Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Axiom M3 v2 vs Polk Rti6

Warning: extreme Axiom newbie alert!

Hi guys, I have a question for you all. After a lot of auditioning, reading reviews, etc. I thought I had finally made my mind up on a pair of Polk Audio Rti6's. That was until I made a last minute peruse of the Axiom site and was extremely impressed by what I read.

So my question is what is the "better" (I realize this could cause a huge debate) speaker, the Axiom M3 v2 or the Polk Audio Rti6? I'm not sure if there are too many who've had experience with both but it's worth a shot. They will be used in a small livingroom powered by a mid 90's Denon receiver (that will be upgraded shorty) used mainly for listening to music and some movies (about 80% music: cd's and a lot of vinyl - 20% movies). I hope to add the M22 v2 a little further down the road as well.

I realize posting on the Axiom board can lead to biased answers but who better to ask then people who have had experience with these speakers. I'm also excited to support a Canadian company who are well known for their customer service and quality product.

Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance!

Sorry, can't give you any real help, have not heard any Polks recently, but I have found the Axioms(M22's) to be cleaner, clearer sounding than the older Polks I have heard.

Just wondering what price you are looking at for the polk's? The website states $550/pr.cdn. The M22's are $520 or $468 from the factory outlet. I will guess your price on the Polk's is about the same as the M3's otherwise you wouldn't be asking about the M3's. But you say you are thinking about the M22's later, if you can swing them I would recommend them with out hesitation.

Check out the Hearing Things forum to see if anyone near you has some Axioms you could audition and go from there.
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Thanks for the info Jake, I appreciate it. Yeah you are correct that even though the msrp price for the Rti6 is $550 cdn I can get it for around $290cdn shipping included which is actually $70 cheaper than the M3. I wish my budget was that high as I'd pick up the M22's in a heartbeat but unfortunately it's around the $300 - $350cdn mark right now.

Although I was happy with the performance of the Rti6 the amount of plastic on the face of the speaker and the grill made it look cheap. The grills were especially cheap, plastic and thin. for a $550 pair of speaker I guess I expected a bit nmore. One of the reasons I like the Axioms was because of, for lack of a better word, the fact they looked "hand made". It looks like quality production.

Thanks for the heads up on the Hearing Things Forum. I'll check it out asap. Keep the opinions coming!

Yes I do think axiom speakers are beautiful.

You could always buy just one M22, and put it somewhere so you can see it everyday. I imagine it wouldnt take long to scrape up the difference to get it's mate. i just started to try to convert the CD $ to US $, but gave up

and although I havent ever ordered any, all i here is good things about the factory outlet

If there isn't a sub in the equation I would say to go for the M3s. They will give you a much fuller sound than the M22s on there own.

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If there isn't a sub in the equation I would say to go for the M3s. They will give you a much fuller sound than the M22s on there own.

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Virtually everyone says this yet, my M22's set to large have a very rich, full sound to them, with lots of bass, could be it be that the M3's maybe lack the extra little bit of detail, thus making them feel/sound fuller? The graphs are virtually identical other than that bump. I know that little hump pushes the lower end up front and gives it a differrent sound than the M22. So to say the M3 has a fuller sound is not correct, I would say it is biased lower in the frequency range giving it a little lower tone/sound.

My view of the M22s played without a sub is similar to Jason's(Jake). With room reinforcement I get very strong response down to about 60Hz, a little weaker at 50Hz and significantly weaker, although still relatively usable for music, at 40Hz. This is adequate and very satisfying for most music(excluding pipe organ, etc.)and I commonly used it without the sub which I used with another setup. Now that I have the EP500 it's probably going to be in a permanent combo with my M22s(among other things it's too heavy to carry around as I can do with my other, much less capable sub), but as was said, the M22s are quite good in the bass area for most music without a sub.

I just wanted to thank you guys for the info. I really appreciate it. Instead of starting a new thread I just thought I'd ask another question here.

I found a used EP125 sub in great shape for $80 (although a couple of the grill pegs are broken off ) I realize this is the smallest and least powerful of Axiom's subs but I think it will be all I need for a small livingroom in a condo with thin walls. Any opinions/experiences with this little unit?