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Post by dwwjr56 on Mar 31, 2010 14:48:29 GMT -5
Hello, I presently have the Axiom M80's v2 and the VP150 v2 speakers. I like the speakers for some music, and the movies are very good. I do think that the speakers are a bit bright. I listen to music about 50% and movies 50%.
Has anyone here done a comparison with the emotiva 8.3 (mains)and 6.3 as the center with the Axioms? I did a search but I could not find anything.
I am planning to add the XPA-2 into my setup to run the mains and use the XPA-5 for the rest.
I sure would love to hear someones system locally that has the 8.3 and 6.3 setup. If you have the XPA-2/5 combo and erds even better! ;D
I welcome all comments good and bad. But please be kind to my poor Axioms if possible.
Dave
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turbo
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Post by turbo on Mar 31, 2010 15:26:29 GMT -5
I have m80v2s and vp150 my dad has erm6.2's(for stereo), rocket rs 850's and rocket rsc 200 personally I love the v2's. I don't find them bright, they have great mids and bass, they present a great front soundstage. their frequency graph is very flat. comparing the 6.2's to the m80's isn't a fair comparison(tower vs book shelf) but as for as the "brand speaker sound" I personally like the m80's better. However that being said, I do like the 6.2's and have never heard the 8.3's the vp150 is "ok" it does its job ok but when comparing it to the rsc200 it looses. I would suspect this might be the same case with the 6.3. I would like to steal one of his 6.2's and swap it in place of my vp150 to see how it would work as a center but haven't. There are rumors that axiom is building a horizontal m80 center that might be great. I will warn you that the xpa2 and m80v2 have been known to not get along. My xpa5 has no problems driving my m80's in 5 or 2 channel stereo. I will also add that my comparisons where done in different rooms/setups... Are you powering the 80's with the xpa5 now? or did you mean you plan on getting the xpa2 and xpa5?
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Post by dwwjr56 on Mar 31, 2010 17:02:40 GMT -5
Hi Fugsworth,
Thanks for the comments. I have the xpa-5 powering them all. I have cambridge soundworks surrounds, and the Axioms. I also have the 12" cambridge soundworks sub, and that of course is powered on its own.
Do you listen to a lot of music? Watch more movies? What about the type of music? I listen to Umphreys McGee, Jack Johnson, ALO, and some rock, and classical.
I really havent played around with the settings or placement much, so I should probably tweak stuff in that area first before I give up on the Axioms.
What is it about the xpa-2 and the m80's?
Again thanks for the comments.
Anyone else?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2010 17:40:49 GMT -5
Hi Dave, I own both Axiom and Emotiva speakers although they are both the small bookshelf models. This might at first sound like it disqualifies me to comment on your question. However if you consider that both the Axiom M2i and the Emo ERM-1's have the exact same tweeters and mid drivers as the M80 and 8.3 you'll realize I know the signature sound of these two brands. I actually still have my custom finished M2i's and SQ4 as I have not had time to post them for sale yet due to some illnesses. I own 3ea of the ERM-1's (slightly smaller brother of the 6.2) for LCR and 2ea of the ERD-1's for surround duty driven by a XPA-5. I loved the Axiom's but always thought there was a very slight irritation/edginess on voices and highs (I just love my EMO's more). I now believe perhaps the metal drivers in the Axiom might contribute to this. You might consider what I did. I bought one of the Emo speaker and did an A/B comparison. I then bought the rest of the Emo 5 speaker system. I feel the build and driver quality as well as the sound is superior including the Emo surround speaker. Here is my review on that process from last year. I continue to be extremely happy with my Emo system matched with a good sub for both music and movies in my 13 x 37 x 8.5 room. ;D emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=speakerreviews&action=display&thread=5476(note, after I hooked up the Emo speaker to the XPA-5 I was even more impressed)
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turbo
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Post by turbo on Mar 31, 2010 18:39:33 GMT -5
Hi Fugsworth, Thanks for the comments. I have the xpa-5 powering them all. I have cambridge soundworks surrounds, and the Axioms. I also have the 12" cambridge soundworks sub, and that of course is powered on its own. Do you listen to a lot of music? Watch more movies? What about the type of music? I listen to Umphreys Magee, Jack Johnson, ALO, and some rock, and classical. I really havent played around with the settings or placement much, so I should probably tweak stuff in that area first before I give up on the Axioms. What is it about the xpa-2 and the m80's? Again thanks for the comments. Anyone else? I listen to tons of music. ;D blues, rock, reggae, jazz, bluegrass, pop, classical. Sounds great...movies are good as well. Placement helps a lot make sure they have plenty of room behind them. also what do you have for flooring?(do you have a bright room? hardwood...) I wouldn't bring up the xpa2-m80 problems on this forum or axiom's forum, for fear of being beaten down by the fanboys ;D Just trust me they have problems together.
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cgolf
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Post by cgolf on Mar 31, 2010 20:35:57 GMT -5
Hi Fugsworth, Thanks for the comments. I have the xpa-5 powering them all. I have cambridge soundworks surrounds, and the Axioms. I also have the 12" cambridge soundworks sub, and that of course is powered on its own. Do you listen to a lot of music? Watch more movies? What about the type of music? I listen to Umphreys Magee, Jack Johnson, ALO, and some rock, and classical. I really havent played around with the settings or placement much, so I should probably tweak stuff in that area first before I give up on the Axioms. What is it about the xpa-2 and the m80's? Again thanks for the comments. Anyone else? I listen to tons of music. ;D blues, rock, reggae, jazz, bluegrass, pop, classical. Sounds great...movies are good as well. Placement helps a lot make sure they have plenty of room behind them. also what do you have for flooring?(do you have a bright room? hardwood...) I wouldn't bring up the xpa2-m80 problems on this forum or axiom's forum, for fear of being beaten down by the fanboys ;D Just trust me they have problems together. Like chuckie, I sold my Axiom QS8 surrounds in exchange for some ERDs. I think these are fantastic surrounds and as good or better than the Axioms. On the other hand, I have 6.3s that I have up for sale because I am moving to floorstanding. I've listened to Paradigms and B&Ws and loved their sound but have chosen to "try" a pair of Axiom M80s first. I'll be out a couple $100 if I send them back but I am convinced that their sound will be as good or better in my media room than the Paradigm studios or the B&W or the 6.3s. I'll be driving them with a XPA-2 but I believe the issues were more with amping a single XPA-2 to each M80. However, time will tell!!! ;D
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Post by dwwjr56 on Apr 1, 2010 16:27:39 GMT -5
Thanks again for all the replies!
Chuckienut - if I understand correctly, the mids and tweets are both the same in each respective speaker brand. So reading your great review (little over this newbies head) You found them (Axioms) bright also. I know when i crank up the music they hurt my ears a little! (a lot might have to do with the room and placement) BTW your wife is a saint! ;D I would like to get a speaker for demo but, I want to buy the ones that pitbull is selling. So i cant demo first. I really would like to be able to listen to a "like" setup in my area if there was someone close by and willing, but i know that is a lot to ask.
I guess i should list my room info as Fugsworth did mention that. Its in the cellar, cement floor with linoleum (bought that way and pretty fugly too) approx 25' long, 10.5' wide and 7.5' high with a drop ceiling. The speakers are about 3' in on one side and 2' in on the other, and approx 2.5' from back wall. I have two couches with heavy pillow type upholstery one couch is split in half. They are about 11' feet away, and one of the half's is about 3' away from the right speaker. (WAF)
cgolf - too bad you were not closer, I could save you a hundred or so and bring my speakers so you could demo! I cant wait to hear your review of the M80's with the xpa-2 also.
Thank you all again! Dave
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Post by roadrunner on Apr 1, 2010 19:06:29 GMT -5
Dave,
The M80's tend to be bright even in the best of rooms, but with the concrete floors and no rugs or carpeting I can imagine that some of your media is down right painful to listen to for extended periods. You can help tame them a little by just putting down some area rugs in front of the speakers.
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Post by dwwjr56 on Apr 1, 2010 21:38:23 GMT -5
roadrunner, that is a good suggestion. I did forget to mention that I have a 8 x 10 rug on the floor but it is cheap and thin. I do have to play around with the UMC to see if I can tame them a bit. I do like the sounds of cymbals that these speakers do reproduce, and the occasional chimes that drummers use. I used to play drums and to me these speakers accurately reproduce those sounds, but they are a bit harsh. They are very nice sounding speakers for "unplugged" guitar and some voices.
I am going to play around some more, and then make my decision as to what to do with these speakers. I listened to some Focal speakers (not sure of model) at ultimate electronics the other day, and those were very nice for piano music but not much else in my opinion. I may just have to bite the bullet and order the 8.3's and (1) 6.3 from Emotiva if I cant find anyone in my area.
Please keep the info coming! Thanks
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cgolf
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Post by cgolf on Apr 1, 2010 21:46:37 GMT -5
dwwjr, I take it from your posts that you're not too fond of the M80s. I've had every other Axiom speaker made other than the M80s and never thought any of them were overly bright.
I think my media room is fairly tamed with carpet, furniture, curtains & other treatments. If the M80s are too bright for my ears, then I'll send them back and get some B&Ws or Paradigms but probably B&Ws. ;D
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jlafrenz
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Post by jlafrenz on Apr 1, 2010 22:27:07 GMT -5
I have heard both sets of speakers. Though limited time with the M80's, I didn't find them bright at all. In fact quite the opposite. I thought they were pretty bass heavy too. The 8.3's are going to be anything, but bright as well. I have heard that Cambridge gear can tend to be bright. This may be contributing to what you have heard. I have heard Cambridge a few times and I can say as though I have spend enough time with it to agree that it is bright. My suggestion would be to hold off doing anything with your speakers until you get the new amps. This way you are only changing on variable at a time and know what it is in your system and what change is being made. Very difficult to do when changing multiple components. On a side note, after seeing that you were an ALO fan, I had to go listen to Zach Gill "Girl I Wanna Lay You Down"
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2010 23:33:22 GMT -5
Dave, yes the M80 has two of the exact same tweeters as the one in the M2i. There are two in the M80 for power handling purposes. That means that Axiom felt a single tweeter was not strong enough to handle the power that the M80 would require to hit high output. The Emo ERM-1 and the ERT-8.3 both have only a single tweeter. This in itself should indicate the high quality and power handling ability of this silk dome tweeter with excellent heat dispersion. As far as sounding bright, yes I would say that the Axiom tweeter would tend to sound slightly brighter. This is not exactly because the high frequency response is elevated but due to the character of the sound of the tweeter. To me the Axiom tweeter at first was very impressive and airy sounding. However, I would notice after listening for some time I would get a little "listener fatigue." This to me was due to the slight tendency for the Axiom tweeter to sound bright, edgy, irritatingly steely sounding. I feel that perhaps this might be the same tendency that I have heard in other metal (titanium) tweeters. The Emo tweeter to me sounds more smooth, natural, non-edgy, clean and defined without have that slight irritating quality. The differences are indeed slight but obvious when doing the A/B comparison. At first I would have thought that the Emo tweeter was rolling off faster at the high frequencies than the Axiom but I found in my test measurements it was just the opposite. I can listen for many hours and not get any high frequency listening fatigue. Your room definitely sounds like a "live" room, not enough sound deadening materials. This probably exacerbates the tendency toward brightness that the metal tweeter has. I really appreciate the smoothness of the Emo tweeter with trumpets, saxophones, mass strings which all can tend to get irritating. The Emo speaker also have the three position tweeter toggle switch which is very effective. If you in fact do go with the Emo speakers I highly recommend using the Emo ERD-1 surround speaker. This is an amazingly good surround speaker. The Emotiva speakers IMO are of a higher build quality as well as performance. level www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/bookshelf/emotiva-er-5-0-speaker-system-review
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Post by dwwjr56 on Apr 2, 2010 8:40:17 GMT -5
Well it looks like I need to spend some time tuning up my room. I am so new at this, so it may take a few tries. I like the speakers, and they seem accurate, but I need to tame them down! Time to move stuff around run the UMC speaker setup again and take it from there.
BTW jlafrenz- if you like ALO, you must listen to Umphreys McGee.
cgolf-looking forward to your review with the XPA-2.
As far as the erd-1's go I will be getting a couple of sets of those! Cant beat the price. I have tried to get the ones that come up here and I just keep missing out!
Thanks to all for your suggestions and help!
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jlafrenz
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Post by jlafrenz on Apr 2, 2010 13:04:51 GMT -5
BTW jlafrenz- if you like ALO, you must listen to Umphreys McGee. I certainly have listened to my share of "Front Portch" and will probably be reenacting a few parts of that song this evening
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Post by dwwjr56 on Apr 2, 2010 13:06:31 GMT -5
;D
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2010 16:31:07 GMT -5
Dave you might consider trying one or more of these:
#1 Covering the Axiom tweeter with a very light sound/transparent cloth like Kleenex tissue, or some very delicate fabric (not dense). You can also try placing the fabric (dark color) on the inside of the speaker grille directly in front of the tweeter.
#2 I don't own the UMC-1 so I don't know the frequency points for the EQ. See if you can tone down the high frequencies slightly with the manual EQ settings.
#3 Try a slight shim under the front of the M80's to give them a subtle upward tilt, so that the tweeter is not aiming directly at your ears.
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Post by dwwjr56 on Apr 4, 2010 7:55:55 GMT -5
Thanks chukienut!
I will be sure to try your suggestions as well as others. Now I just need the time to sit and play around with them.
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Post by mrmeng430 on Apr 7, 2010 21:53:40 GMT -5
My 2 cents...
I use M80s for movies and ERT 8.3 for music. M80s hooked up XPA-5 and to Yamaha , ERT's to the XPA-2 and to the Onkyo. I like my set up, I think the ERTs are better for music where it is not too high as the Axioms in the higher Hz. Both sets are in the same room, both speakers next to each other. ERT's now sound amazing with the Denon 3910 playing CDs after tweaking with wood butcher block, 4 racquetballs at the bottom of each corner of block for vertical vibration control, 3 mouse balls on bottle caps on top of block, Denon sits on the mouse balls to control horizontal vibration.
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Post by dwwjr56 on Apr 8, 2010 9:29:45 GMT -5
Wow mrmeng430!
I wish I had the room and the money I would probably try the same thing. I do like the Axioms, and I would love to hear the 8.3's, but the only way I am going to be able to do that is to send for them. I just dont have that cash available to me right at the moment. Great setup! Dave
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Post by solarrdadd on Jun 21, 2010 17:15:31 GMT -5
yesterday i did order a pair of Axiom M80v2 towers and the newly released VP180v3 center. this is going to make for an incredible front 3 soundstage powered by my XPA-5 with calabrine bi-wire cables! i expect to have them by or before the end of next week! I'll give a review of the new front soundstage after i get them! www.axiomaudio.com/vp180.htmlit's a beast at 39.5" wide and 56.8lbs the VP180v3 is going to change my concept of HT! I can't wait either! and think, how good it's all gonna sound with that new emo Ultra Sub 10 I got a couple of weeks ago! forum.blu-ray.com/pre-pro-amplifiers-separate-systems/100541-official-emotiva-q-thread-272.htmlscroll down to post 5432 for my sub saga beginning!
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