Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Bookshelf vs floorstanding

Hi guys. Just to let you know about this setup I just tried today. M60's connected to A and M2's connected to B, a EP175 sub and a yamaha rx-v2600. I must say those little M2's are absolutely amazing with the sub. I remember audio expert Jean-Claude telling me that all I needed was a pair of bookshelf and a sub. But, since bigger is always better, I went for the M60 and M2 as surround. After trying the M2's as mains I can be pretty sure you don't need florstanding speakers in a small/med size room. I did this comparison in a 19x21x8 with room treatment especially in the corners. Initially I had this system in a 12x15x8.

I hope this helps somebody out there. Btw, I should have listen to Jean Claude. He didn't try to sell me the M60's and he actually recommended the M22 as more tha enough and "youll be surprised. Even the M2 rocks...so - He was right!!!

I originally started out back in 2004 looking at M2s, then I moved to M22s, and then to M60s which is what I bought and love. I never had a chance to hear the M2s.

I REALLY need to get over to a co-worker's house again now that he hooked up all of his gear (that I was kind enough to pick out for him) including some M2 In-Walls. His space is actually quite large with 10' ceilings, and it is a good portion of his entire basement of his new 2800 sqft (per floor) house. It is a setup in a "family room" that opens up to a seating area to one side, and a massive stairway going upstairs, plus the one end is capped with a large wet bar area. If I had to guess, I would say that it is about 45-50' long, and at least an average of 25' wide. Again, just guesses. He has a "HTIB" sub, but so far is really liking things. I want to go over and do some calibrations and hear it.

When I do, I will report back too. Thanks for the inspiration osvi.

Nick, M60's are awesome, but the may me too much for the 12x15x8 room that I used to have - especially if you have a sub. Still, bookshelf speakers are different in a good way. I keep switching between both - It's the never ending decision!!!

Thanks Nick!

I considered both the M22s and M60s before deciding to go with floorstanding speakers. I'm sure that either would have sounded good, but the M60s seemed like they'd fit in better with the living room decor than the M22s on stands. No complaints from my wife, so it seems to have worked.

Where floor standing vs book shelf speakers are concerned, one should consider a couple of points, if not mentioned already...adding stands to book shelf speakers will increase their foot print to basically the same as many floor standers, so space shouldn't really be a consideration, as well as the fact that stands could make the book shelf's price go up to a point where floor standers would be the sensible choice.

A good friend bought a pair of M60s and a pair of M3s for another room, so I had a chance to listen to both side by side (without a sub for the bookshelves).
While the M3s are amazing speakers, at louder levels they started to sound a bit strained were the M60s did not; that being said, for my friend's setup they are perfect as they would not be driven to high levels.
I guess it comes down to what your listening preferences are and no doubt that with the addition of a sub, bookshelves can be very good choice.

but, the wall mounted ones do not take up floor space. I plan on using the Full Metal Jacket and mount

I've never taken the time to hook my M2s up with a sub. I did listen to them two channel when I first got them and was very impressed with their sound above the low bass region.

In my setup, a bookshelf would not have a smaller footprint than the floor standers I ended up with.

The bottom line is that you just cant go wrong whatever you end up with.

I was recommended the M22 + sub when I bought. It is impressive to see a company that recommends what they think you need as opposed to what they can sell to maximize profit.

FWIW, there are subtle differences between speakers when you listen to them in a direct A/B comparison, but those differences are very small. Since I am the kind of guy who buys once and only upgrades when the previous equipment dies, I figured it was worth the extra money for the subtle difference. As I mentioned in my previous post though, no matter what you end up with, you can't go wrong.

I have bookshelf speakers in my bedroom with an 8" sub. For that space it sounds wonderful. The bookshelves I have would be comparable to the m3's..

I had m60's + 2 EP600'S in the family room; my bedroom sounds pretty much just as good as the family room did with the m60 setup.