Like many on here, I have been struggling to make what I believe to be a pretty big decision on what speakers I should purchase that sound the best, give me the most "bang for the buck," and fit my room/listening preferences - I've read a lot of opinions over the last couple months on Paradigms, B&W, Axiom, Athena - all the major brands but when I had the opportunity to visit Axiom's factory (just like the reviewers on this board did), I said I had to go for it.
I was in Toronto this past weekend playing in an old-man hockey tournament (HNA Championships) - and spoke with Brent and Joe at Axiom about setting up a chance for me to "audition" the speakers. Ewing (small town of a few hundred) is about 2.5 hours north of Toronto (out in the middle of bumf^$@), and with a hectic game schedule for the tournament, finding a chance to get there between games was going to be very difficult.
I wound up finding that the only time available was at 7:30 AM on Saturday morning. This didn't bother Joe one bit - (I myself wouldn't have been as receptive as he was) - I got up at 5:30 AM and drove up there to do a listening test - I don't know when he got up, but it was probably around the same time.
While the testing room wasn't the best asthetically, the sound from the speakers made up for it - I tested the MTi80s, VP 150, QS8s, and EP500. My test CDs included Billy Joel Greatest Hits Volume 3 (for piano), Dave Matthews Band, a Solo Piano Music CD, Handel, J.S. Bach, The ROCK soundtrack, Mozart, and a jazz CD that I can't recall -
As far as sound goes, the speakers were pretty bright - but that's what I like about them and is the reason I'm choosing them over the MTi60s. The other reason is that I have about 6000 cubic feet of area and want plenty of power. One thing that really stuck out in my head that I guess could be said about all higher end speakers - they make good recordings sound better and make bad recordings sound worse. In the solo piano music, I couldn't tell that there wasn't a piano in the room with us - however, on some of the CDs where music was ripped from MP3, or copied in other fashions, you could really tell how "airy" the sound was. The sound was ample, and even when the volume went up, the crisp nature was still impecable.
I wanted to test the subwoofer as well, and used the soundtrack from the movie "The Rock" - I didn't bring the actual DVD, but figured the soundtrack would also be a decent test - and I wasn't disappointed. I heard things on the low end that I never had heard before, and that sealed it for me. I know a lot of people on here swear by SVS or HSU, but this seemed deep and crisp enough for me.
I am purchasing the system I mentioned above and am expecting delivery in the next six weeks - one final note involves the finish on the speakers I'm getting - I went ahead and spent the extra grand to have the high gloss black finish applied to all of the components - I wanted to match them to the piano I have in the same room - and they didn't disappoint there either. I paid $10 to have a high gloss sample fed-exed to me complete with a sample grill cover for what I'd get - even though Axiom isn't going to get the sample back, they are crediting the $10 towards my purchase. Also, the high end cables that Axiom sells weren't pushed on me either - there was consensus among the people there that the bulk speaker wire they sell at a fraction of the cost would do just as well. Just other little things that have convinced me of the correctness of my decision to go with this company.
Overall, I guess I'm impressed with the package deal these guys offer --- It wasn't surprising to me that they'd open their doors wide to have the reviewers and moderators of such an expansive forum come in and take a peak like they did for the Audioholics folks - that just makes business sense - but when it's just some simple 26 year old guy who knows next to nothing and wants to hear what he's buying at 7:30AM on your off day, I guess I didn't think they'd have the red carpet rolled out --- or even be willing/able to make it happen - they definitely surpassed my expectations, and I seriously can't wait to get the speakers - for some reason, I think they'll sound better because of the positive experience I've had.
Disclaimer - Axiom has definitely not paid me anything to write this review - it's how I really feel and I would be happy to provide further details should anyone be interested.
Disclaimer #2 - If anyone at AxiomAudio wants me to write more, please send a check to ...............
Regards,
Ben