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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/898
122 MacDirectory
PROFILE
AXIOM AUDIO > INNOVATION IN SOUND
Axiom Audio designs speakers for people
who are "passionate" about sound. The
company was founded by Canadian music
lover Ian Calquhoun in the early 1980s.
After working in retail in the 1970s,
Calquhoun realized that a wide
inconsistency in sound quality existed
between different brands of speakers.
The audio redesign idea received a boost
when Ian met a scientist (a psycho-
acoustician) with the physics department
at the National Research Council (NRC)
of Canada, Floyd Toole, who had similar
views and began a scientific program to
standardize the measurements of
loudspeaker sound quality. Calquohoun
decided to join the NRC project, which
yielded a number of insights into
loudspeaker design, measurement, and
listening tests.
"Axiom has always stressed a scientific,
no-nonsense approach to good
loudspeaker design, based on careful
measurement followed by double-blind
listening tests of prototype speakers,
where the appearance, price, size and
cost of the speakers under test are
concealed from the listeners, to eliminate
biases that might otherwise erroneously
influence or sway their judgments of
speaker sound quality," Calquhoun said.
What sets the company apart from other
audio equipment manufacturers? It is
Axiom's use of the anechoic chamber, a
room with no echoes, to get the best
results from their products. Lining all six
walls of the chamber are large fiberglass
wedges that absorb all reflections from
the loudspeaker. A speaker is supported
on a pedestal in the center of the
chamber that can rotate to either side as
well as tilt up and down. This is where the
initial design and frequency response of
the speaker is refined, measured and fine-
tuned by its designer.
Ultimately, the Axiom home theater hopes
to find a niche in the increasingly popular
world of high-definition TV and surround
sound movie soundtracks where a natural
audience exists for the accurate musical
reproduction of multi-channel movie
soundtracks and recordings. Former
audiophile stereo enthusiasts now are
moving to dedicated home theater
surround sound systems that duplicate the
large cinema movie experience or that of
the concert hall in their own home.
Sound enthusiasts need look no further
than their computer to find Axiom
products. The company operates solely
online, with 24-hour technical assistance
via their Web site