Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Best mini system...

My kids come up every summer for 6 weeks, and we love to watch movies together. I just bought them a 46 inch tv for their room, and I would like to upgrade their sound so that they could watchh movies while I'm working on rainy days and such. I'm not really wanting to spend a ton of money on it because like I said, it's not going to get a whole lot of usage. And we do watch most of the better sounding movies in the main HT room anyway.

Still, I'd love to get them some Axioms to listen to their movies on. I doubt I'll invest any money in a subwoofer, so I was wondering between a set of M22's and M3's what would be a fuller sound? Their room is 12 1/2 x 12 with 8 foot ceilings. I'm sure either set will sound great, and I'm most interested in getting a set of M22's since they are so popular. I'm just wondering since so many people say for movies it's a must to pair M22's with a sub, and I don't really wish to purchase a subwoofer for their room, if the M3's would play a little more base?

I realize I'll probably completely blow this budget, but I'm not looking to spend much more than $500 bucks on this project. My son is 15 and my daughter 12, so in a few more years it'll be a guest room at best... and possibly even my fiancee's walk-in closet as she has outgrown her closet many times over already.

I also realize the vast majority of you will say the sound quality of the M22's make up for any bass they give up to the M3's... so I guess basically I'm looking for someone to make a case for the M3's. I've never really seen that done on here so far, so it may be a lost cause. I'm just curious I guess.

Thank you in advance for your advice/comments.

What did I tell you, Argon?

I'd go with the M3s, myself. Perceptually, they're fatter than the M22s (physically, too...), and they sound great.

You read my mind.


What about Bose?

What about em?

Ummm... what exactly DID you tell Argon? Were you guys secretly betting I was putting a mini-system together for my kids? Or have you been eyeballing the spill-over from my lady's closet onto the chairs in front of it???

I would still go with the M22s. They have a cleaner sound than the M3s IMO and play the same amount of bass, actually more, but it is not presented in the same manner as the midrange is not recessed on the M22 like it is on the M3.

I have M22's and my son has M3's. It's really a matter of preference, but IMO the M3's would be better if you are playing at lower volume, otherwise the M22's sound better.

Micah, the tests show that the M22 is tuned about 4-5Hz lower than the M3 and therefore has slightly more bass extension.

I really like the M3's and Algonquins which I was using for 2 channel TV & Music upstairs. Since the weather is getting better I will finally get them outside!

As you have M80's and the M22 are supposed to be similar wouldn't you like to try another Axiom offering???

I didn't think anybody was allowed to buy anything except M80's or VP180's now.

EP800s are no good?

If it's got an 8 in it, you're good to go. Otherwise, nuh uh.

I think the Algonguin version of M3 would give you some interesting options.

A very good point, I have to agree with the Algonquin option.

My vote is for the M3 as well.

Well that's what I get for not checking the specs before I post... Sounding like an ass saying, "maybe I should get the M3's because they have MORE BASS".

I'll craw into the corner and put my 'dunce' cap on now.

You know, I like the way you think!

Actually, I think the M80's might be off of the list as well... 3 VP180's and you're done.

Wow, you know I almost didn't post this question because I thought it was redundant... And then you come along and offer up something like that! Brilliant!!! I never would have even thought about doing something like that. But as the room doesn't get used a whole lot, and within the next 6 years will become completely vacant, this option is devilishly clever!

That's it, Bridgeman wins the contest. Let's see somebody trump that idea!

I'm really very curious about that arrangement. I already gave the VP150 to my dad when I got the M22, but he's not using it since the rest of his system is Polk. I'm sure he'd love to take my current M80s off my hands. I was sort of waiting for a new flagship floorstander, but the VP180s as vertical mains seem like they could be cool, and they would have even more physical presence than the M80s when you count the inclusion of stands. I'm all about intimidating guests, after all.

Charles, I've figured out why Regina won't visit.

Is this new avatar day or what? I like it.

Awww, Regina. Check out one of the pictures of her I'm putting on my wall whenever I get around to doing that wall photo collage thingy:

Awww, Regina

I'm curious about why people are thinking about vertical VP180s. I wouldn't think the layout is really optimized for that.

But the driver arrangement also wasn't possible in the M80s. The tweeters kind of had to go at the top to be close to a common ear level. That's why we're curious to hear what having the tweeters toward the middle of the enclosure sounds like in a vertical arrangement, even if it means having something the size of a floorstander on a stand.

Oh, I should speak for myself. I have no idea why others are curious.

Charles, I'm curious because as I pointed out before, both my personal experience and reading of studies on the matter indicate that horizontally configured centers sound better when placed vertically. A possible negative factor would be that the tweeters are located lower than they are on the M80.

That's why I'm thinking they could work as mains as long as they were on stands, but it wouldn't make much sense to have a VP180 vertically as a center channel since it would place the tweeters that much lower than the screen. So your curiosity is strictly based in how it sounds vertically versus horizontally, not at all how it may sound versus a comparable speaker designed to be vertical?

Well no; I'd also be interested in how it compares to the M80 as a main speaker.

Well Alan said his remarks in the blind test were, 'similarly excellent'... He didn't say they sounded exactly alike, so what I get from that is that they sound as excellent as the M80's, but in a different way.

And that's why I'm curious. The M80's do indeed sound excellent. So I would love to audition a speaker that is just as excellent as my M80's, but in a different sort of excellence! Who wouldn't be curious about that?

It would be like someone remarking that they'd found an activity that was as much fun as having sex was, only in a different sort of way. Who wouldn't be curious about that activity?





...Well, that is until you find out this other activity could make you go blind or grow hair on your palms!!!

That's totally bogus. If there were any truth in that most of us wouldn't be able to read and reply to these messages.

Can you type a little more clearly? My voice translation software keeps putting something about doughnuts in the middle of your post.

Now where was I? Oh yes, shaving palms...

Fred, you should try nair for palms (or, 'Na-Palm' for short). Shaving can cause razor burn. And razor burn can make for a not-so-comfy..... er, 'similarly excellent to sex' activity!

You know things are getting bad normal when you have to go back to the first page to figure out if the thread has gone off topic or not...

I can say with a good bit of certainty that if I'm not on the first page of a thread, it's off topic!

This is just like the other forum I'm in....
any decent discussion will end up off topic....and starting to get "hamsap" (sex-talk in Cantonese)
I really really do enjoy axiom forum now...LOL

You know you got me thinking... I never have visited the 'Water Cooler' forum on this site. So somebody tell me, do the threads in there start out about random subjects like 'barely being able to see your palm to shave it', and then decend into great discussions on the properties of sound waves or what?

I can't imagine there being any fun in derailing a topic about sex.

We should try that. Normally it seems to go the other way...

You know, we used to have fewer threads about sex before this guy whose name starts with M showed up. Just sayin'.