Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo m22ti - anemic bass?

I recently bought a pair of M22s. Minus the foolish Homeland Security bullshit delaying my speakers in Memphis for 5 days over a useless form and the fact that they came single-boxed (is this the norm, I thought they were always double-boxed) with a decent hole in the side of one of the boxes, I'm pretty happy.

The speakers sound very nice for the money. Don't let anyone mislead you though. You WILL need a good subwoofer if you want to enjoy the lower end of the audio spectrum (would you honestly expect otherwise from a quality bookshelf?). The M22s sound NICE but it became immediately obvious that a quality sub (Hsu, SVS etc) was going to be a welcome addition to the setup.

My current setup (for those interested):
M22s on 16" stands
Denon 3803 AV receiver
all in a 8'x12' room with carpet

additions within the next week:
SVS PCi 16-46 subwoofer
speaker, subwoofer and rc cable upgrades from Heartland Cables (sorry Axiom but until you allow for Bananas, I can't see myself giving you my business on the cable side of things even though the price is fairly competitive).

I'm not an expert like many on this board are, but, I listened to many of the brick and mortar speakers before I ordered the m22ti's. My general experience, while auditioning these speakers, was that there was always something missing in the sound. Either the bass was bloated and arificial sounding or non-existent or the mids were missing. And sometimes the tweeters were just too harsh. Most often the speaker looked cooler than they sounded. Once I received my m22ti's I was very disappointed in the size of the speaker. It looked so much bigger on the website. I reluctantly hooked them up to my Yammie thinking that a speaker this size must certainly be a disappointment sonically. Within seconds of listening to them my lower jaw dropped. Within a minute my initial thought was replaced by, how can a speaker that small make such wonderful sound. I don't know if I could have found a speaker I would have liked better, but I know I've listened to worse. I'm not concerned with the bass thing, because I use a subwoofer. The m22ti's do everything well except for the bass.

agreed. you need a sub with the m22s, but buying a sub is neccesary if you really want the HT expierence. eventually, you will get upgraditis and want to upgrade your equipment. a good sub will go with you whereever you go, no matter what 5,000 dollar speakers you get in the future.

as to the double box issue, i also thought the m22s would come double boxed. my m60s came double boxed(in separate boxes too), but not the m22s. but they were packaged well-plent of sufficient styrofoam

I just got my SVS PCi 16-46 and hooked it up with my M22s.

3 words...Oh....My....God!

Nothing gives you that liver rattling feeling like a good subwoofer.

The best thing about improving ones soundsystem is that you can go back and rediscover your music collection. I threw in Dead Can Dance - Spiritchaser and those aboriginal instruments they use are unreal with my new subwoofer.

DCD with a good sub is good fun.

Yes. The rediscovery of the bottom octaves -- that exists in a surprising amount of music -- is a wonderful thing. I'm glad you're loving the experience.

Have you calibrated the sub yet or are you still in the "shock and awe" phase?

Oh, for that feeling again. Obviously, I need a new sub. Or a 31 band graphic equalizer.

Am I the only person tired of the "shock and awe" phrase?

First it was "Shock and Awe" pummelling the Iraqi's, then seeing images from Mars was "shock and awe", and now subwoofers? That phrase's 15 minutes are up, no?