Gun Fight at the RLA corral coming soon

[silversurfer]

According to Ian Colquhoun, the M3ti and Ascend 170 would be the best comparison, since he owns Axiom, and thinks the M3 is the better choice in his line up, who am I to argue ?

I have a pair of M3's now and am slated to get a pair of 170 SE's when they are available.

That is interesting, but the same reason, he would want to compare his speaker to something that is more expensive.

There are many "comparisons" floating around on various forums that compare the older CBM-170 to the M22, even on Axiom's own forum.

 

[silversurfer]

Hello All
I have read allot of praise directed toward the Ascend. I have been doing this long enough to realize that if a majority of educated and informed ears agree they are most likely worth the effort to review.

Ray, I believe you are in the Southern California area as is Ascend. Might not be too hard for you to get a pair to evaluate.

 

[krabapple]

I'm not clear on the setup procedure:

All speakers were placed at a 28-inch height and all of the speakers were moved to different positions and toe in angles.

What does this mean? Position and toe-in was different for each pair of speakers? Of course this is going to introduce differences.

 

[einsteinjb]

Hello All
I have read allot of praise directed toward the Ascend. I have been doing this long enough to realize that if a majority of educated and informed ears agree they are most likely worth the effort to review.

So it wouldn't be far off to assume this means you'll be doing just that soon? That would be awesome. I'd like to see an update to this shootout (nice job by the way) that puts the two winners up against the Ascends (albeit their price point is higher) and the new SVS bookshelfs, as well as perhaps the Ascend HTM-200s.

I did have a couple questions about the shootout. For one, I understand that you have reasons for using MSRP to match speakers up for review, but we all live in the real world, and there are big differences in the real world between what these speakers cost. Axiom's price for example is what it is, direct from their web site, whereas you shouldn't have to pay nearly MSRP for (for example) the BICs. In fact they're generally less than half the price. A minor concern, but I think a valid one.

Regarding the BICs, I was really surprised to read the comment that you'd heard that mods are available but couldn't confirm it. No offense, but how could you possibly have trouble confirming that? A quick search of any popular forum will yield Ed Frias' name and contact info, which is:

Ed Frias
EFE TECHNOLOGY Speakers
ED FRIAS ENTERPRISES
668 W. Lee Blvd
Prescott, AZ 86303
Phone: 928-778-2616
E-mail: efespeakers@commspeed.net

BTW his mods really do turn the BICs into a completely different speaker. Still not in the league of today's finer offerings in the $300 bookshelf price range, but WAY better than stock. It's very easy to yank the crossovers, mail them to Ed, then reinstall them, so I don't think you'd be out of line including one of his modded versions in a shootout. Or you could just include a set of his extensively modified versions, which you simply buy direct from him.

I was also unclear about the speaker positioning, as krabapple mentioned. The picture you included appeared to show the speakers set up A-B-C-D D-C-B-A, which to my understanding would not at all be the proper way to set up several pairs for review. A-B-C-D A-B-C-D would give each set the same positioning advantages and disadvantages, wouldn't it?

Thanks for all your efforts.

 

[ggunnell]

Epos is still the reference in budget bookshelves as far as I know. Perhaps a future comparison could include one of their models.

 

[silversurfer]

Epos is still the reference in budget bookshelves as far as I know. Perhaps a future comparison could include one of their models.

I have read a lot of good things about the Epos ELS-3, never thought of it as being the "reference" though. As far as the internet is concerned, the one that always seems to pop up the most is the Ascend CBM-170.

Maybe Ray can get the Epos and Ascend.

 

[Tex-amp]

According to Ian Colquhoun, the M3ti and Ascend 170 would be the best comparison, since he owns Axiom, and thinks the M3 is the better choice in his line up, who am I to argue ?

I have a pair of M3's now and am slated to get a pair of 170 SE's when they are available.

M3 60 - 22 kHz

170SE 58Hz to 22kHz +/- 3dB

Doesn't look to match up with the 170SE. It also looks like Axiom uses a 15 dB wide variation window in their range rating to Ascend's 3dB variation.

For those looking at the graphs note that one uses a 10dB graph and the other a 5dB graph.

 

[Tex-amp]

Classic 170s.

69Hz - 20kHz +/- 3dB

 

[RLA]

I was also unclear about the speaker positioning, as krabapple mentioned. The picture you included appeared to show the speakers set up A-B-C-D D-C-B-A, which to my understanding would not at all be the proper way to set up several pairs for review. A-B-C-D A-B-C-D would ]

The speakers were evaluated in many different positions (width and toe in) the picture is for reference only. I can’t confirm a mod that I haven’t tried
Where is the web site for the cross over mod? After all the mods what is the total price you have invested for a speaker with flush mount drivers, less than stellar finish and build quality?

here are many speakers that cost under $300 a pair I would like to have included them all but if that occurred I would have been writing the results from the nursing home. Another point is that manufactures have to be willing to send us product for review in a timely manor. I don’t have the resources to buy all the speakers under $300 but if you send a pair to me I will take a listen and give you my impressions just PM me and I will provide you with my shipping address

 

[ColinRobertson]

budget speaker shootout

<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A href="http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/loudspeakers/SpeakerFaceOffVIp1.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 125px; HEIGHT: 94px" alt=[lineup] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/lineup_th.jpg" align=left border=0></A>Over the past few years there has been much talk about budget speakers on our forums. With this in mind, we decided to conduct a bookshelf speaker shoot out. We selected four different models of speakers all under $300/pr from Axiom Audio, BIC, Klipsch and Unisound.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Find out how these speakers faired in this gunfight at the RLA Corral.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix = o /></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">[Speaker Face Off IV Review]</SPAN></P><A href="http://www.audioholics.com/news/uploads/lineup.JPG"></A>

I felt this shootout was a little bit unfair. I will admit to being biased against Klipsch speakers; I feel that most (if not all) horn loaded speakers sound terribly unnatural, despite their dynamic capabilities and efficiency. That said, none of the other speakers were horn loaded! What gives? It's like comparing a dynamic speaker with an electrostatic! Totally different.

OK OK, I'll give it to you that this was a shootout based on the common denominator of a low price. I was however dissapointed not too see some other brands, that quite frankly, would have spanked these in the same price categories, such as Paradigm. Their Atom ($189/pr.), Titan ($219/pr.), or Focus ($299/pr.) all use cast baskets, have custom made drivers, and high build quality. Most importantly, they sound awesome given their price. Working at a hifi shop that carried Paradigm (among others), they practically sold themselves.

Also not on the list (possibly because they are more expensive), B&W. I could go on, but you get the point. I would love to see another shootout in the future, as not too many reviewers are brave enough to do shootouts. It makes their advertiesers look bad...

 

[Audioholics]

Also not on the list (possibly because they are more expensive), B&W. I could go on, but you get the point. I would love to see another shootout in the future, as not too many reviewers are brave enough to do shootouts. It makes their advertiesers look bad...

Honestly, it's not the advertisers that are the problem. It's the onslaught of complaints that really makes it not worth the effort.

 

[Ghost_Dog]

Nice review. Id love to see a larger group of budget bookshelfs though....one speaker which I am sure would have placed very high is the Athena AS-B1. Some PSBs, Paradigms and Energys would be nice too.

Ive heard the RB-15s , they are quite a fantasic speaker. Harman International has many excellent sounding bookshelfs as well....JBL , Infinity ...id love to see you guys get some of these as well.



A group of 15 pairs or something would be awesome.