Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Advice needed: AMP/CD player for Axiom M22?

Thanks guys for the response.

I just bought NAD 356BEE and Marantz CD 6005 paired with the M22s. My room is 9*18 and one side wall and front wall with openings. Right now I set the speakers with Cardas placement and it works fine. The bass is thin so a sub may be needed later on.
Any suggestions to improve the set up? Is Cardas placement good for my room?

Regarding AMP, I read an article to use AV receiver for surrounding and sub, but int-amp for front/main speakers. By doing so, you could enjoy the pure music while has the option to get home theater set. That could my my future path?

Give yourself some time to get used to the sound of the M22s as well. I loved their clarity when i first heard them. Compared to the boomy speakers i had before, it was an unusual adjustment.


The "Cardas" setup is based on the golden ratio idea. I have used the golden ratio as a good starting point, but often many rooms don't have the easy dimensions to accommodate placement according to the calculations so one may need to resign themselves to a tradeoff.

I've found you have a great stereo image when you can close your eyes and the sound image comes from directly in front of you even though the two speakers are to the left and the right of your sitting location. Of course, to get a wide stereo sound (the width of the 'soundstage') takes tinkering and ultimately not every seat in the room may have the best stereo image.


Avoid this nonsense.
An int-amp won't produce any better quality sound than an AVR.
Buy the unit appropriate to the features you want.
If you are looking to expand to surround channels in the future, you could consider selling the int-amp used (see Canuck AudioMart or Audiogon for example), and pickup an AVR at that time.
Or use the int-amp in another room, perhaps the garage, man cave or bedroom.
It gives you another excuse to buy another speaker setup!

LOL, it is definitely another good reason to buy new speakers!

I thought AVR amplifier split the same amount money to 6 channels instead of 2. So I am supposed to get better performance when spending the same bucks. That is not the case?

I don't know about 'money', but 'power' is split across more channels in an AVR. However the power is split also between two channels in the int-amp unless it is a dual monoblock design (unlikely).
Both these units usually only have a single power supply.

With the AVR, you can run all your speakers off of one power supply no problem, or use the pre-outs to setup an external amp for perhaps the two main speakers, and still run the surrounds from the AVR. This would offload some power from the AVR to the external amp.

I've been running an Onkyo 797 for some time now in our media room. It very sufficiently powers a 5.1 system in a 15 x 18' room.

From my short stint into the high end realm (my trip finished quickly when the money ran out) I realized that there are many performance factors which weigh in ahead of an amp's importance. The bottleneck in most systems will not be the amplification. Not to say spend a few hundred bucks only and you've got it made.

You ended up just fine where you spent your money IMO. Enjoy your new amp and CD player (I used to own the CD6004 and it was great.)

To Chesseroo, I meant materials made for channels but am impressed with your knowledge.

To Serenity Now: I don't have a big budget and right now I like what I hear, especially the clarity and imaging. you are right, the placement of speakers, reflection of surrounding environment,CD quality, etc. are also largely impacting what I hear.

I originally went with a Marantz 6002 with my M22s and was not happy with the sound. It was "thin" and underpowered, and this was in a 14x13 foot room. After posting here, Alan (from Axiom, who answered a lot of technical question back then) suggested that the M22 "likes power" and might be better served with a stronger amp. I wound up returning it for a Yamaha 673 and was *much* happier with the sound. I really don't know whether it was the added power or that I just liked the sound of the Yamaha better, but it definitely sounded better.

I'll add that I probably wouldn't have pulled the trigger on the return except that the Marantz was not processing DLNA from my NAS, and that was a deal-breaker as all my music (flacs) was on the NAS. But I'm really glad I did. I know you said you already bought the Marantz, but it might be worth getting something in to compare it with.

I picked up a used Harman Kardon AVR 220 for $100. I use it as a 2 channel receiver for a pair of M22Tis with a little Velodyne DSP sub. I was very surprised at the excellent sound quality that this HK puts out. Sounds great with the M22s!

I have a 2 channel in the exercise room, an Integra DTM 5.3 stereo receiver which I found on Craigslist ($60 no volume knob, found a knob), a pair of Dahlquist M905s and a Velodyne DSP subwoofer. This is the best sounding system in my house.

Find a good used receiver, save a boat load of money, get terrific sound quality and be happy.

M22s are terrific speakers when assisted by a good, clean, fast sub.

I ordered a pair of M100 V4s, cherry B stock (the current listing should say "sold") and an Odyssey Khartago amplifier. I hope this system sounds as good as the $120 system in my work out room (not counting subwoofer).

correction - Harman Kardon AVR 445 not 220