Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater New M22's arrived - first impressions

Being that I ordered factory seconds to cut the cost, I immediately went looking for appearance flaws. One has a small scratch on the right side near the top, but as promised, you can't see it from 5' away. The other has a small circular impression on the left side, like if you took a small nail head and barely pushed into a small mound of putty, then let the putty dry. Odd, but again you can't see it at 5'. Again, this is near the top.

Visual defects won't be a problem as I put them right next to my glass door equipment towers with the problem areas next to the tower, so you can't see them anyway. Nice.

They really are quite tall, more like mini towers than conventional bookshelf models. Nice feel, solid even weight distribution.

On to initial listening. I turned my sub off, and set the amp to output only stereo and not 5.1 so as to hear only those speakers.

Even in the worst seating position, and concentrating on work not listening (had to at the time), I could tell that the treble was so much clearer, as were vocals (mid-range) of both male and female voices.

Bass is anemic, but that's bound to be my receiver as that cheapo model that only offers a minimum 100Hz crossover (later inspection revealed that it's been set at 200Hz for who knows how long...). I should set the speaker type to "large" to eliminate the crossover altogether. A test for another time.

The specs say that they handle down to 50Hz, so they should do much better.

I went back to 5.1 and did a quick calibration with the receiver's test tone. Big difference in sensitivity with the M22's so resetting levels was necessary. I'll dig out the RS SPL meter and do it right over the weekend.

When my "real" work was done I threw in the Eagles Hell Freezes Over DVD concert. I've swear I've watched this from beginning to end about ten times, so I know it pretty well.

Even at moderate/low levels (with one of my kids sleeping right above me) you can tell the soundstage is SO much wider. I put these speaker in exactly the same location as the old ones - about 9 feet apart.

The guitar, piano, strings (there's a small orchestra involved) sounds are so accurate. It's like I took my old speakers out of burlap bags.

Over the next days I'll dig out the DVD-Audio discs and SACD's I have (analog connections to Pioneer player), and others (regular CDs) to see how they do.

They do look quite nice without the grills, but the drivers would be visual magnets to little eyes with little fingers around my house - so the grills will stay on.

That's it for now. So far, money well spent.

Further observations and pics to come.

Nice! I can't wait for your further comments and pics :).

I eventually hope to be able to get some M22s for my wife's stereo.

Welcome to the club! It will be nice to hear after you complete your adjustments.

Thanks for the write up and glad to hear your enjoying them.

Yes the speakers are are much better with bass when set to large and the crossover eliminated. I am sitting here listening to my M22s on an old Sony strde915 no crossovers or anything, except the old 'loud' button that emphasizes the bass at lower volumes, and the bass I am feeling is quite nice, actually feeling it across 20' of floor up through the chair.

I concur on the grilles must stay on. One of mine has a tiny little dent in the woofer cone as my oldest couldn't resist it when he was not quite 2, I forgot to put the grill back on. Luckily no SQ issues.

Awaiting pics.

Thanks for your review. I have M22s an use to have them a foot or so away from the back wall. In that location (in my room) the bass was pretty anemic. When I wall mounted them recently, and consequently located them much closer to the back wall -- the rear ports are about 3" from the back wall -- the bass is now much fuller. I hardly ever listen to them without the EP500 in the mix, so it's not a big issue for me. Mid-bass did receive a nice oomph, though.

Krunch, welcome to the owners' club for the Axiom flagship, the M22. I've had mine over five years now and I'm not a bit less impressed now than I was when I first got them. You may have set your receiver incorrectly for bass management although you weren't using a sub at the time, since the M22s definitely don't have "anemic bass" when properly set up and taking room reinforcement into account. My listening and measurements(without a sub)showed good bass down to about 50Hz and significantly weaker but still usable response as low as 40Hz. This is adequate for most music, excluding items such as classical compositions featuring the organ. I now always use the EP500 with them for that that lowest octave or two, and this totally removes any weak points that might have existed.

John,

Have you ever heard M80s? I highly recommend them for all of the classical you listen to.

The grass is always greener...

...for those that have M80s.

When i first received the M22s, i also thought they sounded thin. I would absolutely run them with a sub.
After receiving the M60s, my impressions were that the larger floorstanding unit provided a more full sound, a room filling sound in comparison and i was sold.
The M22s are excellent speakers, but still thin w/o a sub IMO.