I currently own a pair of Wharfedale Emerald bookshelf speakers (rather large for the genre - ~20" tall). The Emeralds are good speakers but there is one facet of their performance that I'm unhappy with and therefore has me considering the M22's.

The part I'm unhappy with is the midrange. Specifically vocals on the Emerald's tend to sound "congested" or "chesty". I know this could be attributable to a variety of factors (room acoustics, speaker placement, source components, amplification, or the speaker themselves). However I wouldn't know how to isolate any let alone all these factors.

Therefore a rather simple question (given the lengthy intro): How do the M22's sound in this regard (ie. congested vocals)?

Thanks,
George

Your EM-93 speakers share a trait with other British Loudspeakers - an emphasis on midrange. Very similar to Mission, I own a Mission 700 series, which takes getting accustomed to after listening to other speakers - my Axioms and others.

This is not a trait that is associated with Canadian manufacturers. The soundstage is more precise, and the speaker is not tuned to a particular frequency range or octave.

The Axiom M22 is almost identical in size to your EM-93 speakers.

Regards,

BBIBH

Thanks for the response. I guess that explains what I'm hearing. Since you seem to be quite knowledgeable about both the Wharfedale EM-93's and the Axiom's, I have another question: How would you rate the off-axis response of the Axiom M22 speakers?

Thanks again for your help.

George

I don't own the M22's. I went to hear them yesterday, but the dealer did not have them. I did listen to many other models, and in particular the M3 and M40. These models are on either side of the M22 in the line up. Based on these, if I can project to the M22, I would say that the off axis performance was good. The British had "design features" ( oddities is a harsh word!) to create the midrange enhanced speakers. I suspect that they have something to do with limited off axis performance. The Missions had woofer over tweeter, and the Wharfdales had larger "midwoofers" in comparison to the other drivers that in some models vastly overpowered the tweeters.

Regards,

BBIBH

I think I know what it is you are looking for, and the mid range is such an important aspect of the speaker. The M22s are very linear through the mid-range, both on and off axis. Results from our own double blind listening tests have shown a high satisfaction in this area. Both the professional reviewers and our customers have all commented very favorably on the mid range in the M22s. I believe they will give you the mid range performance you are looking for.

Ian Colquhoun
President & Chief Engineer

So why do they do this? Are they better designed? What about efficiency of them?

Sorry for the basic questions! Still learning......

Rick

The design of the speaker is based on the analysis of a family of amplitude data. Your question may appear simple but in fact to be answered properly would require a very in depth response which we will endeavor to write an in depth article on shortly. Watch the site for more on this topic.

As to efficiency, it is not particularly related to the speaker's performance, though it is important from the point of view of being able to achieve desirable volume levels with reasonable amplification.

Ian Colquhoun
President & Chief Engineer

No, what I meant was, do these companies build them this way because their customers demand them?
Are the Axioms more or less efficient than the Wharfedales?

That would be hard to tell, unless you directed this question towards the actual manufacturer. Some probably do, some arrive ther by sheer luck, good or otherwise. Both Mission and Wharfedale are respected names in audio for a long time.

I believe the Axioms are much more efficient, and would acheive greater output levels from the same input.

Regards,

BBIBH