I had only a short period of time, about 25 min., and absolutely no adjustments made to the receiver for a quick listen & review before heading off to work tonight. Hooked up the m60's to the B circuit on my Denon 1804(Direct mode), allowing me to switch quickly for comparison, and threw in some Santana - Shaman, M60s sounded very warm and neutral compared to the M22s being abit forward? accentuating the mids and highs a bit more, for a cleaner crisper sound. Next came an old cd of Supertramp - Even in the Quiestest Momments - Fools Overture. Again the M60s did a great job making this sound good, but I find the vocals lacking/ not as pronounced on the M60s, almost hidden by the extra bass they put out. However, the M60s make my older hard rock CDs(VH, The Cult) sound pretty good compared to the M22s which just reveal how badly recorded they are.
I am leaning toward the cleaner, crisper sound of the M22s. If I had the room, I would run both the M22s and the M60s, this combination sounds incredible, the extra clarity of the 22s combined with the smoother midrange and deeper extension of the 60's gives you everything you could want. It tones down the 22s a bit but still shows off their clean sound with that extra bass and midrange sound.
I will try to setup better tomorrow and try using the 60s on the A circuit, just incase there is a difference. The VP150 to VP100 review will have to wait till the weekend for some movie action, as well as a more in depth listening session for all speakers.
jake, it sounds to me like you are adjusted to the thinner sound of the M22s vs. the more full body sound of a tower speaker with more bass and midrange.
I personally enjoy that more full sound. Give it a few days and keep trying your comparisons. Let your brain break in first.
You sound like a good candidate for M80s! I haven't directly compared them with either M60s or M22s, but I think they probably combine the best properties of the two.
Like Chess said, I'd give it a few days.
I had the same feeling with my M-80s when they arrived. Bass was powerfull... a tad too much. Mid-range weak, almost abscent... Tried placement... Still there... Then I remembered a phenemenon that I had nicknamed the "live performance syndrome". To remove all amps and speakers from the picture (because they can be tempered with), I will stick to a string quartet performance. At some point, I went to a concert of a quartet that I listened often (on a system with no good bass). The cello in the live performance was just too loud. I stayed the entire time, but was unhappy because, for some reason, the cello was playing too loud. Performer or room?
Then it happened a second time (different room) and a third... And then I talked to people I know frequently going to concerts. The ones going to rock concerts were adamant that the sound engineers were boosting the bass, while the ones frequenting classical concerts were in two segments: a) those saying it was an unfortunate consequence of walls (sic) b) those saying that this was the correct sound and it was not captured on CD.
Well... with that in mind (and knowing that my ears had to adjust to different sounding speakers anyway), I kept listening and then realized (especially after a few DVD-Audio on those M-80s) that the "extra bass" (now for me a.k.a "the correct bass") in the live concert IS indeed captured on CDs. It is just never heard unless you have very deep speakers or a very musical subwoofer (like the EP-500, which is absolutely superb with music).
If you think this story case applies to you, believe you me, once your ears have adjusted properly (it took me about 10-20 hours), you will never want to loose those bass, especially if you have once heard them in a live performance. And, like me, you might then re-listen to everything you own to re-learn how it was supposed to have sounded in the first place!
That's very interesting, Eric. When I first got them, I realized how much treble, mid-range and accurate bass I was missing with my Bose 601s.
I know I need to give it some time and become more accustomed to the M60 sound as their extra bass is much nicer than my old sub with M22's.
I did a quick pink noise calibration today and never switched back to the M22's and thoroughly enjoyed a number cd's, including my 4yr old son's Backyardigans cd which has a number of different types of music on it.
Pics to follow.....
As promised pics of the current set up....
The delivery
Inspection
Quickly installed and useable for now
They sent me the Tan grilles
and black grilles which are the ones I asked for. Also purchased for the current par pricing a day before it was listed and they threw in the HT discount as well. Gotta love Axiom service!
That was really Canadian of you to make sure one box faced in English and the other one in French!
Sniff... The only regret I have with my system is that I don't have to re-live that newly arrived experience for quite a while... Then again, I just have to turn my sound system on and it's like it's never been there before! I can live with that
Congrats Jason,
I hope you enjoy your new toys! I guess you're moving the 22's upstairs?
And now you have more room on that fireplace for a widescreen, I would have to say at least space for a 42"...
I didn't even notice the French version compared to the English one... Can't say I've ever seen anyone send photos of the delivery either...nice touch!
It does bring back memories of walking into my garage after getting home from work to see all those big, heavy boxes sitting there waiting for me to dig in. Half the fun is making the purchase and the other half is opening the boxes. Then the next series of excitements comes from setting everything up and watching a good movie with lots of sound effects!
And it would allow for a dual center channel.
One thing at a time, I am not CV
So now I am thinking of either selling the M22s and VP100 or taking them out to the lake but we are just not inside nor around enough to justify having them out there. I might be able to talk my wife into using them in the bedroom as she has said she wants an LCD TV in there as she watches most of her shows in there while I am at work at night.