Trying to balance that fine line between WAF and best placement for performance. Question is: if I were to place M22's only several inches above the floor (medium pile carpet), would the performance of the speaker suffer significantly? Note: listening position would be at normal seating level. The rest of the 5.1 configuration can be placed at more appropriate hights in the room (ear level).

If this configuration isn't advised, am I better off going with floor standing mains? I was hoping to go with the M22s for the smaller form factor (relatively small room).

Thanks for any advice.

i would think you would definitely lose some sound quality by placing the speakers so close to the floor.. it would help if you could angle them up toward the listening position, but this will still only help a little.

the M22's should most definitely be placed on a stand, or a shelf with breathing room. if the 'look' of the stand is a concern, i think the M40's or M50's would probably be your next option.

i think by putting the speakers so close to the ground, you would be defeating the purpose of getting good quality speakers in the first place?

bigjohn

Well, I like my M60's just fine. But I do not think that the only way to enjoy M22's is to place them on tall, tippy stands.

This thread goes into excruciating detail about another way to approach the issue.

But I'd agree with John that just putting them flat on the floor would probably not be very satisfying. How about wall-mounting them?

How about something like those fabled Mapleshade stands? (build 'em, don't spend that kind of dough on stands...)

In my own personal experience with the m22's, having the tweeter at ear level has been the best sounding position. I don't have the axiom stands yet ( the ss16's are what i've decided to get, i'm using some makeshift stands temporarily) but for me, sitting on my couch, elevating the speakers by 15 or so inches is just about perfect, and stands that size should be pretty stable, especially with the decent weight of the m22's. I don't think 15 inces is that high. While I have not experimented with a stand that would place the speaker at floor level and tilted back to aim the tweeter at the listening position, I would think that this would also be much better than just having them on the floor with the tweeters aimed at your knees. Just my $0.02

RP, as indicated in the thread that Tom linked, there's nothing at all wrong with putting M22s directly on the floor if you tilt the tweeters up toward your ears. The other point I make is that the distance of the woofer cones to the two nearest walls should be different and different from their distance to the floor.

Wall-mounting was my first plan: My wife's perference is for a small satellite system (Energy, etc.). However, after reading all the positive reviews on Axiom speakers (sound quality, value, etc.), I'm not prepared to give up so much music sound quality just for the minimalist looks of the satellite-type systems.

However, when considering the M22s in a wall mount configuration, it no longer met with the elusive WAF. The front of our TV sits 5 inches off the wall, so having the M22's sitting 10.5"+ off the wall (9.5" speakers + wall mounts) scored zero on the cosmetic front.

The one draw back to putting the M22's (or M60s, etc) close to the floor is that I have a 1 year old who loves to explore... Hope those grills are reasonably well-fastened!

Thanks for all the info and links. Very interesting read. I originally didn't think closer to the floor was an option, but I'm now encouraged by some of your ideas.

All of the following seem like reasonable options to explore:
- M22's on 12-14" stands (might affect sound quality slightly...)
- M22's very close to the floor but tilted upwards slightly (doesn't hurt to try it out)
- M60s
- M2i's on top of the TV console (next to the center channel) (But I'm afraid I'll be slightly disappointed after reading about the M22's

The secret of wedded audio bliss is finding the middle ground where WAF and HAF overlap. Such an area does exist, but sometimes needs some coaxing/bribing to come into existence.

Just a warning, the grills come off pretty easily if you tug on them at the top and bottom.