Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo M2 vs M3 vs M5 a very quick unscientific eval

(Note: this is not a review but a quick impression on the M2, M3, and M5 differences)

Edit: I have to do this again ... I think I forgot to turn off the subs ... so, stand by

Yes please! looking forward to review. with subs on and without please?

Ok, I'm back ... again this is not a review

I did a very quick listen to the M2, M3, and M5 tonight. Just playing a single channel and moving the banana plugs between speakers. I only spent about 10-20 minutes doing this, playing the first few minutes of just one song: The Psychic by the Crash Test Dummies. (Picked to zoom in on the low through high mids)

Overall the M2 and M5 where surprisingly close with the M5, as you would expect, having more low end. I’d have to do a lot more listening and need a faster way to switch between speakers to come up with a better comparison. I can tell you both presented instruments and vocals clearly and as far as one can tell by ear seem to span their respective frequency ranges well with perhaps the M2 having the edge here. The M3 on the other hand sounded really muddled in comparison in both mids and low-mids. This I think made the high-mids sound recessed. It’s all relative. The end result was a loss of detail in both the vocals and instruments. I was shocked by how much (i.e. it wasn't subtle) ... not what I remembered ...

A few years ago, I compared the M3 and M22 (a speaker which I think is similar to an M2 sound wise) and didn't come away with this impression. If I remember correctly the M22 just sounded more accurate than the M3 in the mid-highs and the M3 had more low end. Perhaps it was the material I was comparing them with.

The 2nd part of the comparison was just to play pink noise through them … both the M2 and M5 were close and presented what I expected pink noise to sound like. The M3 sounded filtered as the high end of the pink spectrum sounded reduced ... call it dark or muffled pink.

In any case, given this non-scientific short listen I have to conclude that Mojo is absolutely right on the M3 ... a lot of detail is lost in the mid territory.


Hopefully others will chime in with their thoughts and comparisons.

BTW, I still feel the M3 is a pleasant sounding standalone speaker and it's probably why a lot of music that sounds good on it doesn't come off as well on more revealing speakers. That said, it's worth repeating ... you're missing a lot with the M3 when compared to an M5, M2, or M22.

Here's my excellent, no expense spared, setup.
Note the stand that Axiom ships free with every M5!

It occurred to me last night that in the previous post I was using a "new" M3 that I have never listened to before ... So, I brought down my original M3v4 this morning (bought ~2016) and compared the pink noise signature of the two ... it fell somewhere between the M5 and the "new" M3. Think I have to listen to this M3 and probably a few more before making any calls M3 wise ... In the mean time I left the new one playing pink noise for the day just to see if that changes anything.

That last post of yours is very interesting. It is of course very possible Axiom made changes since you purchased your originals. Likely the response of the new pair will change after getting some hours on them. Or maybe temperature changes in your room are affecting the response.

I listen to two more "new" M3's which were much clearer and less dark then this one and closer to the 2016 M3. The M3 I was testing two posts ago is definitely out of spec and I'm sorry to say needs to be replaced.

I'll have to redo the M2, M3, M5 comparison ...

I don't know what's wrong with people. If you can't decide between M2, M3, M5, buy them all and try. Buy them in different finishes so you can figure out what works aesthetically.

That's what Rich, Phil, Rebulx, John and I have done. Rebulx isn't finished yet. He has 12 more models to buy.

So for example, I have M2OW and I love them and the music they make. But what am I missing not having M5OW? What am I missing not having speakers with the cherry chestnut top I have on my Freedom which I stare at and think "Damn, I want a house built from that!"? I can answer those questions pretty fast by just buying M5OW. See? It's easy.

I have an 800 and 500s. But what am I missing not having EP125s? I'll be answering that one pretty quick too.

That maybe but this one is a step backward ... not likely to be chosen in an A/B comparison. More likely out of spec components in the cross over. Often it's not practical cost wise to design at high enough component tolerances to get 100% of production to pass. So, one designs so 98% will be good and then weeds out the out of spec ones for rework. This one didn't get caught or perhaps (hopefully not) was at the edge of acceptable.

More likely production slipped in a wrong part or FedEx played baseball with it and knocked an inductor off the board and now it's dangling off one of its connections.

Lev, please buy this...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M3PKDUH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The time it takes to plug and replug speakers in makes it's really difficult to compare. When you can flick a switch and go back and forth, it makes all the difference. Best 30 bucks you'll ever spend!