Axiom has made a response on their forum about AH and the M60.
Axiom Message Boards
Oh geez will this ever end? I mean we did the shootout almost 2 years ago and while they were advertising no less. Their speakers did pretty darn well too!
It took them 3 years after our Estore launch to feel uncomfortable about us licensing our name for a storefront?
Their initial reason for departure used to be b/c they didn't believe in our testing methodologies, then it was b/c of Paul's comments in our tech articles. Now they can't refute our groundplane testing methodology anymore (recall Alan Lofft claiming groundplane is a flawed measurement practice) b/c our subwoofer reviews have become an industry standard backed by CEA 2010 protocol, so its time to go after the E-store.
Honestly I would end all relations with the E-store tomorrow if it meant we would pick up new advertisers as a result. The E-store is NOT our bread and butter. I could care less if people purchase from it. It's there as a convenience to our readers and we also pick up some traffic by having a large data base of products that index on the search engines.
Advertising and beta testing ALWAYS has been our main revenue source and STILL is. This is why we have a large ad agency now selling over 40% of our ads. I one day hope to make that 100% so I don't have to deal with the drama some manufacturers cause when we publish less than favorable comments about their products. I suppose this is the downside of writing critical reviews that we have to deal with. Nobody really wants unfavorable comments written about their products and proud owners of said products don't want to see negative comments either.
Axiom was offered an opportunity by the E-store principles to sell their product in it just like many of our existing advertisers are doing (IE. Yamaha, Aperion Audio, Oppo, etc). They refused and no biggie as far as I am concerned. They were offered this the day the E-store launched BTW and they stayed advertising for almost 3 years after that date.
There are a TON of brands in the E-store, some of whom advertise with us and others that don't. Heck it would be cool if all the major brand were offered to give consumers unlimited options.
Suffice it to say Klipsch sells more speakers in the E-store than all the other brands combined. YET, Klipsch doesn't advertise with us and they often receive lukewarm reviews from us. No matter how negative we are towards Klipsch, they continue to send us product reviews and NEVER complain about our commentary. Incredible company and I hope one day they will advertise with us. I love their professionalism!
The bottom line is Axiom has always had a problem with our critical review process. They don't like negative comments about products. They don't like face offs. They seemingly don't like measurements or blind tests done outside their facilities. They have told me this many times in the past in person and via email. They instead prefer consumers to accept their science and testing as gospel that spending more money than what they sell their speakers for is simply purchasing cosmetic upgrades.
If I just spend $1400/pair of speakers and was told you can't do any better in terms of sound, I guess I'd be pretty fired up too. Hey honestly a good argument can be made that if you can't hear a difference in higher priced speakers then DON'T SPEND MORE MONEY! If you've done the comparison and came to that conclusion be happy and enjoy your music!
I've spent 12+ years comparing speakers (sighted and blind) from virtually every manufacturer and my experiences don't always match what Axiom preaches. I've always found Axiom products quite competitive with similar priced products from Paradigm, Monitor Audio, JBL, Polk, and Klipsch, Definitive Technology, etc. That being said, I would still recommend a pair of M60s/80s as a viable option for budget minded audiophiles to consider especially in a sea of over price brick&mortar options. Their speakers have a pleasing sound and offer plenty of bass and detailed top end and can play quite loudly too. I quite enjoyed my time with the M60V3 speakers despite I found them to NOT be perfect. All speakers have pros/cons. It's up to the listener to determine if the designer struck the right balance for their needs.
In my experience Axiom is NOT up to the level of legitimately well engineered cost no object speakers however. I'm sorry if that is a sore spot with them but its true. It's just as true as saying an Emotiva UPA-7 doesn't sound or measure as good as a flagship amp from Sim Audio or Boulder.
While there are some outlandish speaker designs out there, there are also some incredible sounding products that happen to cost a lot too.
Performance is all over the map but it doesn't necessarily stop progressing at a magic price point. I believe Ian knows this but his business motto is "we save you money by not wasting it on materials that can't be verified in our blind tests". That works very well for them. They have a loyal following and their customer service is top notch. Hence why I told my brother to purchase a pair of their M60s several years ago and he is quite happy with them
I'd honestly like to stop the bantering back and forth on this topic. It's been beaten to death and nobody gains from it.
Ian/Amie have shown me a great time in the past and they've given this site a lot of support which I will forever be in their debt. We simply have always had disagreements about audio topics that now seem to be coming out on public forums. I wish this could simply be resolved and put past us. I wish Axiom would consider offering upper echelon products worthy to compete and embarrass the high end community so we can measure, review, listen and gush over them. I wish for world peace.
In the meantime, I wish to stop talking about this anytime a new forum member jumps on board and starts asking questions. I'd love to move forward and watch how Axiom continues to improve their products and services. Their website is awesome and blows away most of their competition online. They have the ability to be the Dell of speakers (customize the performance to your needs) and I hope they one day live up to the potential that I feel they have.
I won't be commenting any further about Axiom on the forums. I've said everything that needed to be said. I wish Axiom continued success and to one day be in a mutually beneficial working relationship with them again.