Are Axiom Bookshelf speakers thought of well here

[Steve S.]

I have a pair of Axiom M3 bookshelf speakers that I purchased new in 2010. I had originally intended to get the matching sub woofer soon after but I never did and now I want to refocus my attention on that. Does anyone have any opinion on what I want to do. The Sub is gonna run about $600 and the speakers themselves were a little over 3 hundred$.

The sound of the speakers is good and I am hoping the sub just makes the sound quality go fro good to Effin' unreal!!.

 

[tomlinmgt]

I have a set of 3ti's I purchased new back around '01 before I got serious with my audio hobby. I rarely listen to them now (because bookshelf designs aren't really my thing), but they're pretty impressive little rascals with warm highly resolved electronics (I use a tube preamp and class A SS or single ended triode tube amplification). They can be a little bright with the Ti tweeter, so bright electronics and/or an acoustically reflective room can make them shrill. I had some Polk Monitor 5's at one time and did a side by side against the Axioms and the Axioms positively blew the Polks out of the water. A more recent comparison against the highly praised A. Jones designed Pioneer -22's was much closer, with the Pioneers having better musicality and balance and the Axioms having better liveliness and energy. The Axioms are a lot of fun in the right room and with the right electronics and with a few subs (or more for distributed bass) could make for a killer little rig.

 

[fredgarvin]

I have a set of 3ti's I purchased new back around '01 before I got serious with my audio hobby. I rarely listen to them now (because bookshelf designs aren't really my thing), but they're pretty impressive little rascals with warm highly resolved electronics (I use a tube preamp and class A SS or single ended triode tube amplification). They can be a little bright with the Ti tweeter, so bright electronics and/or an acoustically reflective room can make them shrill. I had some Polk Monitor 5's at one time and did a side by side against the Axioms and the Axioms positively blew the Polks out of the water. A more recent comparison against the highly praised A. Jones designed Pioneer -22's was much closer, with the Pioneers having better musicality and balance and the Axioms having better liveliness and energy. The Axioms are a lot of fun in the right room and with the right electronics and with a few subs (or more for distributed bass) could make for a killer little rig.

That was my experience too, and agree with your points. The Axioms are now used as surrounds here, but with a sub or two would be fine as a standmount set up.

 

[Steve S.]

More then one sub?

 

[tomlinmgt]

More then one sub?

Absolutely. Search "distributed bass" and get familiar with the concept. This is not about setting up stress cracks in the neighbor's foundation. This is about even, balanced, properly reproduced LF content......which one sub can't do in almost any domestic living environment.

 

[Steve S.]

So the Axioms are good with the right electronics in the right room and with a few subs..... Not what I was looking for.

Are there better speakers that I should look for? Are bookshelf speakers better for another application other then listening to music? I don't even have a room other then the living room which the family shares for mostly television. Even still. I want to enjoy good sound. Actually I'm surfing the FM dial as we speak.

 

[tomlinmgt]

So the Axioms are good with the right electronics in the right room and with a few subs..... Not what I was looking for.

No, they're quite good with just about any decent to good electronics in just about any good to decent room. They really come alive, however, as upstream electronics and the room improve. The same can't be said for many, many other speakers. And any bookshelf design is going to need LF reinforcement from subs to reproduce the first octave (60Hz and down) properly. You can't knock them for needing subs.

Understand, I've owned and experienced many speakers that are considered by most around here to be very desireable...Infinity QLS-1's, Magnepan MG-IIIa's, Altec 19's, ADS 1290 II's, Polk SDA's, Vandersteen 2ci's, Acoustat Spectra 22's, Energy Veritas 2.2....among others. They've all set the performance bar pretty high for me. The Axioms are some of the better bookshelf speakers I've had around.

 

[Steve S.]

Thanks Tom. I thought that by adding the sub I was on the right path but then I thought maybe not. I don't know if I'll go with more then one sub but at least I feel assured that I purchased good speakers to reproduce music.

 

[Drumolator]

IMHO, bookshelf speakers one likes and a sub to play the low stuff works very well. If you like the Axioms and think a sub will help, it probably will. Peace and goodwill.

 

[finnbow]

I don't see any particular need to get a "matching" subwoofer (i.e., one from Axiom). I'd be willing to wager that a Dayton 10" Titanic kit would be every bit as good (probably better/tighter) for 2/3 the price. For 1/3 the price, this one would likely perform equally well to the Axiom. Not as pretty though.

 

[Steve S.]

What is it exactly that tells you or me that a certain sub woofer is a quality one or not?

 

[PR Audio]

I don't see any particular need to get a "matching" subwoofer (i.e., one from Axiom). I'd be willing to wager that a Dayton 10" Titanic kit would be every bit as good (probably better/tighter) for 2/3 the price. For 1/3 the price, this one would likely perform equally well to the Axiom. Not as pretty though.

+1 also consider HSU Research Subs, with Dayton or HSU you are covered.

 

[Ray21]

I have both a pair of M22ti's and M3v2s.

The M3s certainly have more prominent bass, but sound a bit darker and more recessed in the midrange. The M22s image better and are a lot livelier sounding, they also measure flatter from 500hz - 10khz in my room. The M3s exhibited a 3 db dip at 1.7khz.

That said, I enjoy listening to both of the them and consider them very good. For sub duty, I would follow the recommendations above.

 

[Ray21]

What is it exactly that tells you or me that a certain sub woofer is a quality one or not?

Specs on the raw drivers themselves. Measurements - distortion, frequency response, etc.

I found this to be a good place to look at measurements:
http://www.data-bass.com/home

Without getting too complicated about it, what do you plan on using the sub for? Music, HT? Do you have EQ capability? For music I prefer a sealed sub in a low qtc alignment (.5 qtc) and prefer LLT ported for movies.

 

[Steve S.]

My thing is - do you like the Axiom speakers? If you do, who cares what a bunch of curmudgeons think.

We are not the 'end all' experts on anything.

I'll say that I don't know because they are an incomplete set. Now I could be wrong but adding the sub would complete them by allowing the lows to be reproduced via the sub and the mid range and highs to be handled by the bookshelf.

I agree with Ray 100% that they are dark sounding and I do not like that. They are NOT lively. They have a somewhat masked sound. Not muffled but somehow not lively. So maybe I am wrong in thinking the sub would work that out and allow them to sound better.

 

[Steve S.]

Without getting too complicated about it, what do you plan on using the sub for? Music, HT? Do you have EQ capability? For music I prefer a sealed sub in a low qtc alignment (.5 qtc) and prefer LLT ported for movies.

I plan on using them primarily for music. Maybe HT in the future but unlikely right now. I do not have an EQ.

Do not understand qtc alignment or .5qtc or LLT. Ported and sealed I DO understand.