Picked them up from Purolator depot yesterday (in the pouring rain).

The Mrs. and I had a good listen last evening with some Jazz, Classical and ummm... Gray's Anatomy (blech lol)

They sound is nothing short of amazing! The staging and overall clarity from these beasts blows away anything I have ever owned or listened to in any shop.
I'm glad I didn't get the M60s or M80s because I am now 100% certain that they would have been WAY too big for our room.

Is it possible that these towers are actually making my run-of-the-mill Cerwin Vega center sound remarkably better? Maybe my receiver/amp "likes" the new towers so much that it is separating the channels better?

Congratulations!
Did you recalibrate your speakers (using SPL meter)? The difference in loudness could make it that the M50s are now contributing more to the sound than your central channel. Also, if it has a better tonal balance with your center than your previous speakers, than it will create a much more seemless soundstage that will make the overall experience feel more natural.

Thanks!

I didn't recalibrate my speakers. Honestly that's the first time I have ever heard of that. Do a lot of people have SPL meters? Sounds like something that sound engineers would have in their toolkit.

Hmm good point about tonal balance, that makes a lot of sense because with my previous speakers it sounded like a lot of dialogue was coming from the L and R with most of the material that I listened to.

This is really refreshing though, it's like I have new ears! lol

Or, you could just turn the volume level of the Center channel up or down and just listen to the differences. You're receiver should have this capability built in. It's probably hidden in the sound equalization portion, that is if your receiver has this capability.

Congrats on the new ears!

Does your receiver have any kind of auto-setup feature? What is the brand/model?

I mean, if you're already happy, there's no reason to fix it, but most people do calibrate their multi-channel systems. I wonder how accurate those apps for mobile devices are? Maybe close enough to not have to buy a SPL meter?

Enjoy!

Congrats on the new purchase. Always fun to relive that initial feeling through new owner postings

I can remember someone posting that the SPL App for the iPhone was within a few db of his SPL meter, good enough to get them all playing at the same level, which is all you are looking for.

Jakewash, that was me. I found the "c" weighting on the ultimate ears app to be VERY close to my digital rat shack spl meter. I'd say it's good enough for calibration and then if things still don't sound right then think about another method.

Rob, welcome. Great to hear how much more that you're enjoying the sounds with your Axioms. No, they're not making the CV center itself sound any better, but as Eric suggested, they may be playing louder than your previous speakers and working to fill the center more, making it sound better.

IMO the center sounding better is likely because in many recording both straight audio and also video mix some of what would be center channel information into the mains to help them blend better and also because sound engineers know that most people have better main than center speakers. An extreme example is the demo 7.1 Blu-ray DVD that came with my Oppo. Nearly all of the front audio is coming from the mains and only a little reverb is coming from the center.

P.S. Stick around and represent the M50 crowd here on the forums since they are a bit underrepresented.

Fibreoptik, I am glad you are enjoying your Axiom's.

I am not a fan of Cerwin Vega, how ever I have never heard your center speaker.

The imaging on your M50's is so good, you might what to experiement with taking your CV center out of the mix.

Try listening in "phantom mode" or even just straight 2 or 2.1 channel. I bet you will be suprised at the results.

I know there have been times in my HT room I will put in a movie in that is recoreded in 2 channel and not realize it. I listen to the whole program in 2 channel thinking it is in surround. Only to realize taht it wasn't. Then I think "wow, that sounded really good for just 2 channel".