Axiom Audio LFR1100 Tower Loudspeaker Preview

F

fredk

Audioholic General
That sounds very subjective Gene and if measurements don't correlate with how a speaker should sound, then what do you have? I thought the linearity tests that Soundstage does at 90db showed how a speaker behaves. I don't know about you but I think 90db is fairly loud, loud enough to cause hearing damage relatively quickly. They may have not have the complete measurements but they probably provide one of the most comprehensive measurements for a publication bar none.
I'm with you on this point.

Listener Distance - 2.5 meters
Desired DBSPL - 85
Speaker Efficiency - 92 (my M80s)
Amp headroom - 0
Required power - 1 watt

Add 10db of headroom and 5 db for room gain and you will now require a whopping 5 watts for those 95db peaks.

The majority of the time my speakers are drawing 1-2 watts for me to listen loud.

BUT, it gets better than that. strap pairs of these suckers together, put them on a dock, set up a band and pump thousands of watts through them and they still sound good. Well, maybe not to the folks a mile away at the other end of the lake... :D
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I'm sure there's a point to your post but I'm not getting it. :confused:
Axiom recommended the use of their dual center speakers.

Most people would laugh at that kind of recommendation due to comb filtering.

Just an example of the weirdness this company is doing.

That is why some of us are making fun of Axiom's tendency to "more is always better" approach. :D

I guess almost everyone has a beef with almost every company out there.

The blatant recommendation of using dual center speakers is my beef with Axiom's credibility, along with skimpy parts mentioned on AH.
 
Wid

Wid

Audioholic
I keep reading you saying Axiom recommends dual centers, can you give any reference to this?
 
C

cschang

Audioholic Chief
I keep reading you saying Axiom recommends dual centers, can you give any reference to this?
I remember seeing a picture of Ian's setup where he used dual centers. One above and one below his screen.
 
F

fredk

Audioholic General
Axiom recommended the use of their dual center speakers.
I run dual centers. Before I did this I spent a lot of time searching and reading about center channel design and comb filtering. What I found at the time was that comb filtering in the horizontal direction was a very bad thing. It is an inherent compromise of the design where a small vertical footprint is desired more than the better sound of a vertically oriented center.

What I also found was that, from people who actually did both measured and listening tests, is that vertical comb filtering exists, but does not cause the same audible issues, or at least not to the same extent.

I did some testing: single center below screen, single center above screen and dual centers. What I found was the following: With single centers, the dialog was shifted in the direction of the center location. It did not always show up, but at times peoples voices and their image became disconnected. To me, that is not a good thing.

With dual centers I could be on the floor, sitting, standing, against the left or right wall, and the dialog was exactly where it was supposed to be. I did not hear any serious audio degradation with the dual center setup. It seemed like a pretty good HT setup compromise where I gained much more than I lost.

I know of several other people who ran into similar issues because of less than ideal center channel placement who came to the same conclusion.

So now I'm gonna ask you AcuDefTechGuy. What testing have you done to validate that dual centers are always a bad thing due to the introduced comb filtering?

[RANT]
Most people would laugh at that kind of recommendation due to comb filtering.
And under the right conditions, thousands of lemmings will follow each other off a cliff. Nobody's gonna suggest thats a good idea. Related terms: Group think, herd behavior, social conformance...
[/RANT]
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I mean can you guys think of another company that would recommend the use of dual center speakers?

Not Revel, KEF, Pioneer, B&W, Paradigm, PSB, Dynaudio, or any other company that I can think of.

And then I recall someone say the Axiom amp caught on fire or something?:D

And did I hear them trying to justify using less internal bracing and all that?

Seems like it's never just one thing with this company. Always something.

But, I have no idea how any of their speakers sound.

As long as the speakers sound great to the owners. That's the important thing.
 
billy p

billy p

Audioholic Ninja
I know for a fact dual M2 centers above/below were recommended to me....I wisely decided against that...fwiw.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
So now I'm gonna ask you AcuDefTechGuy. What testing have you done to validate that dual centers are always a bad thing due to the introduced comb filtering?
Yes, I have tried using dual identical centers, and it was not good. The only reason I even thought about it in the first place was because of Axiom.:eek:

It was a case of trying to fix something that wasn't broken.

But nothing I have done or will ever do can come close to the research and knowledge of the teams from Harman, KEF, Pioneer, RBH, etc.

Somehow Axiom is the ONLY speaker company in the whole wide world that has this secret that using 2 center speakers is better than one?:confused:
 
Wid

Wid

Audioholic
I know for a fact dual M2 centers above/below were recommended to me....I wisely decided against that...fwiw.

Just curious Bill, was that a representative of the co. or was it a forum member?
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Can someone call Axiom and see if they recommend using their new Center speaker in dual configuration? :D
 
billy p

billy p

Audioholic Ninja
Just curious Bill, was that a representative of the co. or was it a forum member?
Just amongst the members in my particular case anyways.


However it has being alluded to by some of their reps here is a response by Alan discusing it...fwiw!



I tend to recommend against upside-down mounting only because no-one at Axiom has ever done blind listening tests to standard vs. inverted speakers. I'm sure it will affect the soundstage and the spectral/tonal balance, but to what degree I just don't know. Of course you could try them out inverted and if they sound great to you that way, then fine. All our speakers are designed, measured and listened-to in standard non-inverted orientation--that's
how they'll optimally perform.

Besides, the midranges/tweeters have effective enough off-axis dispersion that the soundstage blend with the center aimed down should merge effectively. Problems arise if the center is more than 2 feet above the top of the screen, which is why the over/under placement of two centers is the most effective of all.

Regards,
Alan

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