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

In my office I am setting up what looks to be a rather high quality 30 watt JVC mini system - but I have no speakers for it. I'm considering the bookshelf line of Axioms (M2i, M3ti, and M22ti). The M22ti's look to be perhaps a bit much for the 30 watt power amp, so perhaps the M3ti's are the best choice? The room is small, and I listen to all types of music. Does anyone have some advice on which may be the best fit?

If you're talking about a 2 channel system with no sub, generally, but not always, the M3s are recommended for that setup. They extend a little lower in the frequency range providing a bit more bass response, and hence are warmer and more laid back. Others will speak up I'm sure

If the office space is small I would go with Ajax on this one,the M3 would seem to be a good choice.The warmer sound that is reported by people with the M3 is due to the different tweeter than the M22.The frequency response of the two are the same,+/-3db 60-22k.You could also save some $ by going with the M3.

Hello wid,

Hope you are well.

I would also agree with the M3ti.

However all the Axiom bookshelf speakers now use the same 1" Titanium tweeter. The M3 is more laid back because it uses the 6.5" Woofer as opposed to the 5.25" woofers in the M2i and the M22Ti.

Later,

TonyM

Having had the M22's and the M3's I agree the M3's would probably be preferred in your office set up. The 22's are more accurate, better soundstage, etc, but without a sub you really miss the depth (at least I did).
Good luck

I stand corrected.

Add another vote for the M3ti in that situation.

Thanks for the insight, guys. The M3's look like the clear choice for my situation. Maple with tan grilles sounds pretty good.

This is what Alan says about the difference between the two different sounds the Axiom line up provides.I hope he dosn't mind but I thought it is quite informative.

"All Axiom speakers now use identical tweeters, a 1-inch titanium dome
with a 1-inch voice coil.

But in 2-way speakers like the M3ti and M22ti, the woofer also carries
a good portion of the midrange content. The M22ti and M2i use a
different woofer (the 5.25-inch, two of them), whereas the M3ti has a 6.5-inch
woofer as well as a different crossover frequency. So the crossover is
different, and the 6.5-inch woofer rolls off faster (it doesn't have as
much midrange output as the 5.25-inch drivers in the M22ti and M2i).

Subjectively, it's the slight depression in output in the 500 Hz to
2kHz region that makes the M3ti sound a little more recessed and
laid-back. That's why the other 2-way Axioms (M40 and M50) have the same
"family" tonal balance. Likewise the M2, M22, M60 and M80 have very similar
clarity and detail because they use identical 5.25-inch midrange drivers."

Hope this helps.To TonyM I hope you are also well.You are the most polite poster I've ever seen(read).I learn something new every day from this forum.

Wid,

Bookmark Alan's comments. That beautifully answers this very common question. Way to go!

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.

In reply to:

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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.

---

While 120hz for SACD isn't too bad, the 200hz for DVD-A IMO is.

I have the 563a and do not use its bass management capabilities.

If one uses the bass management (other than all speakers set to large which is essentially "off") the signal gets downgraded some. This is a quirk of the 563a - Pioneer used very good parts and therefore it has capabilities some cheap sacd players don't have (see discussion on ecoustics.com).

So, I was told that to have the best sound on SACD and DVD-A to leave all speakiers set to large on the Pioneer 563a.

But, yes I could do the bass mangement there to some degree. The 563 has other bass issues that I don't remember at present.

I am not sure I understand all you wrote but thanks.

by the way - is there some trick to getting the image to appear (my avatar)?

I have a picture of my daughter on www.8th-day.org/contactus.htm called aaa.jpg

I put this line in the picture space and nothing shows up (without spaces - added here to show the text I put in):

[ image ] http://www.8th-day.org/contactus.htm/aaa.jpg[/image]

Does it have to be a gif file?

NOW BACK TO YOUR REGULAR TOPIC - sorry

BigWill

Thanks for your input - I am answering posts while not really being sure of my own setup possibilities. So, it may be "myignorant"

You've got your URL mixed up. Your picture is actually at http://www.8th-day.org/aaa.jpg.

Oh - so you don't type in [image] before and after - that was the problem. I tried a lot of other combinations but this was the issue.

Thanks

Now that I am the proud owner of a pair of M3's I can weight in... these speakers are wonderful. They are definitely laid back however, at least compared to the M22's I got to hear during my speaker search. Also the bass from these speakers is decent for being small. I would have to say "for bookshelf speakers they have good bass". Compared to anything bigger I'd have to say these definitely lack bass output however.

My M3 should come today. I orderd only one cause I was bidding on ebay for two others and planned to use one as a center.

I will listen to it and then order 2 more I presume.

Or I might return it and order three M2's if I think it is too laid back (which I doubt coming from some cheap Paradigms with that huge bass hump).