Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners New M2is, Using 2 as center channel.

kcarlile, I have most of them but I don't have the 2's. I may even try this with my 22's just for giggles. We will see. I'm getting tired of moving speakers around!

Hello NeverHappy,

You are welcome for the information. You are indeed correct, the M3s would match your M50s much better since they use the same driver. I am using M2i's to match the M22's I plan to purchase in the future.

Although, I will see how the M2i's sound with the new sub as mains around Christmas, I may just buy M2i's for the mains depending on how they sound with the big SVS 16-46PC Plus. It is impressive how much sound, and how clear that sound is, coming from these small speakers. My mind keeps telling me that I "need" the larger ones for the mains though...hehe.

Mmm...I had shielding difficulties with my Tube television with the smaller M2, you may encounter a larger problem with the M3 since it uses a larger driver and therefore a larger magnet assembly. In another thread an Axiom staffer stated that only the Axiom center channel speakers are shielded enough for top of television placement, and that the bookshelf units are only partially shielded for at least 6" spacing away from a tube TV.

Later,

TonyM

Well that took me all of 10 minutes to do and............your right. The M3's sound better then the stand alone center! Actually I found one M3 sounded better but with two it just get's better. My wife is going to lose it on me when she comes downstairs in the morning and sees what I have been up to. The good thing with all of this is I have been trying to come up with a reason to add another set of 50's in the back and ditch the 22's..........and gosh darn it, I think this may be it! lol

I also have the speakers sitting within inches of my HD Toshiba and so far I don't have any problems with shielding. If I'm not mistaken HellBoy comes out on Tuesday. I will leave this set-up as is and watch that and see how it works..........and I'm glad to see you bought an SVS. I love mine!

Hello NeverHappy,

I am glad my info made you Happy...hehe...could not resist. Hehe, I wish I had the SVS already. My wife is going to buy it for me for Christmas. Right now I have a crappy KLH sub...it is terrible.

I am glad the M3's sound better than your dedicated center. What will you do with your dedicated center channel speaker? Maybe Axiom will let you trade it up for those M50s?

Yeah, 10 minutes...those binding posts make daisy chaining these together a snap.

Have fun!

Later,

TonyM

This thread is really interesting. I would love to hear more from people who have chosen (or even tried) "unconventional" HT speaker arrangements.

Has anyone tried an all M-2 or all M-3 HT system? Has anyone had the experience of comparing such arrangements with more conventional speaker choices?

Tony, I just wanted to thank you for sharing your experiences. You've certainly fueled my imagination, and given me new respect for the M2. Do you have pictures of your setup that you could share? Some of us are "visual learners"

Hello les9596,

Hope you are well. I am glad you find this information interesting. I don't know of anyone who has tried an all M2 or M3 setup, although I have seriously considered it. I don't like peaks in my music above +83db or so, bad for the hearing, and the M2's as mains can easily go beyond that in my 18 wide by 12 deep room. That is with only the 2 M2's running as mains, and there is no strain that I can detect or harshness at those volumes.

Although all that testosterone in my brain tells me that I should get the M22's for mains....and keep the M2's doing center channel duty. Whatever I decide I will keep the M2's for the center, they are perfect there.

Later,

TonyM

Hello Tomtuttle,

Hope you are well. No problem on the shared experience, it is fun to experiment. Luckily my Wife thinks the M2's are "cute" speakers, so I can basically put them anywhere without complaint.

Sorry I don't have any pictures, still have not purchased a digi cam.

As far as the setup, I have an M2 on the top of my 32" Tube set at each corner. The wiring is from the receiver to the right M2 with a spade connector, then I plugged a cable with banana plugs into the right M2 binding post and linked it to the left M2's binding post. Pretty simple set up.

Later,

TonyM

Hello TonyM,

I too am trying to resist HT decisions based on testosterone response. This is why...

I (used to) have a killer 2-channel system. 450per into 4ohms All-Carver electronics (the old, good stuff) and Klipsch Heresy speakers. Loud and proud. I could easily fill most halls. Unfortuanatly, in 20 years of ownership, I was never required to fill any halls.

One day I visited a lady friend of mine who had purchased one of these 300.00 HTIB systems. It was cheap, installed terribly, had no bass, etc. Many deficiencies.

However, surround sound BLEW ME AWAY! Those 5 crummy, microscopic speakers created a realism that my stereo, for all it's "superiority", could not touch.

So my HT goal has been always to achieve that sense of reality without sacrificing too much in the power/response areas. Oh, and with bass. And I have personally witnessed the fact that it can be done with very small speakers.

I have seriously wondered if an all-M2/M3 system (backed with a sub, of course) would be adequete. I suspect (but do not know) that it would, assuming you were willing to listen to everything through all speakers (i.e; no trying to listen to stereo using just the front L+R pair)

BTW, that killer stereo is being sold to help purchase HT.

Hello les9596,

Hope you are well. I think we all want the best when it comes to our home theaters. One advanatge to all M2 or M3 is that when a movie pans from left to center to right to back etc...it all is sonically matched.

Don't discount the sound of the M2's in two channel mode with a sub, they sound fantastic playing stereo music. The sub fills out the bottom and an 80Hz crossover blends in seemlessly with the sub...even a crappy one like mine. They transition to the sub so smoothly, it really sounds like the bass is coming from those tiny speakers. I would not play them without the sub on, in 2 channel mode...they need the sub.

I honestly don't know if I need the M22's or not. I will not know till Christmas when the new SVS 16-46PC Plus arrives, and I see how the little M2i's blend in with a much larger sub.

Later,

TonyM