Axiom Audiobyte Audiophile Computer Speakers

Product: Axiom Audiobyte Computer Speakers + EPZero Subwoofer
Provided By: Axiom Audio
Price: $517CAD as Configured

Introduction:

There are several types of people who enjoy audio.  There are those that enjoy the general music and don't care too much about sound quality and are happy with almost any type of speaker and there are those that love to have their brain shaken by bass and love to feel and experience the music on a physical level.  There are also those who love to have music accurately and precisely reproduced as it was recorded and meant to be heard.  This last group of people is audiophiles and they insist on accurate, clear and vibrant audio without one aspect drowning out the other.  We are looking at a set of computer speakers from Axiom today that are geared toward the Audiophile with a computer.

There are some audiophiles that hook their desktop and laptop computers to a large amp and their home theater, but this is not always practical in an office or den.  The Audiobyte speakers are small, quite powerful and promise clarity and quality for your listening experience.  We'll see.

About Axiom Audio:

Many of you have probably heard about Axiom in the past.  They are a great speaker builder and have a lot of expertise and experience behind them.  They are not new to the industry at all.  You can read all of their corporate information here, or check out a brief overview below.

For more than two decades, Axiom Audio has made its reputation by achieving unprecedented performance quality.

At inception, Axiom Audio's founder Ian Colquhoun sparked a new period of progress in the annals of loudspeaker design with his work at the National Research Council lab in Ottawa, Canada, under the direction of Dr. Floyd Toole. There he spent innumerable hours perfecting innovation after innovation.

The revolutionary theories and methodology resulting from this work were recognized and published in industry journals around the world. Canadian audio engineering gained particularly high status, which Ian Colquhoun and his company have helped maintain ever since.

Axiom's reputation grew dramatically among audio aficionados throughout North America. With the emergence of Internet mass communications, Axiom became an extremely popular "secret" among A/V enthusiasts.

By emphasizing the practical application of our ongoing research, Axiom continues to extend people's expectations of performance and value.

Today's Axiom line offers a wide range of choices that move the benchmarks farther than ever. Axiom now produces eight-sided seamless cabinets with the ground-breaking Anti Standing Wave (ASW) wedge-shaped design, esoteric driver design, internal crossover network innovations too numerous to mention, and distortion-free vortex porting.

With offices and manufacturing facilities situated in the unspoiled Muskoka district of Ontario, Axiom is today counted as one of the cornerstones of the Canadian loudspeaker business. Using the world's most advanced computerized equipment, the company has become one of the world's premier manufacturers of quality loudspeakers.

We had the pleasure to meet Ian and his associates at CES 2008 in Las Vegas earlier this year and we talked about Axiom's passion for quality sound and how other companies neglect quality and accuracy and substitute unbalance volume.  It was a very interesting meeting.

First Look - Satellites:

The Axiom Audiobyte basic kit is a pair of speakers that are powered by a small amplifier.  These are designed for computer use and are quite compact.

Satellite With Grill

Satellite Without Grill

The speakers measure 6.5" tall, 5.5" wide and 4" deep.  They come with a 3" aluminum cone woofer and a 1" titanium dome tweeter.  The speaker grill is easily removed as it is held in place by four hidden magnets.  This design works very well at keeping the grill in place yet doesn't leave any unsightly holes where the grill would normally attach through use of traditional speaker grill mounts.

 
Satellite Grill

The Audiobyte speakers come in many different colors and finishes including natural wood finishes that looks like pieces of furniture and works of art.  We elected to take a look at something more neutral to any computer system and that is why we have the standard black finish units on our bench.

AudioBytes Satellites

Back Of Satellites

As you can see above, the Audiobytes look very sharp without the grills.  The aluminum and titanium cones offer a very nice contrast to the black finish of the rest of the speaker cabinet.  As we take a look at the back we discover that the speakers are connected to the amplifier by a simple 1/8" stereo plug - a headphone jack - if you will.  While this causes some limitations on how far apart you can place the speakers in a larger room, the reality is that these are made for a computer and there is ample cable included to place them almost 20' apart.

On the next page we'll take a look at the amplifier and the subwoofer before we jump into testing.