The M22s arrived yesterday. How long should I allow them to break in before doing some critical evaluations? My personal experience is that good speakers sound even better after a break-in period.
First impression is that it's a balanced speaker... very neutral. It's more efficient than my NHT 1.3s, which became apparent when I was doing A/B comparisons.
Here are a few brief listening notes from a few hours with the M22s, comparing them with my NHT 1.3s (which they will be replacing). Note that I listened with sub hooked up for both, using the same 80Hz. I'll do some comparisons without the sub later. I had difficulty getting the tweeters of both pairs lined up, as the NHTs are shorter and have the tweeter situated beneath the woofer vs. Axiom's tweeter being on top. I didn’t notice a ton of difference with the Axioms off-axis, though, which was nice.
A few brief comments (a more detailed review will follow after spending more time with the speakers):
1. The M22s play louder, and are cleaner when turned up [I didn't get too carried away since they are brand new. I did allow the speaker to reach room temperature before hooking up.] The NHTs can be a bit harsh when cranked, but the M22s remained neutral at the same volume levels.
2. The M22s had a different presentation than the NHTs. The NHTs sounded richer and fuller (6.5" woofer vs. (2) 5.25?), but this may be due to a bit of coloration in the mid-bass for the NHTs. The M22s seemed a bit thin at first in comparison.
3. My wife thought the M22s sounded better.
4. These are tall bookshelf speakers!
5. Soundstage seemed unfocused. It could throw instruments well beyond the speakers, but I found that voices (and the soundstage in general) seemed to jump around. Before everyone comments, this is most likely due to placement. I tried my best to get them set up just right for testing, but I lacked both space and stands of the appropriate height. This tells me that they are not going to be forgiving when it comes to placement. I had them situated out into the room a bit, away from the walls, angled in a bit towards my listening chair (7-8' away from the chair). The NHTs have an uncanny ability to solidify the vocals mid-speaker (assuming this is the way the music was recorded), though you do have to be sitting precisely in the “sweet spot” to get the most out of this.
6. These speakers blend nicely with my PC-Ultra sub.
My opinion is that the M22s could benefit from better source electronics. My Pioneer DVD player (digital out) + DACs onboard my Pioneer receiver is likely not getting the best out of them. In fact, my aging NAD 5000 CD player (using analog output) sounded a bit smoother. While both speakers could benefit from better source electronics, I believe the M22s will benefit more. Their uncolored presentation begs for better source material and front end.
I've read reviews that state the M22s can be bright. I noticed no such thing - even right out of the box when most speakers would be "tight" and have a tendency towards brightness. I’d qualify my system as leaning towards the “bright side” – particularly in the source electronics.
It was interesting comparing the two distinctly different speakers. Both do well on vocals, but the M22’s neutrality puts them ahead in this respect – particularly on male vocals. The NHTs had a richer sound, but seemed to add a bit of coloration in the midrange/mid-bass, and a bit of extra spit in the high frequencies. They definitely had a warmer presentation. The M22s had the same level of detail (or better) without adding anything, which is likely why they sounded better (and smoother) at higher volumes. Their neutrality came across as being thin or dry at first, but the more I listened, the more I realized that it wasn’t missing anything but the added coloration I was used to hearing.
I plan on buying a CD or two tonight. One is a CD that was used to demo the Thiels when I first started speaker shopping. I’d like to hear it on the Axioms. I already exhausted all of my “test” CDs.
