This evening, Peter and Adam (pmbuko & adamp88) came over to my place to compare Peter's M22's and my M50s.
The M50s were wired to the main jacks on my H/K 525, while the M22s were wired to the Multiroom speaker jacks. Switching between the two was a pain, requiring 4 button presses (minimum), but we finally figured it out. The subwoofer was not used at all in teh testing, due to the difficulty of melding it with both speakers, and the fact that you can't set the sub to play with Multiroom.
We listened to a variety of music, including Rush, Alison Krause, Metallica, Alice in Chains, Bela Fleck, Buena Vista Social Club, some Gregorian chant that I don't remember the name of, and probably some other stuff I don't remember right now.
General impressions:
M22s=more airy, broader soundstage
M50s=fuller, "fatter" sound
Both speakers are excellent.
Unless you switch in the middle of the song, the two can sound very similar. If you do switch quickly in the middle, then they sound extremely different for a few seconds, then the difference seems less dramatic.
Played together, they sound really good!
More detailed stuff:
No, I didn't take notes...
It is a very broad generalization to say that the more electric/electronic instruments playing, the more that we preferred the M50s. The M22s were more detailed, but sometimes this could play against them (as usual, if the recording was bright, the M22s were less preferred.) This was especially dramatic on Dust for Life, where the M22s were veyr close to painful. However, Ozzy Osbourne-Blizzard of Ozz was better on the M22s. The Gregorian chant was better on the M22s by virtue of their wider soundstage. However, I think some of this may be remedied by placement on the M50s, which are probably not optimal. The M22s have AMAZING bass for their size. However, the M50's bass is extremely prodigious. In general, we preferred male voices on the M50s, except for Ozzy. I felt that female voices were better on the M50s most of the time, but I'm also biased.
Conclusion:
The speakers are more different than some have said, but also less different than others have said. (helpful, ain't I?) Actually, this was pretty much how the comparison went, with each of us noting good things about both speakers. It is probably impossible to pick a winner.
Especial thanks to my lovely wife, who put up with loud music for the last 4 hours, and made a fantastic peach cobbler.
