The Axiom Audio Blind Listening Test Overview

Every year since 2004, Axiom Audio has very graciously flown me out to their facility in lovely Muskoka, Canada where the population is an ever steady 140, a good portion of which are gainfully employed by Axiom.  I usually go there to check out their latest products, with ulterior motives to enjoy their lovely scenery, cool freshwater lake, and tasty rare Canadian beef laced with madcow disease for extra flavoring.  On my latest visit, Axiom's President, Ian Colquhoun, discussed the launch of their new V3 series of products as well as several other models with higher end aspirations soon to come.  I didn't see any of this stuff in person but it sounded quite impressive to me causing me to salivate like Pavlov's Dog, or was it the Canadian beef simmering on the grill at the Colquhoun home?   

Prior to my arrival, Ian hinted I should bring a CD with some of my favorite music on it.  I suspected he was going to put me through the ringer with one of their blind tests.  I was both eager and nervous to participate.  Eager, because I wanted to see how other pros did it - nervous, because I was concerned my results may mimic some of the certifiably looney tune reviewers that have undergone blind tests at the Harman lab that I've heard about over the years.  Still, I was game as my hearing was excellent as recently checked by my ENT doctor and I was confident that I could discern real audible differences even under blind test conditions not having any knowledge of the products under test.

I was seated in a smallish rectangular room (20' x 15') with low ceilings (8ft) and walls constructed of cedar.  There were no passive treatments in the room other than furniture, but the room didn't really need any.  It had a very lively, but not over echoey, sound characteristic which in my opinion provided a great environment to discern spaciousness while still having a very warm and cozy feeling to it.  There were two listening seats available and I chose to sit in the middle seat which was dead center to the front wall where the speakers were hidden by a loosely draped black grille cloth. In front of me was a Sherwood Newcastle Pre/Pro, Axiom A1400-8 amplifier, a Panasonic Blu-ray player and an Axiom made switch box.  The switch box had a series of potentiometers for level matching and an A/B/C selector switch to compare up to three pairs of speakers at a time.  Ian instructed me that they alternate the left/right speaker pairs (similar to how we do it) to ensure proper placement and distance to the listening area as follows:                                   

Left Speakers                                       Right Speakers

Axiom Frequency Sweep
Blue- no grille cloth; Green - with grille cloth

I asked Ian about the losses I experienced (-2dB) using speaker grille cloth at our last floorstanding speaker face off and he informed me that they went through great lengths in designing less lossy grille cloth which they've measured a net loss from 20Hz to 20kHz of 0.7dB (0.5dB at bass frequencies, 1.2dB at high frequencies).  As you can see in the measurement above, their grille cloth (even loosely draped) is very transparent. 

Editorial Note about Level Matching Speakers
Level matching tower or extended-range speakers isn’t as trivial as one would think.  You can’t do it with a single tone or even narrow band pink noise found in most A/V receivers or Pre/Pros used for calibrating channel levels.  We personally use a wideband pink noise generator and precision SPL meter set to C-weighting, slow response, where we are able to level match within 0.5dB from speaker to speaker.  

In speaking with Ian he also confirmed that straight pink noise found in your AVR processor will not be accurate in level matching extended-range speakers.  Axiom uses IEC weighted noise (IEC 268-1).   They confirm that switching from C to A weighing on the SPL meter should have minimal impact on measured level differences.  They also double check with white noise to ensure proper level matching has been completed.

I was pleased with this setup, especially since I was the only one sitting in the room and had as much time as I needed to do the listening comparison.  I was encouraged to bring in my own source material so I compiled a selection of high quality recorded music I am most familiar with and burned it onto a CD.

I loved the fact that Axiom provided the listener the ability to flip between speaker pairs under test at will while also being able to adjust master volume keeping both pairs under test level matched at all times. Basically the entire listening session is under user control which helped greatly to reduce testing biases.

Many companies conduct their listening tests in mono, claiming if a speaker wins in mono it will almost always win in stereo.  While this may be a good approach for listening tests that host multiple listeners NOT sitting near the sweet spot, I don’t believe you get the whole picture on how a speaker system interacts as a pair listening in mono.  Ian Colquhoun and I are on the same page here, which is why all of Axiom’s testing is done in stereo.

The Axiom Scorecard

I must admit upon first glance of the Axiom scorecard (see attached) I thought it was rather too simplistic only evaluating bass, mids, treble and overall sound quality.  But then things clicked.  This did make a lot of sense.  Axiom was following the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle to not overwhelm or confuse its listeners.  For those wanting to rate the soundstage/imaging characteristics, this could be lumped into the "overall" rating row.  I liked that they used a 20 point scale as we've found a 5 point scale doesn’t have enough resolution since its really a 3 point scale as people rarely use the endpoint #s when rating product performance.  Ian told me that the scorecard is certainly an important metric but he focuses more on the listeners’ comments than he does on absolute ratings.  This makes a lot of sense, especially when trying to correlate the ratings with the comments.  Going forward we will also adopt a similar scale and  format to what Axiom is using.   

The Blind Listening Test Experience

So there I sat listening to two unknown pairs of speakers in a cozy and acoustically pleasant listening room with my own music.  I felt liberated being able to switch and adjust listening levels at my command.  I took notes on what I was hearing and only entered results into the scorecard after extensive listening and comparing between the two pairs of speakers under test.  In the end I found this listening comparison to be quite enjoyable.  I found strengths and weaknesses in both pairs of speakers I was listening to and it was nice to know I wasn’t being biased by visual or brand preferences when making my assessments. 

After about 15-20 minutes of testing, I turned in my scorecard thinking I was done for the day.  I was wrong.  Ian had another test lined up for me.  This time I had to flip a different switch box for the comparison.  I proceeded once again with my trusty reference CD. Within minutes, it was apparent to me that I was listening to the same speaker.  Thus I didn’t fill out the scorecard but noted that both speakers were one in the same.  Ian pointed out I was correct for the most part but there was a difference.  The speakers under test were a pair of their own M80s.  This listening session focused on if I could detect audible differences of their stock crossover utilizing steel laminate cores vs an upgraded crossover utilizing air core inductors.  At times I thought I could hear a difference but I couldn’t identify my preference with any high level of confidence.  Thus I asked Ian if we could remove the grille cloth just incase its losses were masking the audible differences.  He obliged but didn’t tell me which setting on the speaker switch box corresponded to the upgraded crossover.  My experience with the cloth down didn’t change much.  I was still unable to hear a difference.  Ian and I have had on going debates over the years on the merits of using higher quality crossover parts.  This test basically proved I was unable to hear sonic differences of higher end crossover components utilized on Axiom speakers in that particular listening environment.  This however doesn’t discredit using the best quality parts possible as much as it pays tribute to Axiom for executing good crossover design using less expensive parts.  Kudos to Axiom!

Conclusion

Although the Axiom Blind Test isn’t the most sophisticated that I’ve seen in the industry (ie. no spinning platforms to change out speakers), it is one of the most practical and enjoyable I’ve ever had the fortune of experiencing first hand.  It provides a comfortable experience to its participants without the pressure or influence of other people in the room.  It also provides full listener control of the test which I’ve rarely seen anyone offer in similar speaker comparisons.  

When asking Ian what the main function and goal of this type of testing is for Axiom, his answer somewhat surprised me.  It wasn’t to just directly compare their speakers to their competitors as much as it was to compare their own products to their next generation products.  Axiom's goal is always to improve product performance using sound engineering methodology that can be proven both analytically, acoustically and audibly through controlled blind listening tests.  It may seem trivial to praise a company for always striving to make their next generation products better, but I can tell you with experience this isn’t always the case, especially with large publicly traded companies that care more about profit margins than appeasing diehard audiophiles and enthusiasts.  Think of the Axiom Blind Test as a scientific path towards making better speakers.

I walked away so impressed with the Axiom blind test procedure that I asked Axiom to produce a switch box for me along with sending some samples of their grille cloth which is much less lossy that the stuff we used for our recent $1k/pair floorstanding speaker faceoff.  I probably wouldn’t have been so appreciative of their efforts had we not attempted to conduct our own controlled blind test comparisons at Audioholics in the past.

If you ever have a chance to personally visit Axiom Audio, I highly encourage you to bring along some music and request a blind listening session.  Even if you decide which speaker sounds best to you within a few minutes, milk the experience and revel in the sonic delight. 

In the meantime, we invite you to check out the completely revamped Axiom Audio V3 speaker line up.