Is Axiom still a Budget Leader?

[Oak244]

Being that there seems to be a new company poping up all the time, and new models constantly among existing companies, is Axiom still a leader in the budget minded speaker world? I have always wanted to upgrade the M60's from my M22's but being its 2 years later, are there any other speakers that might outperform the M60's in todays market for a $900 price new or $500 used? Would be intrested in any non-bias honest opinions.

[Oak244]

Nevermind

I am going Magnepan. Seems to be the best for what I am looking for. :T

[Legairre]

I felt Axiom was the budget leader until they raised there prices late last year. A pair of m80 was $1100 and now it's something like $1240. For $1240 I can get a pair of Monitor Audio S8 from a local dealer and to me they sound better than the M80 after hearing the M80 at the house of a member of the Axiom forum. Great pair of speakers for $1100 though. So yes I think they were the leader, but not anymore.

[sajoka]

I personally like the Polk LSi9's. I listened to a lot of stuff, (not the Axiom's, though I looked very hard at them), including Paradigm studio 20's and 40's, JM bookshelfs, B&W 600 & 601's, and a bunch of other stuff. I liked the Polks a lot better. The frequency extension seems much more complete. I listen to mostly classical and jazz. I almost never use my sub. I walked out the door for $880 with tax. I was very impressed. Check them out.

[basementjack]

You're making me want to audition these polks, this isn't the first time I've seen them mentioned positively on htguide!

[sajoka]

You should really check them out. I have not been dissapointed yet. I wish I had a bit more power driving them, but all in due time.

[ajpoe]

I've never heard anyone say Polks sound better than the Paradigm Studio series.... were you able to do an A/B comparison or were you going from one store to another to listen? I did a side by side comparison and the Paradigm were much better IMO.

[Shane Martin]

I've never heard anyone say Polks sound better than the Paradigm Studio series....

I have seen quite a few people prefer Polk over Paradigm especially the studio series vs the LSi's. I will say that I recently heard some basic paradigms and liked what I heard for the money. I don't prefer them over my Phase Tech's though.

[audiofan]

Polk LSi line is quite impressive, espcially LSi 15. I think Tweeter now carries Polk Audio.

[BobD207s]

I have the Aperion Audio 6.1 speaker system with the 12" 250 watt sub and couldn't be happier. The great thing about these speakers is they sound so natural and the bass is awesome. The speakers are very easy to listen to and for the $ I couldn't find anything that compared. The fit and finish on these speakers is excellent - they look like fine pieces of furniture.Aperion has a 30 day return policy but after hearing these in my home they are not going back. The people at Aperion were great to deal with too - I did tons of research and they answered all my questions and couldn't have been nicer. Oh yeah they even send you an owners kit plus my wife really liked the bags the speakers are wrapped in - very classy. One of my buddies bought a 6.1 system from Aperion with the new Power Towers - all I can say is WOW !! Check them out at www.aperionaudio.com. Bob

[Clive]

I am going Magnepan. Seems to be the best for what I am looking for. :T

You're talking two distinctively different speakers there. What made you decide on the maggies?

[mark4x4]

I even like the Polk RTi series. The RTi4 which is a monitor is a Stereophile recommended speaker. I use them in my bedroom and they are tremendous. I've listened to the RTi 10 and 12's both excellent.

Also, the Wharfedale Evo 30's, a floorstander (msrp $899 but can be had for much less) is a great value. They were my fronts mains until I bought a pair of Aerial 10T's. I use my Wharfedales as my front mains on my second system now. Bay Area Audio, a dealer near me has a demo pair for $400, in maple. Hard to beat at that price.

mark4x4

[spiffnme]

I've still not heard anything that touches my M60ti's for anything near $900.

You still also have the option of buying through the Axiom Factory Outlet and saving an additional 10%, bringing the M60ti's back down to $810 delivered. There's ZERO risk in buying from the outlet. (I bought all but one piece of my speaker setup through the outlet.)

I heard some Polk's awhile back and didn't care for them. Not sure of the model though. With all the good things I've heard about the LSi 15, I'll have to find a dealer and give them a listen.

So far the only speakers I've heard that I'd replace my Axioms with were the B&W 703 ($3000), Thiel CS 1.6 ($2500)

[Kens1]

I never wanted to post about my speakers before because it seems Polk Audio gets knocked a lot these days.
When I bought the 1056 it made my rt1000i's sound a lot better than when I had the Yamaha or the Kenwood receiver - I was impressed. I then added the 1080 for the mains and it was considerably better yet.
However, after the Rotel purchases I thought maybe I would upgrade the Polk's to see if I could get even more improvement. I phoned the dealer where I purchased the rotel gear and asked him to set up the paradigm studio 60 v3's that I read alot of good reviews about and some B&W's that were similarily priced to the studio 60's. The dealer also carries theil, linn, and Macintosh speakers but they are out of my budget.
The dealer set up the studio 60's to the rotel 1056 & 1080 and had the B&W's standing by. I brought my own cd's in and auditioned each set for about 35 - 40 minutes. I auditioned them in an acoustically designed room - so in theory it should have sounded better than my living room.
The studio 60's did not impress me at all. The midrange sounded quite sloppy and the bass was not very strong for my liking. At $1900 Canadian for the studio 60's I felt my Polk's sounded more detailed in the mid's and high's and had much more solid tight bass. I paid $1200.00 Canadian for my Polk's almost 5 years ago.
The B&W I auditioned were the 604's. The detail in the mids was better that my Polk's and the high's were less bright - which I liked - very smooth sounding. However, I also felt they were lacking in bass. My polk's have powered sub's in each speaker so I've grown accustomed to a lot of bass. At $2000.00 Canadian for the B&W's I felt they were a better value than the paradigms.
The dealer then showed me the new B&W 8 series (not sure which model) and they were hooked up to the new classe gear. It was very impressive in every way. I might save up for these.
So in the end I did not buy new speakers and felt even better about my polk's than I did before. I feel a lot of people get turned off by polk's because usually when they first hear them they are hooked up to a reciever more intended for HT than music.
I really thought I would like the paradigm's based on the experience I have with the 2200 sub I own which I absolutley love (Polk doesn't make very good dedicated subs IMO).
However, I think the rotel 1072 I was listening to the speakers through may have had some issues. I could tell it has been around the showroom for some time just by the appearance of it and had trouble reading the first 2 tracks of some of my cd's. Once I skipped past the first two tracks it would read the disk fine. I have to beleive the cd player contributed to the sound of both the paradigms and B&W's in a negative way. I should bring my cd player and try it again (cambridge audio 640c).
Until then I cannot make a conclusion about either set but will say that polk audio is still a fine speaker in my opinion if it is hooked up to the right gear.

[Chris D]

Oh, hell yeah, Oak244. Good choice with the Maggies! As pointed out, that's a totally different class you went to. Are you still here on the Forum?

[sajoka]

I've never heard anyone say Polks sound better than the Paradigm Studio series.... were you able to do an A/B comparison or were you going from one store to another to listen? I did a side by side comparison and the Paradigm were much better IMO.

I did go from store to store. It was within an hour or two, but not in the same store. I listen almost solely to classical and jazz, usually in 2 channel. The Polk LSi9 is perfect for me listeneing to that music. I thought the Paradigm Studios lacked the roundness and accuracy in the bottom end, and also lacked the luster in the very high ranges. They didn't sound bad to me, just not what I was looking for for my kind of music.

[Mike Gehring]

Say NO to axiom!!!!

posted a review on www.audioreview.com after I got my b&w's. There had not been a post on them for over a year until I placed mine. In less than 24 hours there was a 5 out of 5 review. I found it very strange that Axiom advertises on this site and after 1 bad review there was a perfect one right after... this is what I wrote.


Reviewed by: mikegehring, Audio Enthusiast

Price Paid: $1100 at axiomaudio.com

Product Model Year:
2004

Summary:
I've read every review on this site. That was a "HUGE" basis for buying these towers. I owned the Axiom VP-150 center channel for about a year and was very happy with it. I ordered the M80ti's in January of 2005. Very prompt delivery. The best packaged speakers I've ever seen. Great customer service. Actualy the best customer service I've ever had the pleasure to deal with.

Now to the speakers... I went from a 10 year old pair of Cerwin Vega VS-150's to an $1100.00 pair of "audiophile" Axiom M80ti's. Is everyone else who has a pair of these speaker tone deaf or did I get the only bad pair Axiom has ever produced? I ran these speakers with plenty of power and plenty of break in time and I wanted to put my Cerwin Vegas back in their place. The low end was extremly muddy sounding, the highs were severly lacking in crisp, clear definition. The drivers had an "EXTRA" magnet attached to them to give you a false sence of weight. They are not video shieled as they say they are. You would be better off buying a pair of Fischer speakers from your corner drug store.

I replaced these speakers with a set of B&W 604 S3's and replaced my VP-150 with the B&W LCR600 S3.

The B&W 604 S3's cost about 2-3 hundred more than the Axioms but if your planing on keeping the Axioms you might as well light you cigar with a couple of $100.00 bills.

Like I said... they had the best customer service that I've ever had the pleasure to deal with... it's just a shame I can't say the same about the speakers

Strengths:
Look nice... but a 1965 Mustang Fastback looks nice without and engine.

Nice finish.. Mine were in Boston Cherry.

Weaknesses:
Very poor quality. Very poor sound. Without a doubt.. not worth anywhere near $1100.00

Similar Products Used:
B&W 604 S3's
Cerwin Vega VP-150's (the axioms are on par with my 10 yr. old Cerwins)