I have seen some questions lately re: the M50's, as well as getting a few p.m.'s asking about them, so I figured i would just post something for those who are interested. I have never heard the the M60 or any other Axiom made tower speaker so I do not have anything to compare them too, but who cares. I did audition paridigm and definative tech speakers before trying/buying the M50's a year ago.
Here goes. As far as music/sound is concernd, I'm very happy w/the the M50's. I won't use words like "airy' or "colored". I hate when I read reviews of speakers and read things like that. i will say that the sound stage has height to it. In two channel stereo mode the M50's make it seem like sound is coming from my center chanel (vp150) which is positioned about 2ft above the M50's on top of my TV. The soundage has some good width to it as sound seems to come from around the speakers.
The bass is what i like best about the M50's. I pair them w/the paradigm pdr-12 sub most of the time when listening, however, the M50's produce just as much bass when standing alone but you do have to increase the volume in order to acheive this. For example, the M50's alone produce the same quantitiy of bass w/the volume level of my Onkyo SR-700 set to 50 (a higher number represents louder volume on Onkyo receivers) as the M50's w/sub do w/the volume set to 43.
I did notice that the 50's sound better w/better recorded music. I have never not liked what I was hearing but I do have albums that just sound better than others. I figure the 50's are getting "out of the way" and letting the music/recording come through.
People tend to label the 50's as "laid back" and I will agree. I definate whould not label them as bright or harsh. I think this is a good thing especially w/so many brightly recorded DVD movie soundtracks. I have no issues w/the treble/midrange, but then again I have nothing to compare them to. They definately are not bright or fatiguing but the highs seem to be there when they need to be.
For home theater the M50's work great and that is what my system is mostly used for. I have a large room, that is why I chose a tower instead of a book shelf speaker. The M50's fill my room adeqately although I think an external amp is needed, my room is that big. Overall I'm very happy w/them. I hope I shed some light on the M50's the black sheep of the axiom speaker line.
-jay
