Ok, so I've been reading through the forum,and I've gotten the general idea that Michaura's and Axiom's are cousins. But, what does that really mean? Do they share the same drivers, etc.? The reason I ask is I've been considering upgrading my m3's to m22's, but I haven't been able to scrape the money together. However, I've found a pair of Michaura M55's on audiogon for $150, which is just in my budget. So, how do the these two speakers compare? Are the Michaura's really comparable to the M22's or even better than my m3's? Thanks,

-Josh

Setup:
m3ti's
parasound pld-1100
parasound hca-750

The tweeters are different, for one thing. Other than that, I have no idea. Also, there is an upgrade plan at Axiom, although I suppose you may already have known that...

Upgrade plan?? Are you referring to the lay-away payment plan?

No, they give you something like 70% back on the speakers if you trade them in. I could be wrong, though. Anyone? Beuller?

I want to say it is only 25%, but I could be wrong too.

Hi joshbd,

I never heard the Michaura's. It's true that Axiom built them for a brief period on contract some years ago, but when I queried Ian Colquhoun, the designer and founder of Axiom, about Michaura, he indicated that it used different drivers from the M22s and said that the Michaura was "a quite different speaker."

Regards,

Then why does 2x6spds constantly remind us of his "M22-like Michaura M55s"?

Hi,

I think he says that because the Michaura's physically resemble the M22s. I spoke to colleague at Axiom and he said the Michaura's resembled the M22's in appearance but, because of different drivers and crossover, were not similar in sound quality and tonal balance.

Regards,

When you say different driver, are you refering to both the woofer and tweeter? Because I was just talking to 2x6spd, and he seemed to believe they used the same 5.25" woofers as the m22's just a different tweeter. Is this not the case? Or am I just confused?

Hi,

I can't be sure. But a different tweeter with different response characteristics can radically change the tonal balance of a speaker.

This is all kind of speculation, because I've neither seen nor heard the Michaura speaker, so I take Ian C. at his word when he told me that it was "quite a different speaker" from the M22ti's. You cannot assume that a speaker designed under an OEM contract will bear any tonal resemblance at all to a manufacturer's premier brand, even if the drivers have a superficial resemblance to those used in other models.

Regards,

well perhaps the vinyl is similar

I don't think Michaura is in business anymore.

Axiom can't help itself - even when they build a speaker for someone else, Axiom does a great job. When I refer to the Michaura M55 as "M22 like" I mean only that it uses two 5.25" drivers and sounds very good. I don't mean to suggest that it sounds as good as the Axiom M22s which are clearly among the best speakers in the world even when the competition costs 2 - 3 times as much as the M22s.

Personally, I like the sound of the M55s and love the sound of all the Axioms I've ever owned - M2s, M3Tis, M22Tis, M50Tis and QS8s.

I don't currently own any M22s, so if anyone in Orange County CA wants to bring their M22s over to compare to a pair of M55s, I'll supply the burgers and beer.

perhaps I should have mine delivered to you and then go for a cross continent drive , B&B sounds pretty tempting right now.

Josh,

Executive summary as I own both M55 and M3: They are both very nice but have different characters. M55 is more forward in the midrange, and you more desire a sub for the bottom. The M55 wins on looks. They are easily worth $150 but are not necessarily an “upgrade” from the M3.

Here’s the long story.
I was in exactly the same position as you are. I bought a pair of M3Ti to see what the buzz about Axiom was all about. They did not work out for my extreme nearfield monitoring idea (they need to be more than 2 feet away), but are wonderful in the family room with the TV. All the folks here keep going on about how good the M22s are and I want to try them, but $400 is a lot of money when I already spent the $275. And then here comes a pair of M55s on Audiogon for $150. I can swing that, but should I??? (This was along about last August).

Well, I did. They look beautiful. The fellow’s pictures on Audiogon today do them justice. It is a different person, BTW. They look way better than my M3s in Boston Cherry, because they are glossy, mostly. Also, the M3’s have each fallen off the stands and that is not good for the back corner and top edge that got dinged. The M55s look great on the shelf in my little studio. Yes, I still have to get farther than 2 feet away for the best sound, but I like them better than the Audix MM15s that I had before. They did not replace the M3s in the family room because they are even taller and narrower, and too good looking to risk them falling off the stands.

How do they sound? Different than the M3s. I had at most an hour of playing them side by side fairly loudly, and then the family came home. They cannot stand hearing the same passage over and over, so I quit the comparison. M55s have a little more midrange, let’s say between 900 Hz to 2 or 3 kHz. The bottom is a little less. You really really want a sub with them, where I am happy without one using the M3s for TV and movies. (My daughter was watching Pirates of the Caribbean on Christmas and I was again astonished at how much sound comes out of the little guys, even hearing it from the backside-not-optimum location.) Since I actually have no sub, I push in the silly loudness (and subsonic filter!) on the vintage Luxman receiver that drives the M55s, and it is not so bad. The efficiency is quite similar, but it is a little hard to compare the levels because of the different frequency response. The highs sound nice on both and the imaging, well I don’t remember if I found a difference. Both speakers are very good, but have a different character. As to accuracy, well that depends on your reference, which really depends on how the recording was made and mixed. That’s a whole different topic to not open here.

I would still love to hear the M22s. I tried to get my brother in law to get them when they are done remodeling their family room, but I don’t know if he will. Like 2x6spds, I am in Orange County and we could do a three way comparo with the M3, M55, and M22. I’ve got the RS meter and tone generator so we can set the levels equally at 1 KHz. Heck, Phil can do the burgers and I will bring the beer. Probably a few more amps too so we can feed the same signal to everybody at the same time, no speaker switching.

They are worth the $150 (did I say they were beautiful, and sound good too?) even if they may or may not sound much like the M22s. Best of luck trying to decide !!

Bryan

Webb,

Thanks for your input, that was exactly the response I was looking for. I think I'll go for them, for $150, why not? Thanks again,

Josh

Webbb, come on over! I have M55s, M66s and a pair of M665s and a bunch of amps. If someone can bring over a pair of M3s and M22s, I'll supply steaks - got the Webber BBQ!