Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Which is the best speaker combo of the following?

Hiya everyone,
I'm hoping that some of you seasoned pro's can help me clear up this issue with picking the right speakers.

My room is 14x20x8 so 2240.

I had first decided on the epic 50-350 package but as i researched the individual speakers i became a little worried. There are alot of lackluster forum topics on the m50's most notably the weak midrange sound. Does anyone here own the 50's and if so can you share your opinions on them.

I noticed that the following 2 combos were pretty identical in price so i was wondering what you guys thought would put out the best sound.

the m22's paired with an ep500
or m60 towers paired with the ep375

I'm trying to get the best bang for my buck (roughly 2k budget for speakers) and have also considered the factory B-stock as an alternative.. seems that i can get m60's, ep375,vp150 and QS4's for around that price.

Any advice or help you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated, I've had no exposure to axiom products before, have no access to them, and really don't want to order several pair and send back the losers.

Thanks

I own M50s and M80s. I expect you've read my comparison threads between the M22s and M50s, and between M3s, M50s, and M80s. M50s are very nice speakers; but they're outdone by the M80s, and in some circumstances by M22s and M3s. As I recall, the added body (bass, presence, whatever you want to call it) was good for certain types of music, but lost out on others.

I have not heard the EP350, and I don't have an EP500, but from what I've read, the EP500 is the same kind of leap above the EP350 as the M80s are above the M50s. Given your choices, I would probably go with M22s and the EP500, assuming I could get over my bias towards tower speakers.

mongoman, where do you live? There just might be an Axiom owner within driving distance willing to let you listen.

Your decision is a tough one, but I'm partial to the M22+EP500 combination because it's what I've got. The only reason not to go with it, IMHO, is if you like to listen at really loud levels of if you will sit pretty far from the speakers (i.e. they will be placed along the 14' wall and you're sitting almost on the other side of the room.

I have my M22s and EP500 in an 11x19x8 room. They and the EP500 are on the 20' wall so I don't sit too far away from them. They fill the room very easily and will play louder than I can stand.

The M60s and the M22s have the same tonality and quality of sound, and the EP500 is quite a bit better than the EP350, so the M22+EP500 takes the cake as a total package.

As the the others suggested the M22, EP500 is a great combination. If you are more of a movie watcher like myself and enjoy surround sound, for that budget my choice would be to go with the outlet, get the 60's, VP150, QS4's and substitute the EP350 with a sub from HSU.

I live in northwest PA, about 30 minutes south or Erie. This area has a serious lack of high end audio stores and noone i know has done anything with home theater, infact i'm the only person in my circle that even has a plasma tv.

common sense is telling me to buy the m22's with the ep500. It would be alot easier to upgrade the mains at a later date and move the 22's into another room than it would be to convince my wife i need a 2nd subwoofer later on.

BUT....I Love tower speakers...can't someone just reassure me that the 50's are awesome and the naysayers don't know what they're talking about

Thanks for the input so far, it's helping me narrow things down.