Well, we're back from Europe & now fully recovered. Great river cruise but unfortunately most of the ship's passengers came down with a nasty bug that we surmised came from Asia via an airliner out of Singapore. I wasn't affected too badly but my wife spent 4 days in her cabin. In the future, I think that we'll limit ourselves to travel in North America & perhaps Hawaii - too much money involved going international & becoming sick. It's just not worth it.
Anyway, I've been playing & tweaking my M2/EP-400/tube-amp/SACD system since I got back. Over time, I'm more impressed than ever with the performance of this diminutive audio only system. It has proven to be more than capable for my largish room. The M2s provide wonderful clean mids & highs with absolutely no listening fatigue while the EP-400 is a tremendous performer in the low end - no problem with vibrating my hardwood floor & couch.
In case you missed it, this is my response to Amie's timely 'Quick Tip':
http://www.axiomaudio.com/blog/quick-tip-2-1-channel-system-or-floorstanding-speakers/From what I've heard from all of the floor standers that I've auditioned locally (no Axioms unfortunately), I haven't heard any that provide better sound & especially bass extension than my system does. These brands included fairly large Tannoy, Klipsch, Polk, Energy, Focal, Definitive Technology, etc. For audio only, I think that smaller 2.1 systems can easily rival their bigger brothers for moderate listening levels & look good as well - nice WAF.
Because my M2s & EP-400 are often exposed to direct sunlight, I lightly coated them with a vinyl/leather protectant that I use in my car interior - Zymol. I applied a light coat to the vinyl & the next day smoothed out the coating with the same cloth. It resulted in a nice sheen on the surface - quite nice to look at. I would think that reapplying every couple of months might be appropriate.
BTW - I ordered a pair of FMS24 stands from the Factory Outlet for my M3s in the same room to provide more stable platforms & will be more pleasing look than my DIY stands...
TAM
