Ok, so I've been reading through the forum,and I've gotten the general idea that Michaura's and Axiom's are cousins. But, what does that really mean? Do they share the same drivers, etc.? The reason I ask is I've been considering upgrading my m3's to m22's, but I haven't been able to scrape the money together. However, I've found a pair of Michaura M55's on audiogon for $150, which is just in my budget. So, how do the these two speakers compare? Are the Michaura's really comparable to the M22's or even better than my m3's? Thanks,

-Josh

Setup:
m3ti's
parasound pld-1100
parasound hca-750

The tweeters are different, for one thing. Other than that, I have no idea. Also, there is an upgrade plan at Axiom, although I suppose you may already have known that...

Upgrade plan?? Are you referring to the lay-away payment plan?

No, they give you something like 70% back on the speakers if you trade them in. I could be wrong, though. Anyone? Beuller?

I want to say it is only 25%, but I could be wrong too.

Hi joshbd,

I never heard the Michaura's. It's true that Axiom built them for a brief period on contract some years ago, but when I queried Ian Colquhoun, the designer and founder of Axiom, about Michaura, he indicated that it used different drivers from the M22s and said that the Michaura was "a quite different speaker."

Regards,

Then why does 2x6spds constantly remind us of his "M22-like Michaura M55s"?

Hi,

I think he says that because the Michaura's physically resemble the M22s. I spoke to colleague at Axiom and he said the Michaura's resembled the M22's in appearance but, because of different drivers and crossover, were not similar in sound quality and tonal balance.

Regards,

When you say different driver, are you refering to both the woofer and tweeter? Because I was just talking to 2x6spd, and he seemed to believe they used the same 5.25" woofers as the m22's just a different tweeter. Is this not the case? Or am I just confused?

Hi,

I can't be sure. But a different tweeter with different response characteristics can radically change the tonal balance of a speaker.

This is all kind of speculation, because I've neither seen nor heard the Michaura speaker, so I take Ian C. at his word when he told me that it was "quite a different speaker" from the M22ti's. You cannot assume that a speaker designed under an OEM contract will bear any tonal resemblance at all to a manufacturer's premier brand, even if the drivers have a superficial resemblance to those used in other models.

Regards,