Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo M22ti , M3ti with tubeamp

I have owned pair of M3ti nearly one year and M22ti about 6 month and I use them with KT88 (Cayin) tubeamp. I bought M22 because they were mentioned to be better than M3. I was wery disappointed. They sound so flat and dull. M3 sounds much more dynamic, airy and better on bass. Otherwise M22 with solid state sounds much better than with tube so I kept them. Has somebody used these with tubeamp and what is your opion? (sorry bad english)

2x6 would agree with you whole-heartedly. He's not around as much as he used to be, but I'm sure he'll have something to add whenever he returns.

Having my M3s with tubes is something I only can dream about!!

Your English is great!! Welcome to our forum!!!

A lot of folks have used their M3s with tube amps and find them to be a wonderfull combination. I've even seen a number of tube amp tests published that use M3s as the speakers as test units.

A well respected pairing of components!!

Hello kajtsu

I also used a pair of M3s with a KT88 tube amp - an Antique Sound Labs MG S1 15DT (integrated) and the result was pure music magic! I thought I was upgrading when I ordered a pair of M22s and was very disappointed with the result. Thin and flat is a perfect description of the combination of a 5 wpc tubie and the M22s. I always thought I just got a bad pair of M22s but your post confirms my experience exactly.

This counterintuitive result is all the more puzzling since I then picked up a pair of Michaura M55s which is very similar to the M22s (same 5.25" drivers (2) but the Axiom 3/4" titanium tweeter instead of the 1" ti tweet, all in a beautiful hex shaped rosewood cabinet) and I was frankly stunned by the music magic I heard.

I went back and forth between the M3s and the Michaura M55s but finally settled on the Michauras (no disparagement meant to the M3s which I consider Axioms finest all around speaker). Why the Michaura M55s should sound so good and the M22s so flat is a mystery to me.

PS there is question as to whether the Michaura M55s use the same 5.25" drivers as the M22s, there is no doubt in my mind but that they do use the same drivers.

Anyway kajtsu, enjoy the magic of tube amplified music, there's nothing better except for live music, IMO.

Good luck to you!

For a while now I have wanted to do a side-by-side of my M22's with M3's.

The M22's are really the first hi-fi speaker I have heard, so it would be nice to not be a virgin to the many sounds of hi-fi.