Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M22ti & Sub vs. M60

I have a pair of M22ti's paired with a Hsu VTF-2 subwoofer. This pairing is quite astounding. When listening to my favorite CD's the Hsu completely disappears, leaving me with the sweet, sweet clarity of my M22's, but with a full rich low end. I've always owned bookshelf speakers paired with a subwoofer. My prior speakers were Snell Accoustics Type K/II's.

What is the advantage to owning floorstanders like the M60 over a bookshelf/sub combo? From what I've heard, even with floorstanders, you can still benefit from an added sub.

M60 owners will fill in here more specifically, but in general, a floorstanding speakers will reproduce very loud peaks of sound more effortlessly with less distortion, simply due to the fact that they have larger drivers on a larger cabinet. In other words, unless you are listening at quite high volumes in a large room, the benefit would be rather small, especially given the well-recognized tonal similarity between the M22 and M60.

It is true that a floorstanding speaker also benefits from a subwoofer for the same reason as the M22 -- a sub will not only extend the absolute low end, but also "unload" the power-hungry bass frequencies from the main speakers. In order to reproduce bass frequencies, the woofer's cone has to swing over a large distance, and imagine that higher frequency vibrations are added on top of that huge bass swings, with the latter causing inevitable linearity problems that lead to intermodulation distortions.

M60's will give a fuller sound than the M60's, but not at all as much bass as a VTF-2 sub.

You will also need a more powerful amplifier to get the M60's to fill up the bass.

I'm currently running M22ti mains, VP150 center, the Hsu VTF-2 sub, and some Polk Audio surrounds through a Rotel RB-1075 amp (120x5) and the Rotel RSP-1066 processor.

The reason I ask the question is that perhaps in the future if I feel the need to jump from 5.1 to 7.1, I'll either buy a pair of M60's for the front and move my M22's to rear duty, or keep my M22's as mains, and buy a pair of QS8's for surrounds and move the Polks to the rear.

In either case, the main's would then be being powered by a separate amp. Probably the Rotel RB-1070 (130x2)

It would certainly be less expensive to purchase a pair of QS8's than it would M60's, but would I be missing out on much?

If floorstanders are the way to go, M60 vs M80? I've seen some really good prices on some M80's on Ebay recently. Is it worth going all out and getting the M80's over the M60's? (Recent Ebay prices being between $650-850 for the M80's)

Spiffnme,

Get the M60's. They're a better sounding speaker. The M80's are brighter, and harder to power because they're 4 ohm.

BUT, if your amp can support 4 ohm easily, and if you get the clips from Axiom then you can really enjoy the M80's. They are more dynamic and can play slightly louder than the M60's.

Spiffnme,

If your room is not too big, stay with the M22 and get the QS8. That way you get the best of both world. M60 is best listened to at 12 to 15 feet away. Trust me on that.

Good info guys. Thank you. I only sit about 7'-8' from my mains now, and I doubt I'd ever be further away than that. Since I'm pretty darn thrilled with my M22's as it is, I'll probably stick with them.

Am I confusxed or what? I am getting ready for my first Axiom purhase and trying to figure out what I need for my medium sized room--M22 vs M60 vs M3 and whether those need a sub except for the M60's. I read that the M22's are too harsh so get the M3's. Then the M22's are better, get them. But you can play the M60's louder and they sound better than the M22's and the M3's.

What is a guy to do? Maybe I should just get 'em all and preview for myself??!!??!!

Whew, I am worn out. Spent 8 hours driving over 200 miles out and back in the car today, maybe that is affecting my thinking?!~?!?

Help!!!!!

Clean, the M22s(or any other accurate speaker)aren't "harsh"; the recording may be poor, but you certainly shouldn't want a speaker that covers up imperfections. As to the M22/M60 question, the M22 plus sub should be fine in your size room. My experience is that a smaller speaker playing within its output capabilities doesn't sound any "smaller"(except in the bass without a sub, of course)than a similarly designed tower speaker. The M60 should only show an advantage at very high levels which you might never need.