Troyd,

I have never stated that the M80s produce better mids and highs than the M80s. I have said that the M80s have a bit more "body" or fullness, in the upper bass, than the M22s.

In my own installation, with M22s and M80s (both are V2 versions, not V3s) on an instantaneous switcher, with an EP500 that can operate with either pair, the speakers are virtually indistinguishable when the M22s are operated within their limits, which means not at deafingly loud "party" levels.

Bookshelf speakers are not intended to play at extremely loud levels in very large rooms; that's where the multiple drivers of the M80 come into their own. The M80s can play very cleanly at extremely loud levels in large rooms and lots of enthusiasts, including Axiom's president, Ian, love those levels.

In my average-size apt. living room, about 2100 cu. ft., the M22s with the EP500 subwoofer can play as loud as I ever require, and do so without audible distortion.

As to setting M80s to "Small", you are not "wasting" the bass capability of the M80s. Deep bass response doesn't just fall off a cliff as the frequencies get lower. It gradually diminishes, so setting the M80s to Small, will continue to let the M80s woofers to contribute, but as the frequencies get lower, the subwoofer takes over and extends the deep bass to lower frequencies. So the M80s woofers don't have to "work" as hard as they otherwise would without a subwoofer.

To answer previous comments about v2 and v3 upgrades, those occurred on all the Axiom speakers. In each case, it was a better tweeter, with wider dispersion and better power handling, that replaced the tweeter in the previous versions. Also, Ian routinely tweaks the crossover(s) in each speaker when the newer tweeter is implemented. So the frequency response through the midrange is adjusted for better smoothness or linearity.

In tests I did at Axiom (not at home), the newer tweeter and adjusted frequency response in upgraded versions of the M80, M60 and M22, resulted in smoother overall response through the midrange and what seemed to be improved spatial presentation.
In the case of the M60, it turned what I had previously viewed to be a "good" speaker into a great speaker, not quite up to the M80s, but awfully close. I hadn't much liked the first M80ti a dozen yeas ago, nor was I all that fond of the first M60, which I found "edgy" on some brass instruments and strings.

To my ears, even the earliest version of the M22s were excellent, and later versions improved on the "ti" M22s.

Even before the M80s' "ti" designation was dropped, Ian had already greatly improved its midrange response, removing the little glitches that had bothered me when I first joined Axiom.

Regards,
Alan

Alan Lofft,
Axiom Resident Expert (Retired)