<font color='#000000'>How are you currently mounting your M2i's? I just got a pair, and first put them on a mantel over the fireplace with about an inch- to inch and a half clearance for the ports in back. They sounded like very good bookshelves.
I then moved them to speaker stands with plenty of breathing room- about 4' from the front walls, and 4' from one side and about 6' from the other. The difference was astounding. These speakers did the rather neat trick of disappearing. That is, with my eye's closed, I could not point to the speakers at all, only to the original instruments and voices. The effect was of a huge sound stage in the front of the room, one that distinctly moved past the speaker locations- for example, I distinctly heard a piano placed about two feet to the right of the right speaker. There is pinpoint localization, with my eyes closed I can point to individual instruments (on a good CD) within inches.
This is with low end electronics- I'm currently using the analog outs of a low end Sony DVD player as the CD source- you gotta admit, not exactly audiophile, running into my recycled Onkyo receiver that was just replaced in my HT by a Yamaha VX-R2400. For $300, three years ago, it's pretty clean, but still, hardly the best. Given what I'm hearing with the speakers driven like this, I can't help but wonder how they'd sound fronting better electronics and sources.
Gene tested the Von Schweikert VR-1's and concluded that they were an excellent value at a grand for the pair. I'd be very interested in a comparison!!</font>
