The M50s are a great Rock speaker. They go loud and clean with no sub needed. I was just listening to Metallica and Nazareth hitting 102 dB peaks at 11 feet away. It was very satisfying and I didn't feel like anything was missing.
Fair warning though that if you plan on listening to stuff like Bass Mekanik, you won't be able to go clean above 90dB peak at 11 feet away. Those 6.5" non-HP drivers do have their limits.
In my living room, the humble Pioneer is more than enough with these highly sensitive M50s. I may hook up the ADA-1000 to them to push them more. The 1000 is a good match for the specified peak power (400W) of the M50.
It's very interesting how I've had bass "problems" with the M3 and the M5 in my living room, having to attenuate both by 10dB at 100Hz, but I do not have that problem with the M50. My suspicion that this was caused by the bass hump found in the M3 and M5 appears to be correct.
I also found the highs to be too much in my living room with the M5s. The M3s fixed that and so do the M50s.
It's an easy-to-drive, easy-to-listen-to speaker that reaches high SPLs cleanly with no need for a sub. The M50s are another one of those Axiom secrets few know about.
