Here it is...enjoy
M22 vs. M60 – Overall Musical Impressions with Sub
The first thing I noticed when I A/B’d between the M22’s and M60’s was the different soundstage and imaging characteristics.
The M22’s sounded up front with clear, accurate imaging right in front of me. At times it felt like the singer was sitting right in front of me on my desk with the M22’s. The soundstage was very upfront and close.
The M60’s were very..very different. When I first heard them I actually thought they were out of phase for a second. While they presented a soundstage, it was much…much more “open” than the M22’s. Things seemed to float outside and above the speakers, but there wasn’t really any precise imaging as heard with the M22’s. With the M22’s it was like, bam, that sound is coming from there. With the M60’s it wasn’t as sharp as that.
If I were to compare the imaging of the M22’s and the M60’s, the M22’s would be a slightly fuzzy laser pointer, and the M60’s would be a tight flashlight beam – that’s how different they were.
While the M22’s and M60’s definitely sounded similar, perhaps the individualistic qualities that came out were very related to the soundfield and imaging, I thought.
In comparison the the M60’s, the M22’s sounded thin, yet precise and pure. In comparison to the M22’s, the M60’s sounded full, warm, and bigger.
When switching from the M22’s to the M60’s, I appreciated the warmer, fuller sound, but quickly missed the clarity and upfront imaging that the M22’s gave. When switching from the M60’s to the M22’s, I appreciated the clarity and emphasis on the vocals, but missed the full sound of the lower bass instruments.
So, let’s do a top-down comparison of the tonal qualities of the speakers, putting aside any imaging or soundstage elements.
High end: The M60’s had a tad less “bite” when it came to the high end, but were still very similar to the M22’s. Since it was the same tweeter, not much differed here.
High midrange: The M22’s are definitely more “bright”. Not harsh, but brighter sounding. The M60’s, being more laid back, put less emphasis on vocals and instruments in the high midrange area. During some tracks, I picked up some new sounds I hadn’t heard before with the M22’s. When I switched to the M60’s, I could still hear those sounds, but I had to strain a little more to hear them.
Bass (Low midrange): This is where the M22’s don’t sound as full as the M60’s. Surprisingly, when I switched to some tracks and listened for the bass on the M22’s, some of the bass guitar sounds sounded a hair more textured and tight than the M60’s, but still lacked the full sound. A good example of some low midrange stuff I was missing out on with the M22’s was a cello (or viola, I wasn’t sure) amongst acoustical guitars, piano, and violins. With the M60’s, I could really hear the euphoric depth and warmness of the cello, however with the M22’s some of that was lost.
In light of the M22’s missing much of the low end, to my ears the pure clarity and imaging was a much better tradeoff. With the pairing of a sub, the M22’s by no means had an anemic bass response and do not sound empty or bass-deprived.
With rock music, the M60’s definitely rock harder and sound fuller, but I miss the clarity that the M22’s give the vocals and instruments when listening to the M60’s. So, it’s really a tradeoff of what you like.
For lots of music, the lack of the upfront soundstage of the M60’s compared to the M22’s makes a big difference between these speakers for me. When listening to an amazing acapella song sung by one of my favorite rock bands (great vocal singers), the M22’s pinpointed and effortlessly presented the vocalists in front of me, while the M60’s struggled to present it with the same purity and accuracy that the M22’s did.
So, here are my matchups with and without sub for music listening:
M22’s vs. M60’s (no sub). M60’s are a clear winner here. The bass is definitely a huge plus and the reason for getting the M60’s.
M22’s with sub vs. M60’s. M22’s with the sub were the winner for me. While the M60’s sounded a bit more “full”, but they don’t have the impact that the M22’s have with a good subwoofer.
M22’s with sub vs. M60’s with sub. M22’s with sub are my personal choice. For music, if I were to upgrade, I would upgrade to the M80’s for the clarity they give.
M22 vs. M60 – Overall Theatrical Impressions with Sub
M60’s hands down. They just sounded lusher, bigger and more “theatrical” from the bigger full range sound. Compared to the M60’s, the M22’s sounded smaller for a movie.
QS4’s vs. QS8’s
This one was over quick.
I did a direct A/B comparison between the QS4’s and QS8’s playing as “mains” in stereo with no sub on. First, I turned on the QS8’s, which sounded great. Then, I turned on the QS4’s.
They were much quieter. That surprised me. So, I turned up the volume so they were close to what the QS8’s were playing at. To get to that point, they started to sound strained to produce that sound.
That was disappointing. Whatever I did, they just sounded strained and weaker than the QS8’s. I thought there would be a difference, but not such a big one as that. I really couldn’t believe it.
Could it be that since the QS8’s use the same 5.25” woofer as almost all the other speakers in the Axiom lineup, the QS4’s 4 incher got neglected? I was thinking some sort of tonality change would be present, but there is a serious difference between the QS8 and the QS4. The QS4’s are by no means a crappy speaker they perform their quadpolar surround duties well in my experiences, but compared to the QS8’s…they…well…don’t really compare, especially for direct “non surround” sounds.
My reason for buying the QS4’s is that they are small and more easily transportable, which I doubt is reasoning for many other buyers. For such a small difference in price (~$100), I would have a very hard time recommending the QS4 to any buyer, as sad as I am to say it. Were my QS4’s part of a bad batch or something? Who knows. They were just not up to snuff as the QS8’s. I’d like to give a little recommendation to Axiom to perhaps...look over the 4” woofer again or at least the QS4.
For curiosity’s sake, I did a direct comparison between the QS8’s and M22’s…
QS8’s vs. M22’s
Surprisingly, the QS8 and M22 almost sounded exactly the same. Exact same tonal and sound signature. The QS8’s had a little more high end (two tweeters), less low end, and a diffuse sound. The QS8’s actually sounded pretty good as mains!
Now…where is that tradeup link…
