I'm looking for a pair of stereo monitors for a very small living room (approx. 12' x 20'), wood floor, equip. set up in a corner, 90% music, 10% two-channel HT. I like the size (and price) of the M50's, but there's very little in the way of reviews available. Seems like a winner: same drivers as the highly-lauded M3's (plus one) in a bigger package. Someone convince me that I'd be making a mistake with the M50's. :-]

Thanks for sharing your wisdom!!!

I haven't heard the M50s, but I've owned the now discontinued M40s (which was one less driver than the M50s). The M40s shared the same sonic signature as the M3s (which I still own). If you are familiar with the M3s the M50s should be similar, but with more bass. Generally, the M50s will be not quite as detailed as the M60s or M80s, but they handle all music well and do a better job of hiding poor recordings.

Thanks, SPG! Since I often use an ipod as my music source, I'm looking for a forgiving speaker. (M22's would be great if I were more particular about my source.)

You couldn't make a mistake with any Axiom product, if by chance you do not like the M50 then you can just call Axiom and order up the M60s and Axiom will cover the return cost of the M50s, at least they did last year when I returned the M60s for the M80s.

Thanks, Jason! Hear nothing but good things about Axiom's business practices. Part of the reason why I'm considering the M50's over the M60's is that I'd like to get them in real cherry, and my budget won't carry M60's from the custom shop. Don't know about returning that kind of stuff.

Ive read about axioms being unforgiving on poor quality recordings... I dont know about that. I have a m22/vp100/m2/hsu 5.1 system and I think everything I've ever played on those speakers have sounded wonderful. I play nothing but mp3s equal to or lower than 256kps (a goal of mine is to start getting into better quality). Most of my music comes from my computer and I buy lots of music off of amazon mp3 and get alot of music off of rhapsody subscriptions. Now, if you don't have a sub i cant recommend m22s. If you have a sub the m22s will sound glorious with any music you put through them, imo. I doubt that im an audiophile category yet, the axiom system is my first true quality audio system but ive had it for a year.

As far as I know, it's still covered by the policy, but I could be making that up.

I have M50s and M80s (and some other stuff), and I've compared them directly to M3s and M22s. In the M22 comparison, the M50s were found to be better on some stuff, and the M22s better on other stuff. In the M3/M80/M50 comparison, the M80s were the best, the M3s 2nd, and M50s 3rd. Now, for some of that, the M50s were wired out of phase (my bad), so you can take that ranking with a grain of salt. However... the M3s are fantastic little speakers. The M50s and M3s were fairly similar, but the M50s are a bit more laid back, and probably more forgiving. I very much enjoyed them when they were my main speakers, and they still do good duty in my secondary system. Very full sounding and pleasant to listen to. Good looking, too. In my room, I had to fiddle with the placement a bit, but that's going to be the case with any quality speakers.

Thanks, hietpas! Good to hear that accuracy doesn't cost too much w/ mp3's. In the interest of simplicity, I'm trying to avoid a sub ... for now ...

Just pulled the trigger on the M50's in cinnamon cherry semi. Mmmmmmmm!!!

Congrats, Tony! Let us know what you think we you get 'em.

Thanks, all. Now for the long wait ...

Tony, have you checked your email yet?

Ha ha, Ken said "doody."






Sorry, Tony, I've just subjected your thread to our forum humor. Hmm, or is that just my humor. . .

Lowest common denominator.

I got the purchase confirmation from Noreen, but no projected ship date. I reckon it'll be mid July, eh?

Oh, with custom wood ones, yeah, you'll be waiting awhile. Have you looked into how much work they do on those things? Congrats, dude, you're going to love them.

Yeah, that's how I managed to rationalize the downgrade from M60's (that and the size of the room). I suppose that's one reason to prefer the M50's over the M3's -- more beautiful wood to look at!

Absolutely. My wife vastly prefers towers to "boxes on sticks" as she calls them. Works for me... I tend to prefer the sound of towers.

Congrats on the custom M50's!

When visiting Axiom the first time, I was able to play with the M50 vs M80 on a switch box. Oh yeah also EP500 and EP600

I originally planned on getting the M50 and thought they were fantastic and was amazed at the bass they through out. I ended up splitting the difference and buying M60's as I wanted a little extra clarity and mid punch. While processing the order with Noreen, my buddy was in the demo room with a couple Axiom folks and the room started to rock. I told Noreen I would be back in a second and high tailed it to the room. Upon opening the door and seeing my buds goofy grin I sat down to join him. After the song was over I asked what were we listening to?? M50's in stereo...couldn't believe how good they sounded and how much bass they provided on there own...enjoy yours when they come.

I didn't have it in me to make Debbie roll in an EP600 when I was there.

You consider 12' x 20' a very small living room? Mine's 14x20 and I consider it medium to large - and am hoping to win approval for M80's.

12x20 here with M80's (I also consider it a medium-sized room). They sound glorious.

Anthony, you have my approval. Does that help?

Appreciated, but hell hath no fury like an unhappy pregnant wife

What did you use to generate those response graphs?

Yes it does: an unhappy post-partum wife. I think it can get worse on the other side....

Very cool -- wish I had easy access to the listening room!

Yeah, I guess I'm accustomed to the McMansion-size living rooms that are so popular now.

Here's one thing I get with the M50's: upgrade opportunities!

Radio Shack SPL Meter + Free REW (Room Equalization Wizard) Software. That links shows you what you need to do it, but it's really not too bad (assuming you enjoy these kinds of things). You'll need to spend about $50-60 (US) worth of parts including the SPL meter. If you decide to do it and need help, let me know.

Jason

Around here one pretty much has to be in organized crime to have one of those.

I found a BFD guide and it talks about buying a mic and a mic pre-amp too in addition to a ~$100 SPL meter and the BFD. Seems a bit intimidating. Any thoughts on this approach vs. the auto-eq included in an AVR?

I live in a rental in the Bay Area and my living room is 19x20. Maybe I measured it wrong? It doesn't feel huge!

Alert: topic hijack.

I searched but didn't find any related posts, so I'll ask: anthony11, is that your snake in the avatar? I see the name is Cleo. Is she a python?

Looks like a boa constrictor to me. In my teenage years my brother and I had a seven foot boa.

You can use the SPL meter as your mic. You only need the BFD if you intend to actually equalize your sub's response. I did do this with great success as you can see by looking at some of the graphs posted in the link in my signature, but to decide if you even need to do this, you can just use the SPL meter + the software to see what your response looks like now. This may be way more than you want or need to do. First just play with positioning in your room and see if you can find a spot that produces sound you are happy with in your main listening position. If you can't find anything you're happy with, you can consider the BFD/REW solution but plenty of people get by just fine without going to this level of effort.

Check this post for a simple picture of what you need to hook up the SPL meter to your computer and use REW to run a FR curve.

I meant that one had to be in organized crime to have a McMansion, hence their proliferation around Redmond.

Oh, I understood. I'm just depressed by the idea that when we do finally get a house, it'll have a tiny living room.

Yes, she was a common boa and rather large, about 10'. Second largest I've ever seen -- the San Diego zoo/jail has one even larger.

I had to adopt her out a handful of years ago in order to protect her from my ex.

We recently tagged along with some friends who were househunting in SF. The value/$ was even worse than it is in Seattle.

I'm in a @#$ townhouse (albeit a relatively nice one) now thanks to various factors, including community property, Microcult, and people fleeing Californicatia with heaps of equity a few years back.

Well, so much for fleeing California to Washington for good house prices. Sigh.

Arizona is still relatively cheap. New Mexico even more so (depending on location). And I hear you can get a nice house on acreage for under $200k in Kansas....

C'mon, Ken, move to Iowa and join the bustling Axiom community there. They'd welcome a city slicker like you any time.

I really ought to give
Iowa
a try?

Is there a 6-3-2
Haiku I
forgot?

Ken's trying to make his writing more poetic.

And that's a double whoosh!

Like DNA?

Actually all of your Haikus that contain the word "haiku" are wrong anyways. in Japanese, you pronounce the "i" separately, making it a three syllable word, not 2.
[ha i ku].

I choose to ignore the English dictionaries in this case as the word has been modified incorrectly from it's Japanese origins. Actually, I couldn't care less but it does present me with yet another opportunity to make fun of your haikus.

Must resist writing my last words in haiku format, or did I?

You are just being a pretentious dorky head. So [Ha i fu ku].

Didn't Pretentious Dorky Head just get a major record deal with Negative Orange's label?

I don't know, but I bet CV has the mirror to prove it. Wait, what???

Nice twist.

Almost stumped me.



I hope Charles knows we're just kidding. Sorta.

Kidding because I'm a vampire?

*starts filling pockets with garlic cloves*

garlic doesn't work. Only a wooden spike will do the trick. Or, have a were-man on hand to do the dirty work for you.

Now, stop talking about Hillary that way.

Sexist ba$tard.

I. don't want to enco.urage .you so I won't revea.l whether .I laughed. or not.

(Those random dots are just tea that sprayed onto the screen)

Too late! I'm encouraged! I have manic energy and can keep this up forever!

Forever until you die, that is.

I'll come back as a prairie dog or LOLcat and keep going ...