I’m considering the M22 for a stereo listening area. The setup will start with a Onkyo stereo amp Sony SACD player and Pro-ject RM 1.3 turntable. In 6-9 months I will be upgrading to a Jolida JD102B tube amp . My questions are:

1. How well do the M22, or any Axiom bookshelves, do with tube amps?
2.Are the M3’s a better choice? (I listen to mostly jazz, with a 50/50 split between instrumentals (Davis, Trane, Ray Brown) and vocal (Ella, Vaughan, Diane Krall))

Thanks in advance for the info.

I have both the M3s and the M22s, and while I really like the M3s, I love the M22s. That said, I run them both with a sub. If I wasn't using the sub I may have to go with the M3. And that's pretty much what Axiom will suggest too; as the M3 has a slight mid-bass bump in it's frequency curve.

To be honest, if I couldn't run a sub I'd probably find a way to run M60s.

The M22s look funny and I suspect most tube amps would have an easier time driving the M3 due to its simpler crossover.

I have been using my M3 with a tube amp and it sounds great. I think I have plenty of bass for music but of course we all have different tastes.

Spatch, welcome. It's curious to refer to the Jolida as an "upgrade"(except in cost), since it doesn't have the capability with its output of about 20 watts to drive average sensitivity speakers(such as the Axioms)to clean levels which typical solid state receivers rated anywhere around 100 watts have. Tube distortion is still distortion, and distortion isn't high fidelity.

I'd suggest that the M22s which I use(almost entirely on classical)would also be a better choice on jazz, having a flatter, more accurate upper bass/lower mid-range.

Can you afford to order both speakers at the same time and return the pair that you favor less?

JohnK, have you ever listened to a modern tube amp?

I have a bunch of amps and without a doubt the sweetest sounding is my 5 wpc SET tube amp.

Now,to yor question, I found that with only 5 wpc of tube amplification the M3s sound much better than the M22s.

M3s with a sub powered by this 5 wpc tube amp is as close to audio nirvanna as I've come.

Thanks for the replies. I'm a fan of tubes, IMO they sound better.

My M22s sound great with jazz playing. I have heard them with a Jolida 302B that I borrowed from my brother-in-law and I loved the combination. I will say that I have always used a sub with these speakers though. I am right there with you on the Miles and Trane. Try Christian Scott if you haven't heard of him yet.

I find jazz instrumental to be the best sounding genre of music to play on the M3's. The M3's have an upper bass hump at around 100hz that works well with jazz instrumental. On the other hand it hurts other recordings. I find the M3's can give fat/unnatural sounding qualities to male vocals at times (Kurt Elling). Though, jazz music in general I find the M3's excel best.

I like the M3s with female vocals but men can sound a bit chesty.

If you want to hear something outrageous, grab Loreena McKennett's Elemental and a pair of M3s (sub mandatory-I'd cross it over at 100Hz), a SET tube amp and ... well, I tell you what, that there's audio nirvana boy.

Mark, it's been over seven hours and you haven't grabbed the opportunity to take a run at a "men being a bit chesty" joke?????

You need to start getting out of bed earlier.

The problem is that I'm out of bed way TOO early of late....

I have always heard that M3s > M22s when there is no sub. I didn't know because I always had a sub. I got my parents M3s because they didn't want a sub. When I moved into an apartment where I didn't feel comfortable using a sub I starting using my M22s by themselves. In my opinion, with no sub, M22 > M3s. M3s have that bass hump and mids I dont like. M22s have sufficient musical bass and a great neutral sound. I really like them without a sub.

Ry, you didn't hear that M3 better than M22 bass stuff from me. As I've pointed out here several times, the NRC tests showed that the M22 enclosure was actually tuned about 5Hz lower than the M3. The M22 has slightly lower "real" extension(disregarding the apparent effect that the M3 "hump" gives). Yes, my findings when I used the M22 without a sub were similar to yours: sufficient bass for most music(pipe organ excepted).