Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M3 vs. M22

Hello all, this is my first post. I have been hearing a lot of good reviews of Axiom speakers so I decided to check this site out. After looking at the different speakers, and looking at my budget, I think I have narrowed my choices down to either the M3 or M22. My room size is 12x14 with low ceilings. These speakers will be combined with a VP100 center, and QS4 surrounds. The sub will be added later. High volume is not a req. I'm estimating 80% TV/DVD and 20% music. I was wondering what the differences would be between the M3 and M22 soundwise. What would you recommend and why?

Thanks,
Jerry

jds22-

if your budget can afford, i would definitely go with the 22's. i have never even heard either of these speakers, but i know the people that have the 22's swear by them. the soundstage is supposed to be wide, with amazing mids and highs. the only knock i ever hear against them is that they need some sub support. but if the M3 is your other option, then the 22's will be much better.

many people compare the high and midrange of the M22 to be the same as the floor standing M50, and M60. obviously, they will be lacking the bass response, but get a sub, and you should be more than happy.

i am sure more M22 owners will chime in and give their opinion.

bigjohn

m22 is great! i have them and i love them. they are crystal clear, handles the midrange extremely well, detailed detailed detailed, the highs are just right (only times they become overbearing is if the source is recorded badly), the bass is fine - but incorporate a sub in the system and you have got yourself an excellent two channel system!

the m3s, according to what i have heard, read, and through my conversationg with alan lofft, axiom afficionado, has a slight bump in the mid bass region - thus making it a little bit more "bassy" than the m22s but at the same time, lacks the midrange clarity of the m22s.

my .02.

I too suggest the M22ti, and don't skimp on the sub. (I highly recommend the Hsu STF-2.)

The M3ti seems to be the speaker of choice for a smallish room and for two channel listening. The M22ti is by far the bookshelf speaker of choice for the combination of HT and music listening, in a small to medium sized room.

I think all the comments so far reflect general consensus of long-time board (bored?) contributors.

The other thing is that the M22's are fairly "future proof"; they are a great bookshelf speaker, regardless of price, will give you many many years of enjoyment and you won't have immediate doubt about whether you made the right choice.

Craig is right about the sub; save some money and plan on getting a decent one. It will make a huge difference.

Thanks everybody. I was leaning towards the 22s, this just helped push me over the edge. I will be using a sub, probably HSU, but that will have to come later. One thing at a time.

Jerry

Be warned that depending on what speakers you're moving from, the bass from the 22s will sound weak or thin without a sub. You'll get used to it, and it's really, really clean, but that's just a word of warning. This is not to say that it's bad bass (by any means!), there's just a limit to how low a smallish cabinet with 2 5.25" woofers can go.

Coming from an M3 owner - depending what you're looking for, either could be a good purchase, for me, I wasn't looking for high SPLs so I kept the total woofer size to a minimum, but if you're already leaning towards the M22s, and for the relatively small price difference - you might as well.

When I get upgraditis and move up to M60s for mains, the M3s will make an awesome set of multimedia speakers or B-room speakers.

Bren R.

Ditto to all of the responses. I own both, and they're both outstanding speakers. My M22's are in my main system with VP150, QS8's and SVS sub. My M3's are in my bedroom with a cheap Velodyne sub.

The M22's win out for me in my main system, even though the M3's sound great also. But the M22's just blend really well with a strong sub like an SVS or HSU. M3's do have better bass on their own than the M22's. You can't go wrong with either depending on what you are looking for.

I own the m2's and from what I've read, they are more similar to the m22's than the m3's. The m2's do have less bass than the m3's but I just got an HSU STF-2 so that is not a problem.

I am planning on purchasing a set of M3's to add to my M60's with a NAD 372. What should I expect from this combination? Any comments?

Thanks again everybody. I think it will be the M22s and either an HSU or SVS sub. I would prefer the SVS and the wife didn't freak out over the $$, but I might choose to save some money and go with the HSU. I don't think I'll be disappointed either way.

Jerry

In regards to your SVS vs Hsu decision, you will not go wrong either way, but remember there are differences in how the two sound....subtle, but noticeable.

A tough thing to do, but If you can...compare them.

I'm an M22 owner who can rave about the speaker. Even though my system is not ideal (HK AVR 130 Receiver and Dayton 10" sub). I couldn't be happier with the M-22's. Soundstage is incredible paired with an M2 as a vertical center and QS4's. If you can swing the extra bucks for the M22's, do it, you'll be happy you did.

On a personal note, the reason for skimping on the reciever and sub for my system was that we were expecting twin boys. They have arrived-Jens Milton 5 lb. and Lake John 5 lb 3 oz. They should be home in a week or so for their first experience of sitting in Dad's lap in front of the Axioms.

Congrats on the twins. Best wishes to you and your family.

Jerry

Wonderful Mike! Congratulations! Enjoy your last week of peace and quiet.

Hey Jerry,

I was in the same boat about 6 months ago and went with the 22's and have never looked back. However, I went with an STF-2 sub instead of the surrounds and center for now. The 22's specialize in mids and highs, but have very little bass, so they really, really need a good sub to fully enjoy them, especially with home theatre. I guess to me it's a more visceral experience to have explosions rattling the seat of my belly than it is to hear bullets zinging over my head. Of course, I plan to get the surrounds and center in a few months, but to start off with I just thought it was more important to have good bass. Just something to think about for now.

-JT

jt, maybe your wife can fling some pots or pans at you while watching to simulate those bullets.

Ha! Well, I'm actually getting married on June 19, so we'll see what happens then. Hopefully she'll just stick with the Rubbermaid.

Mike, congratulations on the twins. Way more important than speakers. Well, maybe marginally more important. Be sure to break the boys in for a couple of weeks before you calibrate them.

You guys are pretty funny. At risk of beating a well flogged horse, I just ordered some M3s and then reread all the reviews to see that everyone - the owner of Axiom included - think the M2s are better if you have a subwoofer.

I have a Velodyne something or other-8 which is supposed to be decent and plenty loud enough for my small living room.

Some multichannel discs don't do LFE (sub) channel, so I think the bass of the M3s might be very useful. (Damn Channel Classics - they make some of the best sounding classical music and then put it in only 4 or 5 channels).

Is the M2 a substantial improvement over the M3 sound (with a sub) or is it a slight difference? The Axiom expert (Allen?) said it was slight difference but he preferred the M2s for their midrange.

Perhaps we need to solve your sub problems first... Tell us more about your setup. What about room size? The M2s could be a bit small.

Don, welcome. Since your room is small, the M2s plus the sub should be excellent if the lowest bass can be redirected to the sub. On the bass point, as Ken commented, a description of your setup would be helpful. I'm aware of the Channel Classics SACDs and it isn't at all uncommon for multi-channel SACDs of any label to be 4.0 or 5.0 without a LFE channel. The LFE(low frequency effects)channel was basically created to play explosions, etc. in 5.1 movies that had special low frequency requirements; it doesn't handle the regular bass frequencies from the other channels. There's little or no advantage in most classical recordings(which is what I listen to)in including a LFE channel. On SACD the bass management(sending the lowest bass from the four or five regular channels to the sub)could be done by the player, by a separate device such as the Outlaw ICBM, or by a very few receivers. So, there are ways, even on SACDs, to direct the lowest bass to a sub.

I have a Onkyo 501 receiver, right now 2 Paradigm Titams (that will move to the bedroom or the inlaws house), a variety of cheap yard sale speakers that are standing in for whatever Axioms to come in a 5.1 setup.

Velodyne CHT-8 subwoofer

Pioneer 563a cd/dvd/sacd/dvd-a player

Room is about 9 ft wide and 22 feet long. TV is near stereo but the space is so small I have not attempted to put the center right on the TV. There are a couch and a subwoofer in the way.

Oh - just to brag on my yard sale speakers - a Polk bookshelf speaker so old it has no model number (1st ever modle?). The other one died so this one is now my center. NOt bad in the treble, lousy every other way.

And two KLH911b for surrounds. Rated not bad by most people but I think that implies not good. Best Buy had them on sale for $10 recently. That should tell you what kind of quality we are dealing with here!!!!

Also a pair of Pinnacle AC600s in the bedroom.