Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Set on Axiom speakers, need avice

Hi seeking, I hadn’t mentioned anything because you seemed to have made your mind up but Adrians advice is borne out by my experience. I have both M80s and M22s. Got the M80s first thinking I’d just get the best and be done with it. Later I picked up the M22s to try against a pair of QS8s as rear speakers for a 7.1 system. I liked the M22s so much that I couldn’t send them back. They are IMO the best Axiom speaker for the money. However, I feel they do need a subwoofer to really play full range.

My M22s + sub sound about 95% as good as the M80s + sub which would have been more than enough for in my apartment. The M80 + sub combo has a little more mid/upper bass and also sounds better to me in a large room. One advantage to using a M22 + sub combo in a townhouse/apartment is that when you can’t crank up your system you can just use the M22s leaving the sub and most of the offending low frequencies out. On the occasions when you can play loud turn the sub on and you’ve got an awesome 2.1 or eventually surround system. Also, save some money and make your own stands. Presently my M22s are set up on milk crates as DSX wide speakers and they blend with my M80s perfectly.

One more thing you might consider if you can fit one, is getting a third M22 to use as a center channel. Vertically arrayed speakers have better horizontal dispersion characteristics than traditional horizontal center speakers. Also the best possible combination of speakers up front L/C/R are three identical ones. Using an identical center channel to your L/R mains makes sense for the same reasons using identical L/R stereo speakers does. Speakers that share a lot of audio playback between them the way the front speakers do benefit from being the same. IMO the M22 is best matching center speaker for the M80s except for another M80 others opinions may vary however.

Also, a single M22 costs a lot less than a VP150 which means you might be able to get a center speaker sooner which can be important for some movies where you might want to boost the center channel to get better dialogue especially if you want to hear the dialogue better while not blowing people away with the music and effects coming from the mains.

Depending on your room adding a center channel may also allow you to move your L/R mains farther apart which may better enhance the surround effects even using just front speakers. Doubly so if you get a processor that has any sort of simulated surround processing built in.

As to Emotiva vs Denon and Onkyo et al. I share the opinion that you are limiting yourself with the UMC-1. It’s already out of date as a processor and I don’t even think it’s shipping yet. If you buy a good receiver it can power your entire system unless/until you feel the need for more power. Then you can add an Emotiva 2 or 3 channel amp to power your front speakers where the extra power will really matter. Plus with a receiver if a multi-channel amp goes out at least you can still power your system until it’s repaired/replaced.