A friend of mine had his house broken into and had his system stolen so he has some insurance money to go shopping. He knows I am an experienced reader of this site and he has faith in my opinion so he asked me what speakers he should buy. Of course, Axiom is mentioned so much on Audioholics and have great reviews. There are plenty of satisfied customers here and with all those glaring reports, I told him to check out the Axiom 80 towers. My buddy has heard my Polk system, RTI12's in the front. He loves it, but like myself, finds the Polks a little bright. So he went for the Axioms.
I went over to his house and helped him set them up. He got the Denon 3806 receiver, like my Denon 3805.
My thoughts, and by no means am I looking to start arguements here.:
1)Poor build quality. Cheap vinyl that looks like it will peel at any time. Resonance and vibration from the cabinets.
2) Ear bleeding brightness.
3)Bass was good.
4)efficient enough to run without a big power amp.
3)Good, fast delivery and packaged very well.
For the few years I have been here, I have read so much on Axiom and have considered the "upgrade" from my Polk RTI 12's. So, I took my speakers over to my buddy's place and we did a side by side. As his Axioms have a 30 day return policy, he wanted to compare too.
First of all, I don't believe in break in. Your ears get used to speakers. No such thing.
The RTI12s kill the Axiom 80's. Absolutely no comparison in every way. At first glance the build quality is not even in the same stratosphere. RTI2s have real wood. Solid. NO vibration. The Axioms look cheap cheap cheap in comparison. And style, the Polks look far better.
I have always thought my RTI12s were bright. The truth is now that it was my room. I have them in a small apartment. When they were in my friends large room they sounded absolutely stunning. Beautiful. The Axioms are much brighter. The bass may have been a bit better, not much, with the Axioms but with a good sub like my Hsu STF 3, who cares?
As I said I am not flaming Axiom as they are pretty good for the money, but I am now satisfied that Axiom is not an upgrade from Polk. In fact, it is a downgrade and I am at peace with what I have. If I am going to upgrade one day, it won't be to Axiom. it will be either the Polk Lsi line or something else.
Don't believe the hype. And don't believe Polks are lesser from people who have not heard them side by side in the same environment like I have.... and because CC sells them. They do make some garbage, but not the RTI series. Better bang for your buck than Axiom.
My buddy is sending the Axioms back.
