Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Just got M3ti...unreal...

Hello Guys! I've been lurking here for a little over a month and decided to go for the speakers due much in part to your conversations on this board and the help I recieved from Axiom. Big ups to you all! I'm on my way to building a M60 based stereo system. I just got a set of M3ti's and they sound unreal! Just way bigger sounding than I expected. I am expecting a set of M60's in a few weeks and I just can't imagine how great they are going to sound! Right now I am thinking of staying with these and a sub instead of the M60. I really don't need much louder. Just a bottom end. The tweeters in these things are amazing!!
Thanks,
Gerry

M3ti
Carver H895receiver
Carver 15B amp
Nakamichi CD player
soon to be M60!!!

Welcome to the forum Kootney_Audio. A fellow Canuck and B.C.'er eh!

Glad to hear you like the M3's. By most accounts the M60's should sound awesome with a bit more detail in the mids and highs.

It'd be great to hear your impressions and comparisons of both once you've had them for awhile...

Enjoy and congrads, Jag

Bc'er yep. Rossland. Snowing and counting the days. I have Bruce Hornsby on right now. I know I know.. I haven't listened to this CD in years. I sounds more than great. I'm so impressed with the detail. Stay tuned..
G

Coool

We're waiting with great anticipation....

Jag

Kootney_Audio, what kind of amplifier are you using? Is this system being used as a stereo or a home theater? I ask because I'm putting together a 2 channel system for my den. I will likely use a NAD C320BEEE amp and a NAD C521BEEE CD player. I'm also kicking around the idea of a tube amp if I can get a deal on a used one.

Enjoy your new speakers. By the way a few people in another thread recommended the Velodyne CHT8 subwoofer. I don't have one but usually the advice given on this board is pretty good.

My HT setup.
Harmon Kardon AVR-630
Harmon Kardon DVD-22
M22ti Mains
VP-100 Center
QS4 Surrounds
VTF-2 MK-2 HSU Sub.

I'm using a Carver home theater receiver right now for 2 channel. 115w in 2ch. Nakamichi CD player. (I am slowly putting togther a home theater)I also have a Carver TB 15 (100w) amp that I am not using yet but can integrate into the system later. My thought is to use M60 for the fronts and the M3 to move around as I build my system. They arrived before the M60's as they're both B stock order. It's just that I plugged the M3's in last night and was blown away by how much sounds comes out of these guys. Not loud but clean and loud enough. After listeing for a few moments I thought, yea, they do need a sub, but with a sub, I wouldn't need much more. The M60's are going to be great but I'm almost thinking of something different. Like a full bookshelf system instead of floorstanders, etc. My room is large (25x25x8) but I could be quite happy with 4 M3's and a sub if I was just going stereo. I am almost thinking the Epic Master or Epic Grand Master system and be done with it. It's all so good! I'm going to try the M60's when they get here though. I feel like they might be too much. I'm sure once I listen to them I won't want to send them back.:)
Cheers
K_A

Believe it or not, as good as the M3s sound... put the M60s beside the M3s in a 25 x 25 room and the M3s will sound small and boxy. I went through the same revelation with M2s => M60s.

Caveat -- if you are sitting fairly close to the M3s and don't need to play too loud they will be mighty fine. If you want to fill the room with sound you're going to be really surprised how much more open the M60s sound.

Just keep them a couple of feet away from the back and side walls... oh yeah, and ENJOY !!

Thanks Bridgeman. I guess I'm starting to develope an ear after listing to crap for a while. I used to have a Heathkit with KEF speakers. They were great. However, I gave those away a few years ago and have been listing to a Pioneer all in one system for the last few years. I finally got a chance to put togther some components and ordered the M3 and M60. I've received the M3's so far. When I turned them on I was REALLY inpressed. But, now that I have listened to them for a couple of days I'm hearing the shortcomings. Interesting that you were saying the M60 would open up the sound. I mean it's really not a fair comparison but I am listening to Erykah Badu right now and I can hear that, while there is good stereo imaging between the speakers, there isn't any thing to the outside of them. Soundstage seems a little flat as well. I sure this is just due to the room eating up the sound. Still they are pretty awsome. My listening list so far is Cello suites, Robert plant Now and Zen, Diana Krall,James Carter,Erykah Badu,Amanda Marshall,Norman Brown,Ronny Jordan, Miles, Chet, 5440. Saving the Rush and Dream Theate for the M60's. Well actually I might plug in Linkin park right now All in all the highs are what really impresses me so far. High hats are sooo tight, voice is great, and just alot of sound for such a small speaker. Like I said, I think they would be unbelievable in a office or study. But, I would definitely go with a small sub hidden away somewhere. Again, I just wanted to thank every one here and the people at Axiom for your help and letting me listen. It's nice to come back to the audio world and see what has been happening.. I've even set my drum kit up again and have been taking lessons. I've been away from music for too long.
Thanks,
K_A

>>I've even set my drum kit up again and have been taking lessons. I've been away from music for too long.

Yeah, that's the really great thing about having a good sound system, isn't it. It raises your interest in music in all ways, not just sitting and listening.

For the M3s, the one thing I find is that playing with the speaker separation vs. distance from you to the speakers really makes a difference. I find you can position the speaakers a bit further apart than with most other brands... and if you get it right the soundstage opens right up.

How are your speakers set up now, ie :

- distance from the back wall to the back of the speakers
- distance between the speakers
- distance from the speakers to your listening position
- height off the ground -- stands, bookshelf, ??
- pointing straight away from the wall or angled in a bit ?

If you search the board for "sweet spot" there is at least one post with good instructions for setting up speakers and listening position optimally. I just moved 'em around for a while, one nice thing about small speakers

I'm finding the speakers are starting to sound best at between 2-3 feet from the wall about 5' 6" a part. Sounds best if I am 8' away. I have the tweeters at ear level on some stools right now until I decide which way I'm going to go. They are ever so slightly toed in. I did have to put some tape under them as they were starting to move around. I've been listening to them all day as I work around the house. They really are impressive. I've listened to more music choices today but am finding they sound best with lighter rock, jazz and anything with piano. Actually, I just plugged in a Riverdance sound track that I hadn't listened to in probably 2 years. Interesting music and sounded so good I had to listen to a few tracks twice. However, some music (progresive rock) I was listening to were to much for the speaker to handle a louder levels. I didn't think they were all that loud but the dynamic passages seemed to congest and distort quite badly. I would immediately turn down the volume levels and everything was fine. Recording quality is probably not the best either. I could listen to a well done modern jazz recording at high levels without the distortion. Hmm, I was reading somewhere that the M22 had a little more power handling ability. I was thinking of having the M60's for my two channel listening and then use my bookselves to move around as I build my home theater. I was also thinking of using my bookshelves as monitors for playback at my drum kit. Anybody have any thoughts about this?
Thanks,
K_A

Demasoni went from M2 to M22 and found a big difference in their "room filling" ability, ie sounded a lot more open when the volume was up. You will probably find the same going from M3 to M22.

I started with M2 for stereo, added a sub, found that the sound was just fantastic except when I started turning up the volume (might have been receiver power limit rather than speaker, not sure). Bought M60s for stereo listening and never looked back.

Now have M60 + stereo setup upstairs, M2 + VP100 + old stereo speakers for surrounds + sub in the basement. Both systems sound fantastic. I picked up a more powerful receiver (HK630) for the HT system which might be helping.

If you think you're going to be doing more movie listening than music, think about getting a sub next rather than upgrading the speakers. On the other hand, if you're going to be mostly listening to music it's real hard to beat M60s...

[EDIT] D'oh !! Forgot you have already ordered the 60s. Never mind

Thanks again B. mmmm...stereo....Doh!
K_A

My brief experience with the M22s driven by the 5 wpc ASL amp did not meet my expectations of an improvement over the M3s. I prefer the M3Tis to the M22Tis I had at least in that system.