Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 4 speaker surround with pre-existing M3's

This might be a bit unconventional but I have a pair of Axiom M3's that I bought about a year and a half ago for my PC (HTPC) and I'm thinking about adding a couple of speakers to the rear, for gaming, dvd's and my flacs (yes I know music won't be true surround but I still think it would sound neat. Particularly with a sound card that converts to DTS and is capable of sending 5.1 out over spdif). I thought either adding some larger speakers like the M22 or maybe getting either a pair of m2 or m3s. I think I remember reading somewhere that the m2 and m22 aren't very well balanced with the M3. My budget is kind of limited at the moment so no 1,200 floor standing speakers for me (would be a bit overkill for my needs anyways I think) Do you think my best option would just just getting another pair of m3's? Also ca anyone suggest some stands for these speakers? I'd like a couple of smaller stands about 5 inches or so high and some floor standing ones about 4 feet or so high. Appreciate any response.

Hmm, anyone have any advice? I'd like to save some money so I've thought about getting some M2's for the rear. I'm not sure how well balanced that would be though. I would have liked to get some M22's and use the M3's for rears but I have a feeling that wouldn't work out so well since the m3's have larger speakers than the M22's.


I guess I should also explain my (unconventional) setup. I have a large desk and the axioms m3's are sitting on either side of the display, 4' apart, about 24 inches from the wall (yes, the desk is massive)

The rear speakers would be sitting on the pedistal stands in the center of the room (where could I get quality looking stands?)

The speakers would be powered with a panasonic XR-55 digital receiver which is 100W per channel and has excellent clarity with 7.1 support (perhaps I'll add more axioms in the future)

The difference between the M2/M22/M60 and M3/M40/M50 families is not really that big. They're certainly not "incompatible" or anything.

The big question, I think, is whether you are likely to end up using one pair of speakers as "mains" and the other pair wired in parallel as "center" speaker in a 5.1 system in the future. That's the only case where matching between the speakers is a real issue, so that sounds don't change in timbre as they move across the soundstage.

Somewhere on this forum I posted my notes from direct comparisons between M2, M3 and M60. Other than the amount of bass, the differences were much less than I had expected.

Bottom line is that for your intended use it doesn't matter too much, and you should base your decision at least partly on any future plans you might have.

Welcome to the forums!

There aren't too many people around on the weekends, a testament to the fact that most here are wasting "work time"!

Just to add a bit to what John wrote, two great sources of stands are Stands and Mounts and Racks and Stands...

those stand and mount sites are great. thanks for the reply.

Hmm, I've thought about upgrading perhaps to larger floor standing speakers in the future and would like to keep the option of being able to upgrade to a 7.1 setup as $ permits.

How does this setup sound?

Mains = Floor standing speakers. Either M80's or M60's
Rear = M3's
Surround left + right = M2's
Center = Another m3 or perhaps that VP100 speaker
Sub = ep75 or whatever I suppose (I'm not a big thumping bass type really so I don't need anything to powerful for bass, just something to add a bit more depth)

Hanz, another welcome. Sure, when your budget permits, a reasonable second step would be getting M60 mains and moving the M3s to surround duty. If you want a center speaker later it'd be more important to have a close match there with the mains, so an M2 might be a better choice than an M3. Then, still later, if you want to expand to 7.1, it's suggested that you use the wide dispersion QSs for side surrounds, rather than a direct radiating speaker(moving the M3s to the back surround duties).