Sounds to me like your friends will appreciate either set, so you can't really go wrong with either. Only the avid listeners will be able to detect a more neutral sound of the 22's. The M3's sound pretty darn good to me, as well as the M22's. I find the M3's better than the M22's without a sub. I gave a set of M3's to a friend and he loves them. In both cases, don't let their size fool you. Both fill a moderate sized room very well.