The Official Axiom Speakers Thread - Page 116 - Blu-ray Forum

kopkiwi · 05-29-2018, 10:47 PM

Been a year without a reply, I won't take that as a good thing? Seems the smear campaign did the trick, don't see anything of them among the professional reviewers these days.

solarrdadd · 05-29-2018, 11:22 PM

Now that you posted, the hecklers and haters will start posting again!

I'm sure the true fans are still just that, I know I am and I still love my 7 Axiom speakers in my main 7.1.4 HT setup!

I did see a bit ago they released new speakers. I do like the new line of the M5HP bookshelf 3 way speakers. They look interesting and giving separate, dedicated drivers for the mid range and woofer should make all the difference in this design.

I'd love to hear them.

kopkiwi · 05-30-2018, 04:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

Now that you posted, the hecklers and haters will start posting again!

I'm sure the true fans are still just that, I know I am and I still love my 7 Axiom speakers in my main 7.1.4 HT setup!

I did see a bit ago they released new speakers. I do like the new line of the M5HP bookshelf 3 way speakers. They look interesting and giving separate, dedicated drivers for the mid range and woofer should make all the difference in this design.

I'd love to hear them.

Yep, no doubt lol.

I'm not far off starting my dedicated build so am starting to put together a list of possible speakers. I'd love to get the Dynaudio Contour 30s and corresponding center but the prices here in NZ for them are just mental (looking at about $17k) and thats without surrounds, sub or receiver and amp. Whereas a full set of Axiom M100, 180 center and M22 on wall surrounds (x 2 pairs) would run me less than $9k including taxes. It seems like a no brainer. I don't think I could get a 7 speaker set up that is even remotely close to that quality here in NZ for anything close to that price.

McGarnigal · 05-31-2018, 08:51 PM

Where do axioms fall in the bright or warm spectrum? What are some other manufacturers you can very loosely compare them to for some idea of reference? Thanks

kopkiwi · 06-04-2018, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGarnigal

Where do axioms fall in the bright or warm spectrum? What are some other manufacturers you can very loosely compare them to for some idea of reference? Thanks

Might be a better question asked in the avs thread mate, their forum is a little busier than this thread sadly.

bdmckinl · 11-26-2018, 08:25 PM

Just wanted to share that my four new M3 in-ceiling speakers (v4) arrived via FedEx this afternoon! I've been busy unpacking/reading/removing the screens/admiring them in anticipation of installation.

Can't wait to experience Dolby Atmos at home, and given my existing beloved Axiom 5.1 setup there was no other speaker brand I cared to even consider when looking to expand

.

zak88lx · 11-27-2018, 01:06 AM

Pictures please.

I am looking into going Dolby Atmos soon, and I would also like to stay with Axiom brand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdmckinl

Just wanted to share that my four new M3 in-ceiling speakers (v4) arrived via FedEx this afternoon! I've been busy unpacking/reading/removing the screens/admiring them in anticipation of installation.

Can't wait to experience Dolby Atmos at home, and given my existing beloved Axiom 5.1 setup there was no other speaker brand I cared to even consider when looking to expand

.

bdmckinl · 11-27-2018, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zak88lx

Pictures please.

I am looking into going Dolby Atmos soon, and I would also like to stay with Axiom brand.

Your wish is my command!

Picture #1 - a comparison of screen on vs screen off (EDIT: all screens are currently off, and I just lightly set the screens back on the speakers on the right. Hence why the fit looks poor)

Picture #2 - 120 feet of genuine Axiom speaker wire. Or something.

Picture #3 - a better look at the screens. They are a bit tougher to get off than the instructions made them out to be (held by both tension and a pretty strong magnet), but extremely sturdy. All my fumbling with pins and paper clips didn't scratch or bend them in the slightest

Picture #4 - behold! A thing of beauty...

Picture #5 - side-shot. Those arms apparently swing out as tightened to provide a secure hold in-ceiling

Picture #6 - bottom-shot

Picture #7 - supplied mounting template (sturdy cardboard), screws, screwdriver bit...and a sticky brand insignia for the grill!

Hope you enjoyed the show! Wow is it a pain to post pictures in this forum

...

zak88lx · 11-27-2018, 05:25 AM

They look great, thanks for posting pics.

I think I will go the same way, as I have attic space above the room, so install should be fairly easy.
I also don't want to mount my QS8's from the ceiling, as they probably have enough weight to kill from that height should one fall.

bdmckinl · 11-27-2018, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zak88lx

They look great, thanks for posting pics.

I think I will go the same way, as I have attic space above the room, so install should be fairly easy.
I also don't want to mount my QS8's from the ceiling, as they probably have enough weight to kill from that height should one fall.

My install won’t be nearly so easy unfortunately (basement theatre), but as luck would have it I have a buddy who has become a bit of a home reno expert over the past year. He has the know-how and equipment to run the wiring through a bulkhead down there and is coming this evening for Part 1 of the installation

I never installed my QS8’s on the wall during the initial build, but they are solid as a rock - a couple times I’ve been curious to take one down and examine it but it wouldn’t budge and I didn’t want to force anything when I didn’t know how it was mounted. I imagine that AV guy used axiom’s mounts though.

Regardless, I’ve read that the QS8’s (really, any non-direct-firing speaker) are poor choices for Atmos anyway because they defeat the purpose of the precise aural object placement inherent to Atmos.

bdmckinl · 12-12-2018, 06:29 PM

Finished... at long last!

Our first evening of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dummer installation a couple weeks ago was stymied by the 15'ish feet of plenum we needed to get the cables through. Turns out wide open spaces (with lots of places for fishing wire to wander and/or get caught) aren't actually the boon we initially thought they would be. Fishing up through the wall from to the plenum itself, which we confidently predicted would be the *true* challenge, was an absolute breeze. After multiple fruitless attempts with the fishing wire, and then a truly inspired pole system comprised of two mop handles and a feather duster extension, we gave up for the night and retreated to lick our wounds.

Yesterday afternoon was round two. We began with measuring out and cutting the four speaker holes, then revisited our white whale the plenum. We cut a slightly larger hole above the projector than the one which existed previously (about a double plate size now - enough to get an arm in and almost out

) and tried the fish line again... this time also utilizing a GoPro camera live-feeding to an iPad display and the black light from my "Lost" collection taped to the end. All this additional clever ingenuity was for naught - no dice. An hour’ish recess was called so that 15 feet of 'glow rod' and string could be purchased from the nearest Home Depot.

Armed with glow rod and string, things started to roll. After some sweating and getting my arm much farther into the plenum than I would have ever thought possible, I succeeded in snagging the glow rod fed to me. After a few minutes of painful skin adjustment, I even had my arm back. Holding the glow rod. Yay! But bereft of string. FFS. Let's try this again.

With string now so well secured it would take a 10-megaton bomb to dislodge it, the glow rod was reinserted and again snagged by me at the projector end in (relatively) short order. From this point the wiring out to each of the four ceiling holes proceeded fairly smoothly. Top front right hole had a piece of wood helping to hold up a water pipe which was keeping the speaker from going completely flush, but with a bit of chiseling we created enough room for the speaker without having to actually remove the support.

With last night now threatening to spill over into this morning, we finished up by threading the four speaker wires (and a spiffy new fibre optic HDMI) through a plate in the wall to my gear cabinet and connecting everything to the Denon amp. A bit more of a marathon than expected, but at least largely free of casualties with the notable exceptions of my bruised bicep, five feet of snared fishing wire, and the detached hook from that &$*! glow rod (which also didn't deign to glow one iota). Only thing was: we were able to keep track of which wires were for the top front left and top rear left, but had confused which wires were top front right and top rear right. Given our track record thus far, I told my friend I'd absolutely bet him one million dollars that we guessed wrong when connecting the wires.

I wish he had taken the bet. The first thing I realized upon running Audyssey this morning was that the TFR and TRR were reversed

. Actually, no, the first thing I realized was that I had neglected to go into Amp Assignment and add the four new heights (forgot that Audyssey doesn't discover for itself which speakers you have). On the plus side, though, each speaker ‘pinged’ and nothing was out of phase.

A quick amp assignment adjustment and wire swapping were performed, and the stage was at long last set for audio calibration. Certainly these new M3's are of lower quality than my others - the ‘pings’ were not nearly as rich - but I suppose that's to be expected given how much less expensive they were compared to my original Axioms. Given that these new in-ceiling speakers won’t ever be doing the heavy lifting of the 5.1, I don't imagine it will be a big deal. Another thing I noticed though is that I think something in the ceiling (or perhaps the speakers themselves) were vibrating when the heights would ping. Dunno - just that the pings were messier and had a bit of an after-ring to them (clearly I don't have the precise vocabulary of an audiophile sorry). I will need to see how it sounds during actual playback but suspect it will be a non-issue: after all, it's very easy to notice something like that when the room is completely silent except for a lone speaker ping.

The last thing I did was go into my Apple TV 4K and toggle on ‘Atmos’ - I love how excellent it is at noticing changes in gear and adjusting itself accordingly (i.e. there was no ‘atmospheric audio’ option before I reassigned the amp to include 4 heights but there it was awaiting me now). So my first experience with Atmos was just the menu noises the Apple TV makes whilst scrolling around - well, technically it was my first experience with DTS: X because this was the only ‘atmospheric’ option I could choose on the Denon to be utilized by default each time I switch to the Apple TV 4K source.

I suppose the only thing left to do is to pop in Avengers: Infinity War and take my new speakers for a real test flight

. Methinks there will probably be a nap before that happens though. Whew. Stay tuned…!!!

Duncan

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%DiPVEGnTaCX3qrL0JYTcQ.jpg

Bastia · 07-28-2020, 01:17 PM

I've done a lot of upgrades over the years since I originally posted my gear, with a lot of changes happening recently. I got a really good deal with their Trade-Up Program, along with my loyalty discount and a promotion they were running on the LFR1100 Actives+amps. I ended up with a pair of Actives, a pair of ADA1500-5 amps to power them, as well as 4 M3 in-ceiling speakers for when I move to a full Atmos setup (just need a new processor, and I'm waiting to see what Anthem comes out with).

I had an amp die on one of my EP800s, so they replaced it without even charging me, and the other one I replaced with a v4 to make them both v4. Movie-watching is always an experience.

I'm using M5HPs for my four surround channels, and the surround effects have never felt more real and visceral. For people not wanting to lay out quite as much money for the Actives, I could wholeheartedly recommend M5HPs all around for a compelling home theater. Honestly, you could probably even do a lower Axiom bookshelf model as long as they're paired with good subwoofers.

Part of my trade-up included getting rid of my center channel. Axiom said they'd been experimenting themselves with relying on a phantom center, and they were happy with the results. I went ahead and said yes to sending in my center, and I can report a similar experience. I don't feel like I'm missing anything in the center image. None of my seating is that far off the center, so your mileage may vary.

It's been a fun journey, and besides the wait for a new AV processor, I don't feel like I have anything left I'm itching to upgrade.

11-26-2018, 08:25 PM	#2306
bdmckinl Expert Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2011 Location:Ontario, Canada Home Theater Gallery:28 4K collection:66 Blu-ray collection:631 DVD collection:130 Digital collection:52 iTunes collection:244 Trading Score:19	Upgrading to Atmos! Just wanted to share that my four new M3 in-ceiling speakers (v4) arrived via FedEx this afternoon! I've been busy unpacking/reading/removing the screens/admiring them in anticipation of installation. Can't wait to experience Dolby Atmos at home, and given my existing beloved Axiom 5.1 setup there was no other speaker brand I cared to even consider when looking to expand .

12-12-2018, 06:29 PM	#2311
bdmckinl Expert Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2011 Location:Ontario, Canada Home Theater Gallery:28 4K collection:66 Blu-ray collection:631 DVD collection:130 Digital collection:52 iTunes collection:244 Trading Score:19	M3 Atmos Installation Update Finished... at long last! Our first evening of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dummer installation a couple weeks ago was stymied by the 15'ish feet of plenum we needed to get the cables through. Turns out wide open spaces (with lots of places for fishing wire to wander and/or get caught) aren't actually the boon we initially thought they would be. Fishing up through the wall from to the plenum itself, which we confidently predicted would be the true challenge, was an absolute breeze. After multiple fruitless attempts with the fishing wire, and then a truly inspired pole system comprised of two mop handles and a feather duster extension, we gave up for the night and retreated to lick our wounds. Yesterday afternoon was round two. We began with measuring out and cutting the four speaker holes, then revisited our white whale the plenum. We cut a slightly larger hole above the projector than the one which existed previously (about a double plate size now - enough to get an arm in and almost out ) and tried the fish line again... this time also utilizing a GoPro camera live-feeding to an iPad display and the black light from my "Lost" collection taped to the end. All this additional clever ingenuity was for naught - no dice. An hour’ish recess was called so that 15 feet of 'glow rod' and string could be purchased from the nearest Home Depot. Armed with glow rod and string, things started to roll. After some sweating and getting my arm much farther into the plenum than I would have ever thought possible, I succeeded in snagging the glow rod fed to me. After a few minutes of painful skin adjustment, I even had my arm back. Holding the glow rod. Yay! But bereft of string. FFS. Let's try this again. With string now so well secured it would take a 10-megaton bomb to dislodge it, the glow rod was reinserted and again snagged by me at the projector end in (relatively) short order. From this point the wiring out to each of the four ceiling holes proceeded fairly smoothly. Top front right hole had a piece of wood helping to hold up a water pipe which was keeping the speaker from going completely flush, but with a bit of chiseling we created enough room for the speaker without having to actually remove the support. With last night now threatening to spill over into this morning, we finished up by threading the four speaker wires (and a spiffy new fibre optic HDMI) through a plate in the wall to my gear cabinet and connecting everything to the Denon amp. A bit more of a marathon than expected, but at least largely free of casualties with the notable exceptions of my bruised bicep, five feet of snared fishing wire, and the detached hook from that &$! glow rod (which also didn't deign to glow one iota). Only thing was: we were able to keep track of which wires were for the top front left and top rear left, but had confused which wires were top front right and top rear right. Given our track record thus far, I told my friend I'd absolutely bet him one million dollars that we guessed wrong when connecting the wires. I wish he had taken the bet. The first thing I realized upon running Audyssey this morning was that the TFR and TRR were reversed . Actually, no, the first thing I realized was that I had neglected to go into Amp Assignment and add the four new heights (forgot that Audyssey doesn't discover for itself which speakers you have). On the plus side, though, each speaker ‘pinged’ and nothing was out of phase. A quick amp assignment adjustment and wire swapping were performed, and the stage was at long last set for audio calibration. Certainly these new M3's are of lower quality than my others - the ‘pings’ were not nearly as rich - but I suppose that's to be expected given how much less expensive they were compared to my original Axioms. Given that these new in-ceiling speakers won’t ever be doing the heavy lifting of the 5.1, I don't imagine it will be a big deal. Another thing I noticed though is that I think something in the ceiling (or perhaps the speakers themselves) were vibrating when the heights would ping. Dunno - just that the pings were messier and had a bit of an after-ring to them (clearly I don't have the precise vocabulary of an audiophile sorry). I will need to see how it sounds during actual playback but suspect it will be a non-issue: after all, it's very easy to notice something like that when the room is completely silent except for a lone speaker ping. The last thing I did was go into my Apple TV 4K and toggle on ‘Atmos’ - I love how excellent it is at noticing changes in gear and adjusting itself accordingly (i.e. there was no ‘atmospheric audio’ option before I reassigned the amp to include 4 heights but there it was awaiting me now). So my first experience with Atmos was just the menu noises the Apple TV makes whilst scrolling around - well, technically it was my first experience with DTS: X because this was the only ‘atmospheric’ option I could choose on the Denon to be utilized by default each time I switch to the Apple TV 4K source. I suppose the only thing left to do is to pop in Avengers: Infinity War and take my new speakers for a real test flight . Methinks there will probably be a nap before that happens though. Whew. Stay tuned…!!! Duncan 0u7ctKQOQXaypSWTAlSYnA.jpg g0NTvYtYSDqWDcAEDXEC6w.jpg 5mlA4GgzTZ2IPfIjvDN%Rg.jpg Ol%Z0YwcS922fApdP73lsA.jpg %DiPVEGnTaCX3qrL0JYTcQ.jpg Last edited by bdmckinl; 12-13-2018 at 03:38 PM. Reason: minor word revision for increased precision.*

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05-29-2018, 10:47 PM	#2301
kopkiwi Special Member Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Christchurch, NZ Home Theater Gallery:10 Blu-ray collection:248 Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:2	Been a year without a reply, I won't take that as a good thing? Seems the smear campaign did the trick, don't see anything of them among the professional reviewers these days.

05-29-2018, 11:22 PM	#2302
solarrdadd Blu-ray Prince Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Virginia Home Theater Gallery:255 4K collection:204 Blu-ray collection:1339 DVD collection:4 Blu-ray reviews: 42 Trading Score:316	Now that you posted, the hecklers and haters will start posting again! I'm sure the true fans are still just that, I know I am and I still love my 7 Axiom speakers in my main 7.1.4 HT setup! I did see a bit ago they released new speakers. I do like the new line of the M5HP bookshelf 3 way speakers. They look interesting and giving separate, dedicated drivers for the mid range and woofer should make all the difference in this design. I'd love to hear them.

05-31-2018, 08:51 PM	#2304
McGarnigal Blu-ray Guru Member since:Oct 2008 4K collection:133 Blu-ray collection:325 Blu-ray reviews: 1 Trading Score:10	Where do axioms fall in the bright or warm spectrum? What are some other manufacturers you can very loosely compare them to for some idea of reference? Thanks

11-27-2018, 05:25 AM	#2309
zak88lx Active Member Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Calgary, AB 4K collection:2 Blu-ray collection:768 Blu-ray reviews:2	They look great, thanks for posting pics. I think I will go the same way, as I have attic space above the room, so install should be fairly easy. I also don't want to mount my QS8's from the ceiling, as they probably have enough weight to kill from that height should one fall.

07-28-2020, 01:17 PM	#2312
Bastia Member Top contributor Member since:Sep 2008 Location:Richland, WA Home Theater Gallery:2 4K collection:154 Blu-ray collection:916 DVD collection:37 iTunes collection:6 Blu-ray reviews:1	I've done a lot of upgrades over the years since I originally posted my gear, with a lot of changes happening recently. I got a really good deal with their Trade-Up Program, along with my loyalty discount and a promotion they were running on the LFR1100 Actives+amps. I ended up with a pair of Actives, a pair of ADA1500-5 amps to power them, as well as 4 M3 in-ceiling speakers for when I move to a full Atmos setup (just need a new processor, and I'm waiting to see what Anthem comes out with). I had an amp die on one of my EP800s, so they replaced it without even charging me, and the other one I replaced with a v4 to make them both v4. Movie-watching is always an experience. I'm using M5HPs for my four surround channels, and the surround effects have never felt more real and visceral. For people not wanting to lay out quite as much money for the Actives, I could wholeheartedly recommend M5HPs all around for a compelling home theater. Honestly, you could probably even do a lower Axiom bookshelf model as long as they're paired with good subwoofers. Part of my trade-up included getting rid of my center channel. Axiom said they'd been experimenting themselves with relying on a phantom center, and they were happy with the results. I went ahead and said yes to sending in my center, and I can report a similar experience. I don't feel like I'm missing anything in the center image. None of my seating is that far off the center, so your mileage may vary. It's been a fun journey, and besides the wait for a new AV processor, I don't feel like I have anything left I'm itching to upgrade.

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