Hello fellow axiomites!

I recently purchased the Axiom M3's and they have been in my home for well over a month now. They are eventually going to a friend (I think), so in the meantime, I've been able to listen to the M22's and M3's side by side for a wide range of music. It's been exciting!

I'd love to give back to the Axiom community by writing an extensive review of these two fine speakers. A few years ago I wrote a M22 vs M60 review , and really enjoyed doing it. Because of that, I'm looking forward to complete another review that will help some others on the path to bookshelf audio nirvana via Axiom Audio .

I'm really focusing in on the comparing the speakers with different styles of music. I won't give anything away so far, but I've been pleasantly surprised by both the M3's and M22's in how they perform similarly, and differently.

I think one of the greatest indicators of the quality of any sound production device is an immense improvement when higher-end electronics come into play. Both the M22's and M3's have a noticable increase in soundstage and detail when going through my standalone DAC rather than the DAC in my old receiver. I though it was just my ears, so I had a few "blind" listening tests with some novice audiophiles, and 3 out of 4 of them noticed that the DAC brought so much more detail to the table. To me, this underscores the fact that the M3's and M22's are world class speakers for the price because of the incredible detail they can reproduce. When they are fed from a quality source, they really sing

In any case, I'd love it if I could get some musical recommendations for review from the Axiom community. Whenever I begin reviewing speakers, I get lost in my music collection trying to find the best albums and songs to listen to, so I'd appreciate some help! I already have a long list of reference songs, but I'd like some more.

Cheers to all and happy 4th of July weekend!

Oh...Axioms are canadian speakers...

Dan, I'm looking forward to reading your review. I love listening to speakers and comparing them with an A/B switch. To me, that's the only way I can readily discern some of the subtle differences between speakers.

Sometimes it's overwhelming trying to pick songs and describe holistic differences. Instead, I try to pick songs that have a certain element that stands out--like a song with particularly well recorded drums, or a trumpet blast, or a singer hitting certain note and flipping between the speakers listening for minute differences in they way they are recreated.

Thanks Dan. I too will look forward to that side-by-side review. I'm going to make a visit to PA in August where "Milford3" has installed a pair of M22 V3 and also added an external tube amp. He loves the set up and continues to extol tons of praise. He did have the M3Ti's (as mains) and moved those to surround back. He's also made connections to both which will allow for an easy AB test. If you can get this done by mid August it should be interesting to confirm or maybe not confirm your results but I don't anticipate anything being that much different.

In terms of an audio recommendation, Tarja Turunen's "What Lies Beneath" CD could be viable. She's an outstanding mezzo soprano with excellent range and musical composition.

Dan, my suggestion for a test disc would be Mehta's The Planets . Excellent sound quality and music with a very wide range of dynamics and frequencies.

Also, your comments above re the DAC emphasize that you have to be careful about matching sound levels as best as you can. "Soundstage and detail" has nothing to do with the DAC process as such, but indicates a volume difference somewhere in the electronic path. Use pink noise and both an SPL meter and just your ears to adjust for difference in sensitivity. The speakers should be placed identically, but next best is to set up the speakers in AB-AB order.

Thanks for the input guys! I'll be sure to take that into consideration. I have the speakers set up A-B on the receiver. might play around with connecting the other speakers up to the surround channels for control over each speaker.

John, I did perform a DAC sound level check between the DAC and receiver -- they read exactly the same on the SPL meter with pink noise. Your comment makes it almost seem as if a DAC doesn't make any difference in sound! :-o. If you're curious what sound difference me (and other guests) have heard and described, the biggest thing that is noticed is better "blackness" or less "noise" interfering with details. It's subtle, but there. It just sounds like less-compressed music that allows for better instrument separation, hence "soundstage" and "detail"

In any case, we're not testing the DAC. I do have the M22's and M3's in AB-AB order, I was considering lining up the speakers so the tweeters were at the same level, or very close.

Thanks for the input everyone...stay tuned in a couple weeks!

Dan, you're awesome.