Archives for 2006

AudioWorld Rating: 

No Hype – This is the Real Deal

Although the company has been making loudspeakers for more than 20 years, Canada’s Axiom Audio is still relatively little known. In years past, this may have been due to limited distribution channels. But now, in the Web era, Axiom has taken to direct marketing online. And the word is starting to get around and create a buzz.

The word is, Axiom makes really good-sounding speakers and sells them for surprisingly low prices. You’ll find comments and testimonials sprinkled around the Internet alluding to “high-end” and “audiophile-quality” performance at everyday prices, $400 speaker pairs that are the equal of competitors’ models costing in the thousands.

Well, I’m not especially fond of slippery terms like high-end and audiophile, so I won’t go there. But after spending a couple of months with the Axiom Epic Grand 5.1 surround package, I’m here to say: it’s no hype, the Axiom’s really are an exceptional value in home theater and hi-fi loudspeaker systems. They sound very good indeed, and you will have to spend a lot more money to get a 6-speaker set-up that sounds better.

What’s What

The Epic Grand Master package is one of nine 6-speaker (including sub) home theater ensembles on offer from Axiom today, ranging in price from less than $1,000 US (the Epic Micro Home Theater) to nearly $2,500 US (the Epic 80 Home Theater). The packages are put together from a full speaker line that includes 5 bookshelf models, 4 floor-standing tower designs, 4 center-channel speakers, 3 multipolar surround models, and 3 powered subwoofers.

The Grand Master sits in the middle of the range. The main left and right speakers are the Millennia M22 bookshelf design, which sells separately for $448/pair (US). For rear surrounds, you get Axiom’s top-of-the-line QS8 quadpolar speaker that radiates sound in four directions, priced separately at $558/pair (US). In the center, it’s the VP100 ($264 US), with the mid-line EP175 powered subwoofer ($568 US) bringing up the bottom. Add it all up, and you’ll see that the package price of $1,784 (US) saves you more than $100 off the price of the individual components.

All of the full-range speakers in the package are built around the same two rather esoteric drivers: a 5-1/4″ aluminum-cone woofer, and a 1″ ferrofluid-cooled, titanium-dome tweeter. They also each use variations of Axiom’s distinctive, angular, wedge-shaped boxes, which the company refers to as Anti-Standing-Wave cabinets.

The sub is a conventional front-firing unit, with a 10″ aluminum-cone driver in a dual-ported cabinet. The sub is powered by a built-in 175 Watt amp, and comes with the usual connectivity features — line-level and speaker-level inputs, output level and phase-reverse controls, and a variable low pass filter to tailor frequency response in configurations with amplified signal pass-through to the main front speakers.

Next: How does the Epic Grand Master system sound?

AudioWorld Rating:

Various Artists: Immersion

In case you aren’t familiar with it, Immersion is a DVD-Audio test disc par excellence. It also offers some exciting music, if your taste runs to the experimental and avant garde. From a technical point of view, it provides musical source material in every conceivable stereo and surround configuration, with and without either or both of LFE (subwoofer, “.1”) and center-front audio.

Several tracks on Immersion make for easy evaluation of the timbral balance between the five surround speakers, and the Axiom system passed the test with flying colors. On Pamela Z’s Live/Work, the main content is spoken female voice panning slowly around, and bouncing back and forth among the front and rear speakers. The Axiom M22’s and QS8’s handled the transitions smoothly, although I noticed a slight deficit in high-frequency sheen from the QS8’s now and then.

Bruce Odland’s Tank gives the whole surround system a workout, with vibrant percussion both upfront and in subtle layers, a resounding deep-bass drum to exercise the subwoofer, and richly ambient trumpet riffs floating atmospherically in 3D space over all the rest. The Grand Master system sounded gorgeous on this, real aural candy, with the QS8’s presenting a huge and spacious recreation of the ambience of the original recording.

Another well-engineered 5.1 track on Immersion, Phil Kline’s The Housatonic at Henry, gave further proof that the Axiom system can provide a lush, enveloping surround experience. This piece is an ambient soundscape filled with tingling bell cascades, an ominous string ostinato underneath, and a gradual build of thrumming machine-engine sound. Along with a tremendous sense of space, the Axioms revealed every nuance of the detailed aural painting.

Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now

For more conventional musical fare, I listened to the DVD-Audio release of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now — not Joni Mitchell at her best, but a sumptuosly-recorded collection of arrangements nonetheless, with lush orchestration (large jazz ensemble with rhythm section, plus full strings), attractive surround engineering (subtle natural ambience in the rear channels), and a solid bottom on the LFE channel.

Once more, the Epic Grand Master system delivered a convincing surround stage, as well as fine overall balance across the full instrumental range, including an acoustic bass that balanced perfectly with the rest of the ensemble. The Axioms coped nicely with dynamic extremes on this recording (as they did with several DVD-A orchestral recordings I auditioned on the system, as well).

Another characteristic of this disc is the prominent center-channel placement of Joni Mitchell’s vocal. To my ear, the VP100 center channel sounded a shade too dark in this kind of exposed production. Its quality is still pleasing and attractive, but not the equal of the main front pair for clarity and openess in the highs. This was all the more noticeable given the spread of vocal reverb to the left and right front pair, where it sounded airier and more transparent than the direct vocal in the center channel.

Next: The Epic Grand Master at the movies

AudioWorld Rating:

How Does It Sound?

What you really want to know is: how does the system sound? I won’t beat around the bush. These speakers sound very, very good. As a general characterization, the sound quality is transparent, open, airy, and detailed. Response across the full audio spectrum, from about 35 Hz in the low end out to limits of human hearing at the top (specs say +/- 3 db to 22 kHz for the full-range speakers), is smooth as you could want, no unpleasant colorations that I could detect. The use of the same drivers all around ensures a fair (though not perfect) timbral balance across the front, and front-to-back.

I found it very easy to set up the subwoofer to sit in a comfortable balance to the full-range speakers. The front speakers are decidedly light on the bottom end (Axiom’s specs indicate a rapid drop-off below 60 Hz), and they really need the sub to handle the low frequencies. I left the low-pass filter on the sub wide open, and used the bass management on the Harman Kardon AVR520 receiver driving the system to handle the crossover. With the crossover set at the obvious choice of 80 Hz, I was rewarded with a pleasingly smooth and natural transition from sub to mains, with minimal tweaking of the output level control on the sub.

By the way, if you are trying out these or other Axiom loudspeakers for yourself, be aware of the importance of “burning in” the speakers for a good long while before you try to decide how you like them. I found that they sounded quite harsh and uneven at the outset, and it took a good 30 – 40 hours of play time before the sound started to settle down and reveal its finer qualities. This is a necessary consequence of the metallic materials used for the driver cones. But since Axiom doesn’t seem to mention it anywhere in its set-up documentation or on the Web site, you might be surprised (and disappointed) if you don’t know what to expect.

On with the show. Let’s take a closer look at how the Epic Grand Master system performs in a variety of roles.

M22’s Shine in Stereo
Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms

This is one of my favorite CDs for checking out a set of loudspeakers for basic stereo listening. What I’m looking for here is a precise sound stage, an accurate stereo image, and the ability to reveal details of the pristine music mix cleanly. I also listen for a true-sounding recreation of the the individual instruments that are so finely presented in this recording, which is engineered with excellent close-mic technique.

That’s exactly what I heard from the M22’s. With the EP175 subwoofer in the picture, the Axioms reproduced this music nearly as well as the best studio monitor set-ups I’ve heard. Each element of the mix was laid out across the stereo image just where it should be; defining instruments such as the drum kit, the smooth sax solos on a couple of tracks, and Mark Knopfler’s lead vocal sounded lively and natural. The M22ti’s also impressed me with their refined response to high frequency material, like the breathy, sibilant background vocals, and the subtle definition of this recording’s sweet artificial reverbs as they tail away.

I also listened to Brothers in Arms with the EP175 sub switched off. I was still impressed with the sound of the M22’s, although their lack of deep bass was clearly evident. What bottom there was came out crisp, tight, and articulate, which left me feeling that for some material, these bookshelf speakers would make a fine stereo rig all by themselves.

With the EP175 switched back in, I was struck by the relative flabbiness and slow articulation of the bass lines. While this sub provides solid deep bass that sounds clean and musical, I noticed this lack of sharpness and speed frequently throughout my testing of the system — not much of an issue with the typical low frequency (LFE) stuff in movie soundtracks, but occasionally a disappointment with well-recorded music.

Next: The Epic Grand Master does surround!