The only person that I know that's heard my M3s and refers to them as bright (in a negative way) is my brother.
But we both have Edirol MA-20D Digital Stereo Micro Monitors on our desktops - identical speakers, and I have my bass and treble controls set to just a pinch over flat (two pinches for treble) - he has his set a bit higher on the bass side and cuts the treble hard.
I've always just attributed it to his hearing damage from playing in bands for 20 years... but he also swears by his set of early 80s floorstanders with paper cones and a big treble attenuating dial on the front as being "the best sounding speakers he's ever heard"... I'm sure the response graph for them looks something like
a bell curve.
Either way, I wouldn't give too much weight to either side of the argument... take advantage of Axiom's return policy and give them a listen for yourself.
Bren R.
