Well, last night Adam, Peter, and I did a little comparison of speakers and beers at my place. Adam brought over his M3s, and I lugged the M50s and my new/old stereo receiver out of the back room. Adam also brought a Gouden Carolus Noel over...
We did not do any blind testing, scientific calibration of speakers, matching of components, or precision placement of speakers, so YMMV. Also, caveat emptor. Adam and Peter had the couch, and I was wandering around, so MMMV...
The M80s were where I put them after the Xmas tree departed, and were slightly toed in; basically where my M50s were before I got the 80s. The M50s were slightly inside of the M80s, with a similar toe. The M3s were sitting on top of the M50s. I'll post pictures later.
The M3s and the M50s were hooked up to the Marantz SR48mkII stereo receiver I picked up the other day, using (gasp!) 16 gauge zip cord. The M80s were hooked up to the H/K 525, using Canare Quad Star 14 gauge cable as per the article you're all sick of me linking to.
The receivers were linked via the H/K's multiroom outputs, and the sources were my wife's iPod and the Yammie DVD-C750.
I think we all found something unusual in this comparison: While the M80s were clearly the fullest, deepest sounding of the speakers, the M3s were clearly brighter, as were the M50s. I don't use the term bright in a negative sense, btw. We were completely at a loss to explain this, other than that the M80s may be too large for my listening position, or that I don't have them laid out well.
The M80s have a very full sound compared to the other speakers. The M3s are lovely and clear, but obviously can't stand up to the M80s in terms of bass. However, they do handle bass very well considering their size, and with a sub, I think they would compare nicely. I didn't have the setup to run a sub with them easily, so we didn't get to make that comparison.
Sadly, the M50s were found to be extraordinarily lacking. At least until I realized that I had wired them out of phase. After I fixed this problem (fairly late in the evening, I must add), they proved to be very similar to the M3s, with a little more bass and a little less precision. The M80s blew them out of the water in terms of total package.
We listened to a (strange) variety of music. I couldn't tell you what was on the iPod, but we put in some Metallica (S&M), Tool (Lateralus), Alison Krause & Union Station (New Favorite), Opeth (Blackwater Park), Bach organ music (Michael somebody or other), Sting (Brand New Day & Mercury Falling), U2 (All That You Can't Leave Behind), and probably something I don't remember. Did I mention that the beer was good?
Personally, I would rate the M80s top, M3s second, and M50s last. Adam and Peter may have different feelings...
