Axiom or Monitor Audiospeakers

[cropduster1]

I am considering either Axiom M80/M60's or Monitor Audio silver 8/10's. 50/50 music/movies, will have a sub and have a large room with vaulted ceiling. Also using a Yamaha RX-V2500 for power. Any suggestions??

 

[zumbo]

http://www.yawaonline.com/mbquqls830to.html
yoday is the last day!

 

[Zarg]

Count me as another satisfied Axiom customer. Driving a set of M60s, VP 150 center and QS8 surrounds with my Denon 3805 (SV Sub). Very very pleased with the crisp and clear sound. Slightly bright, with wonderful midrange and surprising bass from the front pair of M60's. The Axioms can handle whatever I throw at them ... from movies to TV to music. Great sound at low volumes (very important to me) and amazing presence at high volumes.

 

[cropduster1]

Zarg, sounds like you have the setup I'm looking for. Were the surrounds very critical on their placement? The reason I ask is that I don't have walls directly to the side of my listening position. I am working out of a corner with the tv and basically sitting in the opposite corner.

 

[jaxvon]

Axiom also offers stands for their surround speakers, so this should make placement easy for you. Plus, this should put them right at ear level (when you're sitting down, of course).

 

[Xsound]

This is a comparison I am interested in as well.

I have always like the sound of the monitor Audio. I wil be upgrading speakers inthe next year and am deciding between the m60's and the Silver 6. Price was a consideration earlier, but the m60's now cost as much as the sivler 6. (the qs8 and vp150 as less expensive than the Monitor offering.)

Anyone ever done a comparison, or have experience with both speakers?
Xsound

 

[Caligula]

I have the same set-up as Zarg ...

... a Denon 3805 driving M60s (currently all that I have set-up) ... with the VP 150 center and QS8 surrounds. I should have the subwoofer (HSU) and necessary cables/wire by this weekend and plan to set-up/configure the entire system. I can provide additional feedback early next week if you are not in a hurry.

As mentioned, I am listening to the M60s (just for 2-channel "stereo" listening) ... and let me just say this: The Axioms sound unfreakinbelievable! I have never heard music as pure. I am absolutely thrilled at the sound quality of the Denon/Axiom. It has the perfect tonal qualities for my listening preferences ... a mildly bright/forward presentation with extremely defined, full, clean sound. I could not be more happy.

I wanted to stay with 8 ohm main speakers ... and have a cavernous (6,688 cubic feet) listening space and like heavy music (electric blues and rock) ... and have been amazed at how the M60s (alone) can fill the space. I can only imagine how full the room will sound once the center and surrounds are integrated.

I cannot speak to the quality of the Monitors - but the Axioms have thusfar exceeded my expectations.

Developing ...

 

[Zarg]

Axiom Surround Placement

Zarg, sounds like you have the setup I'm looking for. Were the surrounds very critical on their placement? The reason I ask is that I don't have walls directly to the side of my listening position. I am working out of a corner with the tv and basically sitting in the opposite corner.

Well, Cropduster1, as you might expect, the answer is yes and no and it depends. I have the QS8's mounted very high on the walls (cathedral ceiling) about 4 to 5 feet above and three feet behind my listening position, set very widely apart from each other, with a brick chimney flue in the middle. I have a very large room and they fill in magnificently -- and they fill other rooms of the house as well! I've got sound bouncing off the flue and off the side walls and off the ceiling and ... well, you get the picture.

IMO, the thing about the Axiom surrounds is that they DISPERSE the sound over the entire listening area unlike anything I've ever heard (not that I'm all experienced or anything). Everybody -- and I mean everybody -- who's heard the system so far has commented on the presence and authority of the surrounds. Did I mention they fill the room with sound?

My Axiom QS8's may be the best part of my system.

So your placement won't be the same as mine. But will it afford the surrounds the ability to diffuse and disperse the sound? If so, I'd say go with the Axioms. If not, you may want to check out more directional or bipolar speakers for the surrounds.

I'm totally STOKED with the Axiom sound. (Hey I'm from Southern California. What can I say?) But your mileage may vary.

Good luck!

Zarg

 

[VS540]

I've never heard Axiom and in my searching for a new HT considered them but dropped them out of the race due to aesthetics and most people agreeing they put a big emphasis on treble energy (bright speakers don't do it for me). Monitor Audio Silvers were the lead choice for a majority of time during my search. One thing I loved about the Monitors were the FXi surrounds, they were nothing short of spectacular performers, easily beating all the other surrounds I've heard for movies. I really liked the Monitor Audio's for both HT and music and build quality and the real wood veneer went a long way too.

If you get a chance, try to audition both the Monitors and Axiom as in the end it's your money and your ears that matter

 

[cropduster1]

Thanks Zarg and all! I believe the Axioms will work well for me.

 

[Zarg]

Warm, Bright, Fuzzy, Boomy, Thin and Other Adjectives

I've never heard Axiom and in my searching for a new HT considered them but dropped them out of the race due to aesthetics and most people agreeing they put a big emphasis on treble energy (bright speakers don't do it for me).

Well, I don't know what folks mean about "warm" and "bright" and stuff like that. I think it's got to be subjective, because I never heard that it was an objectively measurable phenomenon.

For me (as in: this is only my subjective opinion), "bright" means the sound of violins and alto winds is distinct and noticeable and the cymbals are crystal clear. "Overbright" means that the hissing of the cymbals is overemphasized and detracts from the rest of the music. "Warm" means the cello and vocals are emphasized -- Bing and Frank and Mel are superclear and right in my face. The opposite of "warm" is "thin" because non-warm vocals are reedy and mechanical-sounding and lack a human tone. "Boomy" means overpowering bass and rhythm sections; sometimes it means muddy or thumpy monotone bass.

So in my vernacular, "bright" and "warm" are both good. "Overbright" and "boomy" are both bad. In my old stereo days, there were a lot more "boomy" than "bright" speakers. I remember a pair of huge JBLs that pumped out the bass but weren't so good at the other stuff, even though they cost more than $1,000 each (in 1970 dollars). You know: disco speakers. In my ancient stereo experience, Infinity speakers always nailed the higher frequencies but were thin on the mids instead of warm.

But I sometimes think that "warm" means the Bose approach, with a midrange speaker putting out bass through technical tricks. (Traveling wave tubes, anyone?) The warmest speakers I've ever heard are the Bose speakers in my 1995 Infiniti Q45. But I certainly wouldn't claim that they reproduce the best sound. Actually, I was thinking yesterday as U2 was cranking that they were "overbright" because the hissing of the cymbals was bugging me. I went to turn down the treble but it was already set on flat. (After I pay off the HT system, I'm definitely replacing the car stereo... if Crutchfield is a publicly traded stock, you should consider picking-up some shares because I'm going shopping, again, pretty soon... but I digress.)

In the old days, I think "warm" meant tubes not transistors. But that was with respect to amplifiers, right? So it's hard to say what I mean with respect to speakers, because no matter how good the speakers are, they're still being driven by "bright" transistors in the A/V receiver, unless you are rich and eccentric and have tube amps and pre-amps. What happens when "warm" speakers meet "bright" input? Beats me: I'm just an audiophyte.

(NOTE: I've just been promoted from audiophyte to enthusiast!! All readers must now give me more respect!)

What I want is "FLAT" -- I want accurate reproduction of all frequencies across the spectrum from 20 to 20,000 +/- 3db. (I hope I got that right.) But that's with the entire system firing, including the subwoofer. So if my mains cross-over at 60 or 80, then they don't really need to be flat below that point, right?

According to the specs, the M60's reproduce below 40, but start deviating from flat around 55, so I set the cross-over at 60 and am very pleased at the resulting sound. Again, my entire speaker system includes a huge, powerful non-Axiom subwoofer (SV). When it's all working together, I get bright instruments and huge, tight, non-boomy bass. The midrange is great. I wouldn't say "warm" exactly but certainly not thin in the middle.

I apologize for the length of this post, but I thought we might discuss these terms and what folks mean by them. What's good and what's not good about how speakers sound ... and how do we describe those feelings? At least readers of this post now know what my (audiophyte NOW ENTHUSIAST) vocabulary means so that they can interpret any future posts I make here.

P.S. Aesthetics? Not sure what you mean by that, except that the QS8's are a little boxy looking. But again, that is totally subjective and can't be measured.

Take care,

Zarg

 

[VS540]

Okay let me explain what I meant by bright, and PLEASE note that everyone hears differently and each persons take on what is bright or not can come down to a individual basis from person to person, speaker to speaker.

To me a "bright" speaker is one that puts to much of a emphasis on treble than what was originally intended by the material being played. Speakers like Klipsch with that horn seem to really jazz up the treble. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this as lot's of people like that. Though I think far to many people think all the extra umph in the treble region amounts to "detail". You can have detail without the "brightness", but lots of people like that "sparkle" in the top end.

I don't like that "sparkle" and find it fatiguing after 10-15 minutes so in my search for new HT speakers that was a quality I wasn't looking for. While reading all the great reviews on Axiom that something that kept coming up was that top end sparkle, and others even on the Axiom forum calling them "bright". So to me in my own personal search for new speakers I already new I didn't want that so that took them out of the chase.

As far as looks go they don't look bad by any means, but I had made up my mind to stay clear of vinyl wrapped speakers as well.

So I have nothing against Axiom or "bright" speakers, as there are lots of people who want that kind of sound and really enjoy it. Also a speaker I may think is "bright" others will not, it's all your own personal hearing and preference.