There is currently a pair of Factory Outlet / B-Stock M22 v2 VaSSallos on the Axiom auction site which look extremely nice. Can anyone comment on what the differences are in specs/performance/hardware between these and the current stock M22 v3?

Also - and this may be a dumb question - does the cabinent material (knotty pine) have any effect on the performance/sound versus standard cabinet materials which are obviously more typical of those for which (glowing) reviews have been written?

Lastly - can anyone speculate on why such a pair which predates the current v3 would be sitting around so long and just showing up now on the auction site? Is it purely aesthetics/taste? Just not familiar with the product pipeline here and I'm concerned that what seems like a potentially great deal may in fact come with some trade-offs.

Thanks for any input!

Hey Nuge, welcome.

v2 v. v3 is a designation regarding three things.

-Crossover tweaks
-Driver changes (most notably, the white dust caps)
-Magnetic grills.

Officially, v3's have only been out a few months, but many of these changes were incremental, so later v2's sound identical to v3's. Not only that, but the differences between the versions are likely fairly subtle.

The Vassallo designation relates to real-wood veneer.

Even the Vassallo speakers are made with MDF; they have real wood veneer, they are not solid pine (or whatever species).

Axiom has all kinds of product in all kinds of places. I wouldn't ascribe motive if it is factory-direct.

One thing to consider is that in the case of the Vassallo series, if you are just starting your HT and get those a good price, then later on you will most likely get the other speakers in the same finish which can get very expensive. Plus your new speakers will have white dust caps. If all these aesthetic issues are not a concern and only need 2 good looking speakers, then go for it.
Real wood vs Vinyl finish will not affect the sound as Tom pointed out, all Axiom speakers are MDF inside.

Great point, Bruno.

Just to further clarify a point on the real wood finish Vassalo speakers....as noted they are a real wood veneer finish over MDF which is consistant with the industry standard. In fact, you would *NOT want solid wood cabinets out of knotty pine or other wood species as the cabinet would resonate and have very negative effects on the reproduction of sound. MDF is noted to be a very dense, "dead" medium that is used for this reason, not because it's inexpensive as some people seem to believe.

So, I'm like the MDF of the forums?

I'm not contributing anything helpful this week.

Though I'll say that I agree with the above.

MDF is also an ideal surface to apply a wood veneer to.

Thanks for the responses all and Bruno thanks for making that good point... I passed on the pair on that basis!