I had the pleasure of hosting dharmatone, an occasional forum visitor, at my home yesterday evening so she could audition my Axiom M22ti speakers. She spoiled me by bringing a delicious pizza and a bottle wine for my troubles.

She got right down to business and went through a great selection of old and new opera recordings (Carmen and Das Rheingold are the ones I recognized), some classical (Brahms and Schubert), Buena Vista Social Club, and Joni Mitchell's Blue. I put in Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on SACD to close out the evening. Occasionally, I would disable and re-enable the subwoofer so she could compare the sound with and without. Needless to say, we both agreed the M22s really sound their best when paired with a musical sub. (Mine's an SVS PB1-ISD.)

During one of the opera selections, we were listening at my Onkyo's limit (the volume display said MAX) -- louder than I ever take it -- but there were no signs of stress.

Before she left, she asked if I'd recommend the Hsu VTF-2 to pair with the M22s. Without a doubt was my response.

I believe we'll soon have another proud owner of pair of M22s. (Incidentally, they'll replace a pair of KEFs she bought in 1978!)

Good show, Peter. I bet the organ pedal at the beginning of Das Rheingold(that's what she asked me about)really sounded impressive with the PB1.

It did. We tried if first without the sub, and there was about 15 seconds of near silence at the beginning of the track before we could hear anything. When we turned the sub on, the pedal note was obvious from the very start. Wide grins all around.

That's interesting, Peter. Possibly I get more room reinforcement(1, 2 and 3 1/2 feet) of bass on my M22s, or the CD I had(Solti, VPO)had the organ recorded at a higher level, but I got quite a bit of the organ even when I played it without my sub. The sub aided greatly, of course.

Hey, Peter, make sure dharmatone will post her own impressions... uh, on the M22s!

lol