The MA's lower models, bronze/silver would be what you are looking for from them if you ever find some to listen to. The Gold series is much more in line with the M22 clean/bright sound.

I still think you should send the M22's back with Axiom sending M3's out to you. Just looking for more reviews about them vs other speakers

Monitor Audio BR2 vs Axiom M3 should probably be a good match. I think you should also take a look at Wharfedale speaker. They have this warm sounding you are looking for. I had for a while the Diamond 9.2. Plenty of base for a bookshelf and also nice design. Now thay have the diamond 10 series.

You might look at some Totems as well, to me they had a warmer type sound but are in a much higher price range.

I really like my Axioms, I still really miss my Advents for Jazz, loved the sound from those. Don't even remember what I did with them, probably gave them away "cause I wanted the new shampoo" ... ah youth!

Advents were really good speakers for the time. Much like Axiom, they offered very good value for the money.

Colin, as Ken and others point out, you either have an accurate speaker which among other things reproduces harshness in poorly-recorded material, or you don't. Terming a speaker(or any other audio component)"warm" is tantamount to calling it inaccurate. The treble tone control can help a bit when playing bad material on good speakers.

It's a valid point indeed. And I agree with you 100% unless you're implying that the 'warm' sound he prefers out of the Energy's is inferior to the accurate M22's. Because while there is no denying the fact that the M22's are probably giving the more faithful playback of the recordings, it's up to him whether he prefers a faithful reproduction or a colored version.

It seems to me that he's aware that the 'warm' in 'big, dumb, warm speakers' refers to the fact that they have a bloated bass response curve. But even though he knows they aren't the more detailed and accurate speaker of the group, he prefers the characteristics of the flawed speaker over the M22's anyway.

I suppose to his ear, the flat response curve of the Axiom is its 'flaw'.

Micah, someone's personal preference for it doesn't lessen the inferiority of an object.

Bazinga!

How would you describe the vocals on the other speakers you auditioned? IMO it is important that you find a speaker that gives off the most natural sounding vocals to you because that is what we are most critical of since we communicate on a daily basis as part of our survival.

How often do we hear a live drummer playing in our house or someone playing a trumpet or a strike of a triangle?

You shouldn't worry to much about bass extension with a bookshelf because you can always add a sub. You also seem to like slightly rolled off highs which is a very common loudspeaker preference.

Are you returning the CB20?