Just out of curiousity, in what ways are axiomo M22 speakers superior over polk TSi 400 floor standing speakers? What specs do you guys usually look at while comparing speakers?
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/tsi/index.php?s=tsi400
http://www.axiomaudio.com/m22.html
What Polk tells you? I dunno.
Here's some FR measurements (the most basic of all measurements) of some polk speakers that we do have:
Compared to the m22s' FR:
What does it tell me? I don't know. What does it tell you?
Here's a waterfall of another polk speaker stereophile reviewed:
it definitely doesn't look that great to me TBQH. That's why I personally wouldn't get polks.
Still, if you're interested, go to best buy and grab a pair of Polks from the store and bring them in. Compare them side to side. you can't compare the bass of a tower with 3 drivers to a bookshelf with two (that wants a sub), but you can definitely compare the mids. A bookshelf-to-bookshelf comparision would be best.
Then return the one you don't want.
Keep a few things in mind
1) Polk Subwoofers are garbage. Don't let that sway your purchase. $300 value my ***. They're practically giving those away for a reason.
2) Polk "sales" are every month. You won't miss anything on that regard.
If what you want is a tower speaker, then check out some Infinity 363s. Otherwise all you need to get bass is to add a sub.
If you're not satisfied with the axioms, of course you can go ahead and return them. But to yourself you have to be able to articulate with certainty the many aspects of "why" and use that to find a good pair of speakers. Don't fall into the "this one has more bass" trap. Added boom and sizzle takes away from the nature of music. If there is bass, it should be reproduced and reproduced well, but not "more" than a given recording calls for. "Well" and "more" are different things. A recording with lots of fast, tight, dynamic bass should of course sound fast, tight, dynamic. Some nice budget subs to consider are made by Emotiva, Epik, and HSU. The goal of the bookshelf speaker is to reproduce frequencies in its own range. The midbass, the midrange, and upper octaves, while BLENDING with a sub. It should not be expected to reproduce bass frequencies with any power or precision. Getting bass is all about size, and while the M22s are a relatively big speaker, they're not really very big in the grand scheme of things.
And again, room interaction is huge. Things like placing
diffusers at first reflection points (2 x ceiling, 4 x walls, 1 rug on floor) and absorbers (2 x wall behidn speaker) and adding as inconspicuous bass traps along corners (vertical and horizontal corners mind you) as you can is a more worthwhile initial investment in improving sound quality than just buying bigger and better speakers every time.
