Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Floorstanders or Bookshelf?

I finally decided to get a new set of HT speakers and I like the reviews on Axiom, I've never heard them but with the 30-day gurantee I am willing to give them a try

Anyways I am debating between 2 HT setups, the Epic 50 or the Epic Grandmaster 350. I know the grandmaster has the better center, sub, and surrounds so this may play heavily into the decision.

Anyways the room size is 15'x12' its probably considered a small room I've always had floorstanders as my fronts and the only experience I've had with bookshelf speakers or HTiB version. So how well will the M22's perform over the M50 floorstand? I'm really not sure so I would love to hear opinions.

Also a little offtopic but depending on the system that's recommended whats a good receiver to go with that particular setup. Could I get by with say a $1200 or less receiver? (Canadian funds)

Thank you to everyone for your opinion

The Epic 50-350 and the Epic Grand Master 350 are roughly the same price and have the same sub so the trade-off is towers vs. a better CC and surrounds.

I've heard nothing but rave reviews of the M22s so you will likely get a lot of support in this direction. My vote would tip slightly in this direction as well.

All the best,

J

If you are getting a 5.1 system I would lean toward the Epic Grand Master 350. You will have the top center and surrounds they make right now. If later you want to upgrade to 7.1 you could move the M22s to the back and get two of their floor standers for the mains.

As for the receiver I’m very happy with the refurbished Denon 2807 I got from Dakmart for $750 USD. New it’s about $1100 USD. I’m sure many others will have recommendations that might sound even better.

Good luck
Dean

Here is a review done by another on this forum between the M50 and M22.

I own the M22's VP100 and 3QS8's in a room 12X16(listening area) and open on the end to 27' and my Denon 1804 fills the room with sound.

Lots of receivers in your price range will do the job nicely. The Yamaha line has many up till the 2700 and Denon's 1507 and up, Onkyo makes a few in that range as well. Harmon Kardon also has 2 or 3 receivers that work great.

You may want to check out the Hearing things forum to see if anyone near you has a set that you could audition if you would like to hear a set before you buy.

GP, welcome. Because of my experiences with the M22s for almost five years now, I recommend them to you most strongly.

As to the receiver, you don't have to worry about getting one to go with that "particular setup"; the speakers don't have any unusual requirements and any receiver with the features that you want and that fits your budget should be fine. It should run you considerably less than $1200 CAD(and you'd be doing more than just "getting by")and just to throw out a couple suggestions, consider the Onkyo 604 and the Yamaha 659.

This is it in brass tacks, The M50s go low, with a recessed midrange and crystalline-like highs. The treble of the M22s is identical with a strong midrange thrown in, while bass presence, in my opinion, is their weakness. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. The M22s are sub-intended. These two speakers are exact opposites. It all depends what kind of sound your looking for. For HT, I would pick the M22s, for an all music system, I might go the other way. If your looking to cover all the bases, from what I have read, you have to slide up to the M60/M80s. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I recommend the M22s as well. They are essentially a floor standing speaker (without the low end woofers). They can play to pretty loud levels and when paired with a good sub they provide crystal clean music and home theatre integration rivaling most floor standing speakers.

When I purchased my speakers, i knew that i was going to be purchasing a sub as well, regardless, for HT use.

It made the most sense to go with the M22s to get the clean highs and mids and let the sub do the rest. In all honsty, I would really Like to compare some M60 towers to my EP500 sub and M22s for 2 channel listening, I suspect they will sound pretty close with various types of music.

No sub = M50, getting a sub = M22.

Well after reading the replies and reading reviews all day I decided on the M22's. I'm still debating of going with the Epic Grand Master 175 or the 350 package.

With the 350 package I get the upgraded center and sub but I'm not sure if they are really needed. Is there a drastic difference with the 360 sub and the VP150 center over their lower counterparts?

As for receivers I was considering the Onkyo TX-SR674 7.1 Surround mainly because it has HDMI inputs with 1080p for $999. Any opinions on it?

Have you considered going the Factory Outlet route?

You can piece together any speakers you want and you get a 10% discount for them having a "very minor" blemish or something on the finish of the speaker. In all honesty, i have yet to find the blemish on any of the speakers that I ordered from the factory outlet.

Factory Outlet

For your size room, if you like deep bass I would recommend the following for your setup:

2 x M22s for your mains
1 x M22 for your centre channel (if you have the space to vertically orientate your centre channel M22, it will sound great, if not, I would recommend a single M3 or M2 for your centre channel)
2 x QS8s (or QS4s depending on your budget)
1 x EP350 (if you can stretch your budget, getting the EP500 is well worth the additional money)

But regardless, if you are willing to wait 5 weeks or so, go with the factory outlet, all in all, you will save 15% in total (10% for the factory outlet, and 5% for ordering 5 items or more).

Seems the Yamaha RX-V659 is getting alot of praise. I might go that route, but first I would need to find a Canadian dealer who has the 659

Also thank you for the suggestion of going with the factory outlet, I can certainly wait the 3-5 weeks to save the taxes

Seems everything is coming together now if I can find the 659 receiver for a good price I'll be set

EDIT: Actually not as set as I wanted to be, I forgot I'm going need to get speaker wires. The current wires I have are not that great to begin with. I see Axiom also carries speaker wires but should I go with those or is it better to buy a spool and do it myself? If I buy a spool of wire, what kind of ends will be needed if any and how easy is it to make the ends?

GP, bare wire is fine unless you want the convenience of banana plugs. For an excellent explanation of speaker wire in general by a veteran audio professional, which includes a table of suggested gauges, study this .