. Even back then, they basically said to me that the speakers they were making were about as good as a speaker could ever get, but that they WERE planning on offering some higher end, higher priced finish options
Of course, those turned out to be the VaSSallo finish options, but yeah, they never went to higher end drivers or cabinet designs. Just stuck with what they had, although the subwoofer offerings were a new addition with the 400, 500, 600 and eventually the 800.
I had M60Ti towers - they're my dad's speakers now. I moved on from them after enjoying them for several years because there ARE better speakers, despite what Axiom might say about it
But I certainly never felt like I got "ripped off" with those M60Ti towers! And I can still listen to them and think they're very good sounding speakers today! Human hearing hasn't changed! That's why it's so crazy to see these claims about Axiom speakers being "bad" are so insane.
So they're certainly not the same "high value" they once were now that the competition has all caught up. I absolutely agree with folks like Gene who really want them to get their heads out of the sand and start to really push forward again. They basically just plateaued and weren't ever really looking to get any better, it seems, so that part is most definitely disappointing! I suppose the "silver lining" in this "sea change" on the message boards is that it might actually affect their sales enough that they're forced to innovate again. I'd be happy about that! But it shouldn't take misinformation and completely negative hyperbole to make something like that happen.
The only reason I "supported" Axiom and "defended" them to some degree is because I didn't understand and didn't like to see what seemed like hypocrisy from the staff at Audioholics. I mean, there's no denying that they gave positive reviews to Axiom products and heaped a fair amount of praise on them. The reviews are all still on the website. It's not like Audioholics can deny what's said in them! Gene's always maintained that advertising has no effect on reviews or what is said in them. And Audioholics' motto is "persuing the truth in audio & video" for Pete's sake! So to read what is basically a total 180 stance on Axiom just seemed completely hypocritical and, I think, hurt Audioholics' reputation just as much as it hurt Axiom's!
I've already asked a lot of questions and said a lot of my opinions in other threads, and to Gene's and Audioholics' staff's credit, they've answered those questions and better explained just what the heck went on and where their complaints about Axiom came from. It's settled down a bit. But Audioholics is still running its series of "Detailed Look" articles, which all stemmed from the turmoil surrounding Axiom. Every one of those articles is basically just a veiled jab at Axiom, so I'm still not terribly impressed with the way this "argument" continues to be pealed back like an old scab.
The bottom line in all of it though has to be: how do Axiom's speakers actually SOUND? Cause if they sounded good 10 years ago, and they haven't changed, then they still sound good now! They're not the same value anymore, that's perfectly fine to say. But if they sound the same - and they pretty much do - then it makes zero sense to suddenly be calling them "bad" speakers and putting them in the same category as Bose. Does it really matter if they're using less expensive parts than you would LIKE to see? If you can't hear the difference? I think I'd have to argue: no. SVSound goes above and beyond on their parts quality - they're forced to up the prices on their subs as a result, and they got some backlash for THAT because they're no longer a "cheap" awesome subwoofer company! Just an "awesome" awesome sub company
Epik gets a pass on using lower quality, inexpensive parts because they're still a forum "darling" and people are always looking for a "too good to be true" deal. And they DO deliver tremendous deep extension and output on their very inexpensive subs. They just have some overhang and distortion to go along with it. So when are they going to come under fire for "cutting corners"? Elemental designs used to be a darling. Then they got a batch of bad amps and didn't have the customer service staff to really handle the issue, so now they're "the devil" and everything about their amps and customer service is "dreadful".
It's all the hyper-extremism, binary, hipster attitude of the internet forums that's the problem. But my beef with Audioholics was that, for a little while at least, they sort of fed that angry beast when it came to Axiom, rather than putting it on a short leash and reeling the mob back in. I'm disappointed that Axiom has basically just put its head down, closed its ears, and trudged on forward with the same game plan they've been using for over 10 years. But then again, the new VP160 center looks like an indication that maybe some of the criticism got through. Like I said, maybe there will be a silver lining to it all in the end. But, at some point, I would REALLY like it all to just come back to the SOUND, and for someone to admit that they were either lying - or at the very least exaggerating - about how good Axiom's speakers "used" to be, or that they're lying - or at the very least exaggerating - about how "bad" they are now, because the SOUND hasn't changed! So something doesn't add up here.