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Tweakers' Asylum: REVIEW: Axiom Audio M3ti Speakers by mg16

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REVIEW: Axiom Audio M3ti Speakers

24.154.39.5


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Model: M3ti
Category: Speakers
Suggested Retail Price: $275
Description: Bookshelf speakers
Manufacturer URL: Axiom Audio
Manufacturer URL: Axiom Audio

Review by mg16 ( A ) on May 12, 2004 at 12:49:48
IP Address: 24.154.39.5
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for the M3ti


I bought these used for $190.00.They are covered in maple vinyl veneer, and look fairly good from my listening chair. I was looking for a monitor speaker that was efficient enough for my je labs 300b diy monoblocks. (8 WPC).

The stated 92 db in room sensitivity got my interest, as did the low price. I read the AA posts and Soundstage reviews,(got me interested), and decided to look for a used pair to see how they mated with my SET amps. If I liked the sound, I figured I would work my way up the Axiom line to maybe the 95 db. M60TI.

After several days of listening to my favorite vinyl, I was pleased enough to decide to keep them, and do a few tweaks to try to improve them even more. Untweaked they are very clean and clear on the top end. Very nice detail. Not overly bright in my opinion. Mids were not as full and rounded as my Infinity Modulus sattelittes,(1990's era), but the Axioms were quite open with nice detail. Maybe not monsters in the dynamics department, but quite enjoyable to listen to with an SET amp.

I am biamping to dual 12" subs below 100hz, and can't comment on M3ti bass. My Infinitys sound great with the JE Labs amps, but being 88db, only at lower levels, and with more "sedate" types of music. I Can't rock out with them. The M3TI's will rock nicely on 8 watts with records, but cd's were another story. Although cds sounded good, there was a noticable increase in amplifier distortion during listening sessions.

On some music, this caused a hardening of the mids, which tended to collapsed/compressed the beautiful sound stage. My room is 20' by 12' by 8' high. The speakers play out into the long dimension of the room. They are about 8' apart, and toed in slightly.

I believe these speakers are very good with 300B amps in a small to moderate sized room. Trying to get realistic levels from cd's on rock, blues, classical music may be tough. They seemed more at ease with vinyl, possibly do to the lower dynamic range inherent in vinyl records.

TWEAKS:

I first removed the slip on connectors that attach the wires to the 6.5" midrange and titanium dome tweeter. I hardwired and soldered the leads to the drivers, using a very large alligator clip as a heat sink to avoid damaging the voice coil wire on the tweeter especially, using silver bearing solder.

I removed the rear input terminal cups and examined the crossover which is mounted on a pcb ,silicon glued to the inside of the cups.

There is a 4.7uf electrolitic capacitor, a 1.5uf electrolytic capacitor, a sand cast resistor marked 2.7 ohm at 5 watt, and a sand cast resistor marked 10 ohms at 10 watts. All mounted on about a 4 inch square pcb.

The mid driver is connected through the board directly to the input terminals. Only the tweeter is affected by the crossover components.

I bought 2 Solen fast cap 4.7uf, 2 Solen 1.5uf, 2 Eagle,(MOS Power resistor). 10 ohm @ 10w, and 2 Eagle 2.7 ohm at 10 watt from Madisound Speakers .I also bought 2 pair of nice quality input terminals. Total cost about $25.00. I have Cardas Quadlink biwire cables,so I decided to biwire the Axioms while I was at it.

I unsoldered the mid drivers leads from the pcb and mounted the 2 extra Gold input terminals just above the original ones on the outside of the cup. I soldered the mids leads directly to the new terminals.I used an unsoldering tool to remove the lytic caps and resistors from the pcb board. I removed them 1 part at a time and replaced each part before going on to the next one, so as to keep from screwing up, and getting a part in the wrong place. I used a DVM to measure each resistor before installing, to make sure I didn't transpose the values. I used silver solder throughout.

The first day of listening made me think, maybe I wasted my time. Sounded smoother than before, maybe a little too smooth. I kinda missed the great detail. After 3 days of listening about 4 hours a day, things are really coming around. Still smooth, but minute details are become much better than they were originally. Better depth, width of soundstage than stock. The biggest improvement is in the harmonics of the instruments. Instruments and voices now seem much more correct and realistic in the room.

Did I turn a $300 set of speakers into a pair of $3000 monitors for $25.00? Of course not, but I have a very satisfying sounding,(to me anyway), set of speakers for a total investment of $315, that I really enjoy listening to. This was fun, and thats the whole point.

I still have my 30 watt kt-88 psuedo triode amp(Cary), that has more than enough power for the Axioms with cd's. The tweaked M3TI's sound very good using this amp also. I will definatly keep this set-up for the forseeable future.

mg16


Product Weakness: slightly up front presentation untweaked. Somewhat compressed dynamics
Product Strengths: Detail, Carity, Wide Soundstage


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Cary CAD50M/JE Labs 300B
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): ARC LS-7
Sources (CDP/Turntable): MMF-7/GradoPlatinum cartridge
Speakers: Infinity Modulus/Axiom M3TI
Cables/Interconnects: Cardas Quadlink/Same
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Rock/Blues/New Country
Room Size (LxWxH): 20' x 12' x 8'
Room Comments/Treatments: RoomTunes
Time Period/Length of Audition: 30+ hrs
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Generic on Sources only
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Axiom Audio M3ti Speakers - mg16 12:49:48 05/12/04 ( 0)