Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Recommendation for bookshelfs for classical music

The M3 will be a very nice speaker. If I were you, I would seriously consider a small sub to complement such a small bookshelf. You don't need a huge beast, just something that will extend the bottom end down to between 30 and 40Hz.

I have listened to the M2's I use as a center and they sound great except the bottom end. This is in comparison to the M80 which has a wonderful bottom end. The M3 will have a little more apparent bass, but still...

Something like the EP125 would be perfect. If thats too big, maybe you can find a smaller sealed sub somewhere.

Day off today (yay!) and besides who else is gonna keep you straight?

Paul, give the M3's a shot. I think you will be impressed. They are great little speakers for the money.

Paula! Anyway, I second the M3 recommendation.

I think Paul should try the M3s also

I have not heard the RC10, but a friend of mine just picked up a C-200 system w/Onkyo Rx. I can honestly say that I did not particularly like them for music, although they did sound good on movies and games (and he's ecstatic with the upgrade from crappy HTiB). They seemed kind of harsh and lacked any 'fullness' (I played a bit of Feist for vocals and Vivaldi for music). Mind you it wasn't really set up well (awkward placement as it was a new system in a new house with boxes and furniture everywhere) but that should mainly affect imaging (which was unsurprisingly non-existent) and the like.

My M3s in a 2.0 setup, on the other hand, do sound very good with music, including classical (listening to Holst now). The M80s are better, but I'm not gonna be giving up my M3s any time soon.

All my speakers are FO and I have noticed maybe two blemishes that may or may not have come from the factory, and I really had to search hard.

Paul, welcome. My own listening is almost entirely classical and I've been enjoying great music through my M22s for over seven years now. I wonder why you place so much emphasis on "small"? For example, the M22s are about 6-7" higher than many "bookshelf" speakers, but are also narrower. Unless you have a strictly defined vertical space available, my suggestion is the M22s. The bass they provide is at least as extended as the M3s(enclosure tuning is actually a few Hz lower on the M22), but a boost in the upper bass around 100-150Hz on the M3 gives an impression of "fuller" bass, although it isn't quite as accurate.

The in-room response of my M22s gives usable bass down to about 40Hz, which is adequate for most classical music. However, if you listen to pipe organ or other very low frequency content no bookshelf speaker is going to handle that very well. I use the EP500 sub because of this. Although you've also emphasized no sub, if the budget would permit this should be considered in the future.

Many thanks to everybody for their comments. John, the choice of a small speaker is purely because of aesthetics; I don't like the speakers to stand out in the family room where they will be housed.

Will a Yamaha receiver from some years ago (I think I have one of the HTR-5000 series, maybe the 5560 or 5590) be good enough?

What other speakers in the same price range (or lower?) would be (may be) comparable to the M3s?

Paula,

Yes the Yamaha receiver you own will be just fine. I agree with the other and think the M3's would be a great choice for you. I would also recommend the Ascend Acoustics CMB-170 as an alternative product to the Axioms. They offer excellent sound quality but they are not the prettiest looking speaker .

Good luck in your speaker journey and let us know what you end up with.

Cheers!