Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Advice on bookshelf speakers.

Hello Wid,

Hope you are well. Thank you for the complement.

I find that addressing remarks to a single person allows easier reading and less confusion when reading in flat mode.

Later,

TonyM

Ajax,I will do just that.

I am considering getting either M3s or M2s for a 5.1 stereo system - mainly music. I read that two reviewers and the owner of Axiom like the M2s better cause of the better midrange quality. But the M3s have more bass. I have a sub but I can't always get it to work on some cds that don't have the 5.1 tracks (4 or 5 tracks with no LFE track). So, I think I need some decent bass in my main speakers and don't want to shell out for a more expensive axiom right now (though maybe I should).

Am I sacrificing too much (or anything) by going with the M3s rather than the M2s?

Thanks - hope the question was clear.

Donaldekelley, I persaonlly prefer the M3Tis to the M22s. They are magnificent book shelf speakers. I don't think the M3s give up any midrange goodness to the M22s - the M22s may be more detailed and analytical but the M3s sound sweet to me.

You can probably fix that sub problem by adjusting your receiver settings or running your bookshelves off the sub speaker connects.

Re M3 vs M2, the M3 is probably easier to love than the M2 (though I've never heard the M2 - just going by what others have said). If you're sure you can't get your sub working properly then definitely go with the M3.

Adjusting the receiver settings? In multichannel mode you can't do much more than add a little bass to the whole thing. It is an Onkyo thing I guess.

Running bookshelves off the sub speaker connects - then I would have to reconnect the sub to the LFE channel every time I want to play the LFE track. Not an ideal fix for me, unless I am missing something.

An Outlaw ICBM may help. But at $249 I might as well send back my M3s (when they come) and get an M60 (I think it is). Except I barely have room for even some M22s.

I suppose I need to choose the best set up and leave it there - or connect my sub both ways (off the main speaker connects and from the LFE channel) with switches and make sure I keep one or the other switched off.

I have my sub connected via the subwoofer out jack only. I set the receiver to send lfe to both M60s and the sub. In 2 channel or any other mode the sub is getting a signal and amplifying it.
Your sub isn't doing that because it is not being sent a signal. The reason why must lie in your receiver settings, no?
Be patient, both Ajax and bigjohn have Onkyos and subs, and I believe they both have figured it out (they're no Rhode Scholars, BTW).

I may not understand your point, but when in multichannel mode you can't do much adjusting of channels - all you can do is turn up bass or trebel on the entire system.

In stereo mode I can use Dolby P2 or something (can't remember now - I need sleep) and get the sub iinvolved on any cd.

So, for most of my cd collection there is no problem. But I really like the multichannel SACDs and DVD-As - many of which have no track for the Sub to play.

Don, this time I'll reply here rather than the other thread because this has drawn more attention. I mentioned bass management in the player there and you then identified your Pioneer 563. It does in fact have a setting for bass management on SACDs(e.g. see the lab report page from the S&V test). Although the 120Hz crossover for SACDs is higher than ideal for most speakers, it isn't bad and localization might not be noticeable if the sub is near or behind one of the mains.

Gotcha. My bad.