Goodmans Axiom 201 - Any good?

[Surtsey]

Goodmans Axiom 201. I've acquired a pair of these in near mint condition. Struggling to find a use for them.

 

[Galu]

You can find the original Goodmans enclosure designs at this safe site:

http://ukhhsoc.torrens.org/makers/Goodmans/1969_Catalogue/Page20.gif

The lower design is a bass reflex, the upper design employs an ARU (Acoustic Resistance Unit) for aperiodic loading.

 

[wchang]

Someone used it to help out Axiom 80 (called "Magnificat"). So years ago I ebay'ed 201 cheap but never got around to it -- both pairs are stuck in storage in the States. There are many very fine vintage Alnico 8-inchers (or 10" ovals) that cost little but need subwoofer and supertweeter.

 

[CFT]

https://web.archive.org/web/20030221040529/http://melhuish.org/audio/diy5.htm

Magnificat by Thorsten 😁

How about using it in this back loading horn?

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/diy_goodmans_horn_e.html

 

[planet10]

People who own them seem to like them, i designed these:

dave

 

[Surtsey]

You can find the original Goodmans enclosure designs at this safe site:

http://ukhhsoc.torrens.org/makers/Goodmans/1969_Catalogue/Page20.gif

The lower design is a bass reflex, the upper design employs an ARU (Acoustic Resistance Unit) for aperiodic loading.

I pulled them out of ugly cabinets based on the bass reflex design. I think I'm going to get rid of them. They're too big for my purposes.

 

[Galu]

As Dave's photo shows, the Axiom 201 benefits from a large enclosure and the addition of a super tweeter.

What its written specifications don't show is its high sensitivity, making it of interest to aficionados of low power valve amplification.

I've seen the sensitivity of the 15 ohm version quoted as 99 dB/W/m.

They're too big for my purposes.

Note that the use of aperiodic loading allows the use of an enclosure of smaller volume than a reflex enclosure.

An aperiodic enclosure of manageable size that could suit the Axiom 201 is the 85 litre Wharfedale slotted back (distributed port) enclosure.

See FIG. R3 - 3 cu.ft. at the top of this page: http://ukhhsoc.torrens.org/makers/Wharfedale/Cabinet_Construction_Jan_1965/Page04.jpeg

Many moons ago, my Wharfedale RS/12/DD (Roll Surround/12"/Double Diaphragm) drivers worked well in enclosures of that design.

 

[Surtsey]

What its written specifications don't show is its high sensitivity, making it of interest to aficionados of low power valve amplification.

I've seen the sensitivity of the 15 ohm version quoted as 99 dB/W/m.

I am well aware of the driver's qualities. I've always had a dim view car audio. I pitched the 15ohm 201 against a 12" MTX Road Thunder (250w, 4ohm). Even in the Road Thunder's cabinet, the Axiom kicked the MTX's ***.
But they're too big, and I'll just damage them.
They're going.

 

[Galu]

I am well aware of the driver's qualities.

Then it must have been rhetorical when you asked if the Axiom 201 was "Any good?".

But they're too big, and I'll just damage them.
They're going.

I assumed that it was the "ugly cabinets" you were getting rid of, but I now realise that you intend to get rid of the Axioms.

 

[wchang]

Should make quite decent up-firing omni atop a can or pipe; even better, folded concentric TL. Very small footprint, can even go under a table. To get proper stereo imaging a bulb-like phase-plug should be added (like HK Citation 360 which used custom Lowther PM6).

 

[inrank]

I really like the Axiom 201s, I'd love a pair of 301s just for the fact they should work in a much smaller enclosure due to the lower Qts. From memory the 201s have a Qts of around 0.7 and the 301 0.35 (or my measured pair were).
My pair of 301s I only had for a very short time as one was damaged on delivery so was sent back to the seller.

I did not have the DATS module when I owned the Axiom 201 back in 2014.

Axiom 301 Impedance (Blue is the damaged cone)

Goodmans Axiom 301 - DATS by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

Also the Axiom 10 (promising but very high Qts means OB or Open back box etc).

Goodmans Axiom 10 by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

My 201s were in a very old DIY ~80 litre ported enclosure that they came to me in, felt it never sounded right so just ran it with the back of in a basic OB which worked very well. Used a pair of Fountek Neo 2.0 ribbons I had at the time as a tweeter above around 10kHz from memory.


Scalford Hall Hifi Show '14 by Robert Seymour, on Flickr


Goodmans Axiom 201 by Robert Seymour, on Flickr


Goodmans Axiom 201 by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

The mint 301s that had a damaged cone on delivery

Goodmans Axiom 301 by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

And the Axiom 10


Goodmans Axiom 10 by Robert Seymour, on Flickr

 

[planet10]

Axiom 100, i have a single up for grabs

dave