Hi everyone,

Just looking for some second and third opinions from the experts. I currently own a pair of m3v3’s and absolutely love them. I am however notorious for upgradeitis and am looking to create a full 5.1 system.

I use my system 70/30 for music/movies and don’t expect this to change.

At the moment, the plan is to buy a pair of m22v3’s, use the m3’s as rears and buy an svs pb12-nsd or sb12-nsd for the sub. I guess my question is whether anyone has used the m3’s as rears before and whether you would recommend mating them with the M22’s as fronts?

My plan B would be to dish the M3’s to my brother and buy a pair of QS4 or QS8’s instead. I live in Australia so I don’t really have any way of trialling the QS series as rears. Obviously, the QS speakers are made specifically as surrounds, but will my m3’s live up to the job?

Thanks for your thoughts in advance!

Adam

M3s would be better than nothing, for sure. You can always try them as surrounds and see if you find them satisfactory. I haven't used bookshelf speakers as surrounds for several years, but I remember when I first got the QS8s and being really impressed with how much more the sound wrapped around me. I vote for QS8s as surrounds if money's not too much of an issue, but like I said, you could certainly try the M3s first.

Thanks for your feedback CV - it's good to know that the sound is noticeably more enveloping using the QS8's than bookshelves. I had a feeling this would be the case.

In terms of money at the moment - I'm more or less limited to the sub and 1 pair of speakers.

A third possibility would be to keep the m3's as fronts and purchase a pair of QS8's and the sub. Does anybody have a feel for whether the m3/qs8/svs combo is a better choice than an m22/m3/svs combo? Especially considering I mostly listen to music.

I do have my heart set on the flatter response from the m22's coupled with a good sub because I've heard fantastic things about this set-up.

Cheers

I'd probably go for the M22s with M3s as surrounds first, then move to QS surrounds down the road. I enjoy the M3s I have, but I do think I'd prefer the M22s, especially when you have a sub to fill in the bottom end. Granted, I only have experience with a single M22 which I'm using as my center channel.

Adam, of course I'd like to suggest plan B, but with buying both the M22s, sub and QSs at this time. Since your budget won't permit that, certainly get the M22s and most likely the sub at this time and temporarily leave your brother Axiomless.

In using the M3s as side surrounds I'd suggest that you place them directly to the side of the listening position rather than farther back, but that you point them toward the back wall, to give a higher proportion of reflected sound. This is generally more suitable for surround sound in movies and surround ambience in 2-channel music(using a mode such as DPLII).

With 70% music I would definitely go with the M22s. I use M3v2s for casual listening when in that part of the house and for music while working out, etc. I love them for that. Sound great and no sub required at all. They are definitely my "fun" speakers, which I won't be offloading anytime soon.

For "critical" listening, however, the M22v2s mated with a 10" sub is a considerable step up. They really are a more precise sounding speaker, without being sterile like I find the M2v2s to be (precise, yet somehow boring, lifeless). Money spent in this direction would likely net higher immediate benefits than the fantastic QS8s, which you will definitely upgrade to eventually.

Thanks for your feedback guys, appreciate your thoughts. You've pretty much confirmed my own thoughts and made my decision a lot easier.

JohnK, when I get my new speakers, I'll definitely experiment with the M3's firing at the back wall. Hadn't thought of that before to be honest.

I'm going to buy a pair of M22's and use the M3's as surrounds for now. Mate them up with an svs sub and the Whatmough P2 centre channel I have and I should have a pretty awesome set-up!

Done and dusted. Thanks for the help everyone

Pulled the trigger on a new pair of M22v3's and the SVS SB12-NSD. Looking forward to getting it all hooked up and will be putting my dvd audio version of yoshimi battles the pink robots first up!

It will sound great.

Don't forget to post pics and your impressions.

So I received the svs last week and just got my Axiom's yesterday and set them up last night. Just thought i'd post my initial impressions.

My first reaction is that I can see now why people always recommend using a sub with these speakers. I'm assuming it's because I'm used to the m3's, but they don't sound as 'full' without a sub. That being said, you can definitely tell a difference in the clarity of the mids, they feel more open, you can hear greater detail than with the M3's.

I'm actually moving house in a couple of weeks so I haven't bothered setting up my sub properly, but WOW what a difference placement makes. I have the sub next to my front right speaker at the moment and on one couch it sounds just ok, the other couch has no bass and then in only one corner of the room the bass is perfect! I know I could play with placement to get it perfect but I'll wait for the new place.

So for now, without the sub performing very well from my listening position, the m22's sound open and clear but somehow lacking. From that one corner though, it sounds amazing. Looking forward to getting my next room set-up properly so that my listening position is the best it can be.

I've read lots about sub placement (this is the first I've bought) and I'm surprised at just how MASSIVE the effect of placement is. So often, as you all would know, purchasing new components and/or speakers is about nuances. Speaker placement is definitely all about nuances, the staging or imaging will only differ slightly - this is definitely not one of those cases.

Will be back with a full review in a couple of weeks - if anyone has any tips/hints/comments please go for it!

Cheers,
Adam

Adam, the "fullness" point you mention comparing the M22 to the M3 isn't because the M22 has less bass extension, because tests show that it's actually tuned a few Hz lower than the M3. The M3 has an elevated response in the mid/upper bass which gives an impression of overall better bass but is actually slightly less accurate. With your good sub and the M22s dividing the bass range it should be excellent for the entire 20-200Hz when properly set up.

Typically in a room that isn't square, a good position for a single sub is directly in the corner near one of the main speakers.

Yes. Similar to, but nearly to the same extent as, Kicker car speakers. Kicker has made a very successful business based on a design where they severely bump the mid/upper bass range in their speakers because a large portion of the population loves to feel their shirt vibrate.

I went to go find a Kicker frequency response graph to visually demonstrate but they seemed to have dropped them from their web sight. They were there (or at least somewhere) in the summer when I was looking around at car speakers.

Adam, do the "sub crawl" to find the best(in your opinion) placement for the sub.

Will definitely be doing the "sub crawl" when I move into the new place in 2.5 weeks Jakewash.

I did tinker a little and I don't know whether I was listening to bad source material during my first impressions, whether my ears have adapted to the sound of the M22's but my first impressions have completely changed! The sound out of these babies is incredible. The one thing that REALLY shines over the M3's is vocals. Wow, both male and female vocals have a lot more clarity and presence through these speakers.

I hate having my M3's sitting in the corner not plugged in though. They're just waiting for the move so they can be set up as surrounds!

Most likely a little of both, your mind has adjusted to hearing the M22's and good material makes a noticeable difference with them.