Axiom M5HP, $1300 Per Pair
{19h, 9.3w 10.5d, 91 dB SPL, 8 ohms, 26 lbs, 10-300w/ch)
Bryston and Axiom, Canadian manufacturing friends, merged years ago due to their joint speaker venture. It’s been a home run!
Bryston has offered its $5k per pair Mini T stand mount speakers. It’s a 45 pound 8” 3-way, hardly “mini” despite the name. Due to the success of Mini T we have been looking for a smaller brother that would fill the same niche at a lower price point. That… is exactly what the Axiom M5HP is.
Axiom speakers are built in Canada with a 5 year warranty. M5HP is a mid sized stand mount that packs a big punch. We’re talking… significant power capabilities in a price range where the alternatives are flimsy from China.
M5HP (High Power) is a muscular, not teeny, tiny, stand mount speaker. It accepts big power and pushes strong bass. M5HP measures -3dB at 45Hz. They go deeper than many $5-6k Chinese towers offered by well known companies who used to make their speakers in Europe.
While everyone else is making cutesy little speakers in China to hide on a bookshelf, Axiom says, give me some elbow room and let ‘er rip!
M5HP is especially tantalizing because its real competition is from Europe, not China. Check out the pricing on high powered two-ways from Europe. We’re typically talking in the neighborhood of $5k per pair. Most of them are very good. M5HP is in the same conversation for much less money.
M5HP has a 1” Titanium tweeter, 5.25” Pure Aluminum midrange and 6.5” Pure Aluminum woofer. The woofer has a 1.5” voice coil that you can hit hard. I really like that this affordable speaker can deliver real WEIGHT and isn’t BRIGHT in its musical presentation. It’s smooth, not harsh. That, puts M5HP in an entirely different league from the Chinese who invariably try to win your attention by cranking the sonic color to VIVID.
M5HP will fit on a shelf but sounds better on a speaker stand. That way there is no boxy intrusion incurred from the furniture. I recommend stands at about 21 inches which puts the tweeter at 37 inches high.
The advantage of a 3-way is greater dispersion with a broader soundstage. You ask for lower excursion for mid and woofer drivers to get good detail. Weighing in at 26 pounds, M5HP is no lightweight. M5HP has outstanding balance and smooth timbre. I’ve heard nothing else at this price point that compares.
It has a very easy impedance swing, never going below 5 ohms. That means you can drive it easily with any amplifier. Yet make no mistake, given its sophistication and bass range, you’re rewarded for running a great amp like an Atoll vs a Chinese bucket of chips.