Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo M22's or M60's with a subwoofer?

Lee if you can afford the return shipping you might be best served by ordering both M80s and M22s and comparing them yourself. I believe Axiom estimates return shipping to be about 30 USD for 2 bookshelves and 60 USD for 2 towers. Call and they can tell you for sure. I tried this and ended up keeping both though.

Also as Fred says there is a fine line between the M80+sub and M22+sub and we are really not that far apart on how we feel about them. Had we heard them in the same room with the same music I could likely have drawn the same conclusions as Fred, I think the differences are that subtle.



The what if factor is in the end why I bought the M80 since I had the money and didn’t want to revisit my speaker purchase later.

Awww maaaan! now what are we gonna argue about?

I own M22's, M80's, and I have a pretty decent sub. I've experimented with all of them, together and separately.

Personally, if money is an issue, I'd prefer M22's w/ Sub to M80's on their own. From that, I can only assume that my preference would hold with an M60 comparison as well (never having heard M60's). M22's are darn-good speakers. With a really good sub, at normal listening levels, they're every bit as good as M80's. But the bigger your room is and/or the louder you like your music, the more you're going to need the extra drivers of the M60's or M80's. M22's can't touch the floor standers at 'reference' levels. M22's will play loud, but they lose something where M80's (and M60's) remain more composed and musical (IMHO).

I listen to a lot of classical too. Some classical has more bass than others, but I find that my M80's just can't produce enough bass on their own to satisfy me. The best example I can think of is a YoYo Ma cello solo. It sounds much better when my system is in M80+Sub mode vs just M80's on their own. The difference isn't subtle. That's M80+Sub, 40hz (or 60hz, I switch back and forth sometimes) crossover vs. M80's w/ no crossover (large). With the sub, his cello sounds much more life-like. Undertones are richer, there's more 'texture' to the way the bow sounds, and there's just a more 'organic' and grounded feel to the music. It's hard to explain in words, but it's clearly there. Basically, it just sounds more like a live cello solo when the sub is helping out.

And unless it's a small room, M22's definitely need a sub to sound their best.

I'm surprised you can't find anyone in LA for a demo. I'd shoot an email to Axiom and see if they have any suggestions.

Good luck!

OK, good discussion and of course as with all enthusiasts...confusing to one such as me trying to decide. Dang it, I'm inclined to go all out and get the M80's, but I would need to upgrade my receiver. Alan suggested the Denon 2309. My bedroom is about 1925 sq feet and there isn't a lot of room to give the M80 speakers space away from the wall, both from the side and behind...how would they sound so confined? Would it still be better to go with the M22's given those limitations? I suppose I could always upgrade to the 80's if I moved the system into a bigger room, but all my activity in terms of listening is in my bedroom. I don't necessarily listen all high reference levels, but just enough to give me some impact without disturbing the neighbors (I had my bedroom fitted with sound proof windows so I could listen at higher levels and also feel free to play music at 2:00 am). I was impressed with Peter's comments regarding the realism of YoYo Ma's cello sound...that's what I want but in such a small room perhaps the 80's would be too much for me to benefit. Also, When I had the house built, I had home theater wiring installed. However aside from the subwoofer outlet all the speaker outlets are in the ceiling front and rear, probably not the ideal. Any comments if this setup can used effectively used...probably not with Axioms I would guess? My thanks to you from a long-time listener, but a true neophyte to the world of high tech sound....Lee

Your not alone. I finally decided and I'm still confused. Stick around. It only gets more confusing.
And I'm sure that some here are also inclined to spend your money to get M80's.

1925 sq ft is a huge room, I assume your talking cubic ft. The 80's would work, but they would work better if they have a little breathing room. The rear ports need to filter low freq's into the room.

More opinion time here, so don't take my words as gospel...

I believe that 1900cu ft is too small for M80's. As others have said, M80's need room to breathe. My main den is about 3150 cu ft (14x25x9), and I think even that is sort of on the small side for M80's. Might be why the bass response for me isn't as great as others report.

Our bedroom is about 1800cu ft (off the top of my head). I have a pair of M22's being powered by a tiny T-Amp, fed from an iPod dock. No sub, just raw, full-range M22's. The setup sounds fantastic. I'm extremely pleased with it. More than I thought I would be, actually. The smallness of the room, combined with ample sound deadening from the bed, drapes, etc, really 'warms up' the M22's. They'll play fairly loud before the T-amp runs out of juice. I've never tested it with my SPL meter, but it'll play to the point where you'd have to raise your voice to carry on a conversation in the room, with a lovely amount of bass. Very good for classical music. With an amp that puts out more than the meager 9 watts (or whatever) that the T-Amp does, I'm sure they'd go much, much louder.

Well, I have the M20s in a 1800cf room and they sound fine but...

The M22 will do well in that space. The differences between them and the 80s are subtle. If you are concerned about space, go for the M22 + sub (maybe the ep400 since is it so compact).

That's it!!! I'm cancelling everything!

I can't say about M80's, but my M22's paired with a great sub sound awesome, when listening to music it honestly sounds like the M22's are providing the bass. Without the sub i felt they were a little lacking, but once I got it I have never regretted them one bit