M50 v. M60 v M80

[drinke]

Background - my entire current system is not great and am planning to completely rebuild over time. I thought I'd start with the speakers first and have been reading posts on this forum to help narrow in on what I should get - Axiom seems very popular (high quality and reasonable price always are).

In any event, I was thinking about starting with some floor-standing speakers - my current receiver is a Yamaha HTR 5835 5.1. The room is 13 by 20, but the speakers will really be in half the room - an area of about 13x13 (everthing here is centered around the tv - the couch is about 11 ft back from the screen and current speakers). This is a downstairs area that is very very open (overall its about 20 by 35 - separated partially by a staircase)

I called Axiom thinking about M60s and M80s. I was told the receiver (which I will upgrade in a year or so) would not power the M80s and that given the room I am in, I would not hear the difference between the M50s and M60s - so just go with the M50s w/ my current sub.

However, I also read in some other reviews that the M50s are a little brassy and don't give much bass. Has anyone compared the M50s to M60s and what are thoughts based on my long-term goal of redoing everything and the room I am working with?

 

[littleb]

I home auditioned the M50s and I wouldn't characterize them as being light in the bass department. As a matter of fact, that is their strength. The highs might be called brassy, but their weakness, if it can called that, is that they have a recessed midrange. I listened to them at home along side the M22s for about 3 weeks. Initially, I didn't hear alot of difference, except for the bass of the 50s, but after about a week, the differences in sound started to emerge. In the end, I preferred the better mids and the overall soundstage of the smaller bookshelves when the 30 day trial period drew near. If it is true that the M22s+sub=M60s and a tower speaker is necessary, I would opt for the 60s over the 50s even for the price difference. You might like the more laid back sound of the 50s, but that's not what I was looking for. I have also heard the discontinued M40s and I actually preferred them over the 50s. If the M50s sounded more like the M22s with more bass, I wouldn't have returned them. I don't know if this helps you, but I'm sure the experts at Axiom should be able to help you more than I can. I'm just reporting my experience and hope that it can somehow be of service in your decision process.

 

[apatel25314]

if money permits i would recommend to go with the m80's

 

[evilkat]

Keeping in mind that the concept of sound is highly subjective, I find the M60 pair that I own to be very anemic in bass when listening to music. In fact, so lacking in bass do I find these speakers that I would insist that you need a sub to truely enjoy your movies/music.

The details though are absolutely amazing from these speakers! Mind blowing! On the other hand, the highs seem brighter than what I'm used to, and since the M80 has TWO tweeters, I can only imagine how those must sound!!

Given that the M80s would be harder to drive, and that I live in an apartment, I decided that I'd spend the money on getting a VP150 instead of a 100, and I'm REALLY glad I went that route.

To sum up, my opinion is you go with 60s + Sub. Seems like the 60s may give a good boost to the midrange over the 50.

 

[Tex-amp]

I home auditioned the M50s and I wouldn't characterize them as being light in the bass department. As a matter of fact, that is their strength. The highs might be called brassy, but their weakness, if it can called that, is that they have a recessed midrange. I listened to them at home along side the M22s for about 3 weeks. Initially, I didn't hear alot of difference, except for the bass of the 50s, but after about a week, the differences in sound started to emerge. In the end, I preferred the better mids and the overall soundstage of the smaller bookshelves when the 30 day trial period drew near. If it is true that the M22s+sub=M60s and a tower speaker is necessary, I would opt for the 60s over the 50s even for the price difference. You might like the more laid back sound of the 50s, but that's not what I was looking for. I have also heard the discontinued M40s and I actually preferred them over the 50s. If the M50s sounded more like the M22s with more bass, I wouldn't have returned them. I don't know if this helps you, but I'm sure the experts at Axiom should be able to help you more than I can. I'm just reporting my experience and hope that it can somehow be of service in your decision process.

I'd take the m-22s and a good sub over the m-50 or m-60. I have not heard the M-80. I find the mids of the M-50 and M-60 lacking.

 

[MDS]

More than one Axiom owner has said something similar about the midrange of the M50 being recessed. FWIW, I talked to Axiom and they sort of said the same thing; although instead of saying the M50 midrange is slightly recessed (which sounds like a negative), they instead emphasised the positive for the M60 saying it will have better midrange due to its dedicated midrange driver.

What I'd really like to hear is others impression of how 'bright' any of the Axiom speakers are. I know that is subjective and I usually dismiss such terms but I am very leery of getting any speaker that emphasises the treble. One reason I don't care for Jazz music is precisely the screeching high frequency sound of horns.

 

[KC23]

Keeping in mind that the concept of sound is highly subjective, I find the M60 pair that I own to be very anemic in bass when listening to music. In fact, so lacking in bass do I find these speakers that I would insist that you need a sub to truely enjoy your movies/music.

The details though are absolutely amazing from these speakers! Mind blowing! On the other hand, the highs seem brighter than what I'm used to, and since the M80 has TWO tweeters, I can only imagine how those must sound!!

Given that the M80s would be harder to drive, and that I live in an apartment, I decided that I'd spend the money on getting a VP150 instead of a 100, and I'm REALLY glad I went that route.

To sum up, my opinion is you go with 60s + Sub. Seems like the 60s may give a good boost to the midrange over the 50.

I agree with this poster (I own M60s). The mid and upper ranges excellent. The bass while accurate doesn't seem to impress unless listening at high volumes. I haven't got my subwoofer yet so I'm looking forward to that.

The M80s have the extra woofer, but require a receiver that can push a 4ohm speaker.

 

[evilkat]

More than one Axiom owner has said something similar about the midrange of the M50 being recessed. FWIW, I talked to Axiom and they sort of said the same thing; although instead of saying the M50 midrange is slightly recessed (which sounds like a negative), they instead emphasised the positive for the M60 saying it will have better midrange due to its dedicated midrange driver.

What I'd really like to hear is others impression of how 'bright' any of the Axiom speakers are. I know that is subjective and I usually dismiss such terms but I am very leery of getting any speaker that emphasises the treble. One reason I don't care for Jazz music is precisely the screeching high frequency sound of horns.

MDS, I don't listen to jazz at all, but rather a mix of other genres, from rock to techno and some hip-hop. When listening to rock for instance, I find that the contribution of the base guitar to be severely lacking. Techno never has the 'oooomph' (to use a technical term ) it does when you have a sub, but the highs are very detailed which tends to overemphasize that freq range.

You plug in a sub, and all of a sudden everything just falls into place. You still get the details of the highs, but it's not overpowering everything else and it's not what you predominantly hear when u listen to music!

I also agree with KC. I think you're going to have to listen to the 80s with your volume level WAY up, which I will be unable to do since I live in an apartment. Even with the 60s, I find that I have to turn up the volume far more than I am used to in order to hear all the details...but when you DO turn it up a bit, you hear EVERYTHING and the sound is really unbelievable to my ears!

 

[Wid]

I've had the M80s for over three years now and I can't say I ever thought they were bright sounding. Even if you look at the gragh it does not indicate that this would be the case. I listen to my M80s at low to moderate volume most of the time and find they sound just as good at low volume as what they do when I push my Rotel RB 1080 as hard as I can stand. The extra tweeter has nothing to do with the M80s having extra treble it is there for handling more power, that's all. If one were to want just a nice two channel set up with out a sub then I know the M80 could fit the bill. I think most of us are so used to using a sub that we think something is lacking if we don't have that little bit extra bass, I know I am.

 

[autoboy]

I have the m60s in a 15x16 room that is partially open to the kitchen. I love the sound out of my speakers. For music the m60s bass response seems perfect. Initially when i bought them I was disappointed with the bass. Before I got them I used to have my sub gain turned way too high. Now that I have everything dialed in and the sub and m60s are matched, i can turn off the sub and not miss any of the beautiful sound. In fact, without the SVS PB-12 sub, the bass is tighter and slightly more satisfying for music. However, for rap and other low frequency bass heavy music, the extra low frequency punch from the sub really helps.

For home theater a sub is required. The speakers reproduce most musical bass, but the floor shaking rumble is not there for movies. Without the sub you miss out on a lot of the LFE on well produced movies. The m60s can shake the couch a little bit, but fall off quickly on the low bass that puts the punch in movies.

The mids on the m60 are wonderful. Very clear. They are head and shoulders better than my old B&W 602s.

The highs are clear and detailed. I personally love the sound but I can see where some people would think they are bright. At really high volumes they can strain my ears slightly and I would not want to listen for ages at that volume, but at normal volumes, they are great. I don't have a treated room. I have hardwood floors with a rub covering 50% of the floor, a couch, ottoman, leather chair, and the back wall is actually a sliding glass door with a curtain over it. The curtain probably absorbs quite a bit of the sound, keeping it from getting over bright.

I would get the m60s over the m50s anyday. However, if I did it again, I might consider the m22s. Paired with my sub, they would sound great and I would have saved a little money. For HT the m22s and a really powerful sub would be great, but I think I would still get the m60s anyway.

 

[agarwalro]

I got the M60's and have not regrets. As mentioned in the previous post, they are exemplary for music, but lack the bottom end for movies.

I use them in 2.0 mode for all music except techno, then I go 2.1

 

[Hutzal]

I own an EP500 and M22s, all I can say is that it has wicked midrange and high end clarity with crazy powerfull low end from the EP500.

I believe this is the best system money can buy without getting tower speakers. Axiom compares the M22s midrange and upper range to the M80 towers moreso than the M60 towers (due to the dual mid range woofers).

I love the M22s, not sure if I'll ever feel the need to upgrade.

-Hutz

 

[evilkat]

not sure if I'll ever feel the need to upgrade.
-Hutz

Give it time

 

[littleb]

I recently upgraded from the M22s to the M60s and I am extremely happy with the results. The M22s were just awesome when it came to HT, they just didn't satisfy me as music only speaker. I fought off the urge to upgrade them for quite some time, but I couldn't help myself. I found myself visiting audio shops all the time, and when I wasn't doing that, I was constantly planning trips to this place or that that was near a shop that stocked something I hadn't auditioned yet. I came really close to switching to the PSB image series. But then, I read the recent Audioholic review by Tom Andry comparing the M22s with the M60s. It was then that I knew that the M22s had lost and I just had no choice, but to move to a tower speaker. I decided to stay with Axiom because I really like my Axiom center and I have the QS8s as surrounds. I toyed around with the idea with jumping on the M80 bandwagon. But, I decided that the M60s would give me what I was looking for. While I agree, the M60s aren't bass monsters, there is a quality to their sound that just wants me want to listen to them all the time. I suppose it is just a matter of time before I will find some weakness in them and I will have to upgrade to the M80s.

 

[u2generator]

My room is about 3,200 cu ft with four cased openings leading to other rooms along two abutted walls. I sit about 12’ from my (old CRT) TV. I have M22’s and a HSU VTF Mark 3.2 sub and am very happy. This sub compliments the M 22’s very well. I sense no separation between the mains (M 22’s) and the sub, although the sub sits about 13’ from the mains and about 8’ from my chair. I listen mostly to 70’s rock and this combination is tight and articulate. For movies, it also kicks a@@. So, I guess my point in this blah-blah is to consider the M 22’s, particularly if you have (or are getting) a sub.

JMO,

TW

 

[robot]

With all the praise Axiom is getting in this thread I think I need to throw in my 2 cents and say that I think the m80s are mediocre at best. Or, in other words, they are not for everyone. Sure you get a lot of driver for your money but they are sloppy. The highs are piercing and resonant while the lows are loud and decent but not perfectly controlled.

To me they don't represent a good value at all. Also they are not very nice to look at except if you're a speaker goon and enjoy that sort of thing. The grilles are of disappointing quality. Also I didn't like the glue marks around the dust caps.

 

[ellover009]

Here's something interesting, Found a good deal at BB and got a Sony STRDG1000 $380 from $800 retail, the bad part is it came with no remote or power cord, I took care of that got the system running with official Sony remote and all. Here's the tough part, I wanted to get the M80's since the old Sony speakers I had suck, well I went to eBay to the CSW store, ran by hi.fi which is run officially from the Cambridge Sound works factory. His store does not have anything, I checked on the retail CSW store and it's gone, and there's no good deals on CSW for the M80's. This sucks. My old Yamaha did not have as many modern hookups, it only had for phono, tv, vcr and cd inputs, it sounded pretty good but it was only 2.1, time to retire that unit, the new one is much nicer, somehow it lacks the hall mode that sounded so great in the Yamaha.

So where can I get a good pair of M80's without selling my soul? on the eBay store they used to be $320