Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo M22's vs. M22's

First off I'd like to thank the generosity of the the Axiom forum hosts and their willingness to allow reviews of speakers other than their own brand and if this review violates any implied or explicit review rules I'll gladly retract if needed.

I began my audio life with an ONKYO HTIB and rather liked it - for a while. You all know the drill. Maybe I could get a little more bass? Are the trebles that good? What would a different amp sound like? And on and on.

So anyway I upgraded to an HK 3480 125W 2 channel receiver and liked the change. THEN discovered Axiom audio and added a pair of M22's which woke things up in a fairly dramatic fashion. Simply loved the clear details and accuracy.

Then I added a Mirage 8" sub woofer to fill in the bottom end and found a used ATI 1502 amp to power things up a bit,(run from the pre-outs of the HK receiver.) A great big WOW to the ATI Amp. That thing rocks!

All my music is run from a Squeeze Box and FLAC source files with a slightly modded power supply - another huge thumbs up for that addition!

Which brings us to yesterday when the REVEL M22's arrived. I found a deal where the discontinued maple M22's are on sale for $995.00 plus shipping and pulled the trigger in a late night impulse buy. I guess they retail for around $2000.00 but can be found for $1799.00 or so.

Came perfectly packaged and with cloth protective bags. Smaller than I had imagined. PERFECT finish. Nice looking but not great in my room.

I did not do a scientific A/B test and my ears are just OK but here's what I (and my wife) found. The first thing with the Revels is how unremarkable they at first listen. VERY different than the Axioms first impression. Laid back comes to mind though I have never discussed the term with anyone who has defined it for me. At the same time quite detailed and VERY easy to listen to. Trebles were different and a bit better than the Axioms. Perhaps smoother? Not as harsh, though I never thought of the Axioms as harsh, I would fatigue a bit after a long listen.

Much more bass than the Axioms, which is no surprise, and it's nice to turn off the subby. Really not needed for my tastes. The biggest difference is probably in the subtle details that the Revels revealed and the ease of listening.

Jazz is SO wonderful and vocals like Andre Bocelli's Amore were awesome. Just a little more realistic I would say than the Axioms. Fourplay was the music of choice and seemed to fit the speakers really well.

I'm not that great with perceiving sound stage and imaging so I won't pretend I know. The speakers did not seem to disappear as I have heard so many describe but again so very easy to listen to, which even as I'm listening now - unremarkable but smoooooth.

Now of course the big question - was it worth the upgrade? Yes. Aren't they all? At least for the first few days.

Are the Revels worth 4 times what the Axioms cost?

NO FREAKIN' WAY. The Axiom M22's are still a GREAT speaker and the upgrade is one of those small steps that happens from here on out.

So I hope this review does two things; turn someone on to a value in upgrades AND reinforce what we already know about Axiom speakers.

Nice find! Thanks for sharing, Larry. I've always read good things about Revel speakers, but never listened to any.

You bring up an interesting point. You described your first reaction as "unremarkable." Not necessarily a bad thing, but reinforces the importance of spending some listening time with a new speaker. I don't have golden ears and can't make a snap judgement on most speakers. Generally speaking, I think a well-balanced speaker won't jump out at you unless you've been listening to really really bad speakers to begin with.

Sounds like a great deal on those M22s. Have you tried an A/B switch to compare the two? Also, looking at the specs, the Revels are a fairly taxing load that would require some ample amplification if you like to rock.

Don't have an A/B switch and not so golden ears either but am listening to some old Hendrix on a 'best of' album and I remember how difficult it was to listen with the Axioms. SOOO accurate and unforgiving of older recordings. The best recordings were SOOO good but the bad ones SOOO bad. And Hendrix was just impossible on the Axioms and yet smooth (for an old recording) and very listenable on the Revels. Hmm.

And yes I think the ATI 1502 is just what the speakers need. 150 Watts into 8 ohms and 250 into 4 ohms. It's plenty to REALLY crank the Revels. And they don't give up AT ALL at higher volumes, where the Axioms would give up just about at earsplitting - the Revels just go really loud but I am sure the Amp is a great help.

Yeah Mojo, tried to tame the sound but the Axioms would still reveal the poor recording (or my poor ears). I have read so many places where others have had a similar experience with Axiom and poor recordings. Have you been able to adjust your sound with tone control etc. to try and tame the accuracy and detail of the Axioms? (Of course the accuracy and detail is Axiom's strongest point so seems a bit counter-intuitive in a way?)

First off, according to my audiologist, I have mutant-like hearing and I have the test results to prove it. For those that have read my other posts, I thought I was partially deaf in my right ear but it appears that my daughter and my wife have this problem and not me. This will be the subject of a future post.

Now that we got that out of the way for reference, with the exception of some Sting recordings, I have never had the need to use my treble control. When I have to use it, it works!

Where I have a bigger problem however is the dynamics of virtually every CD I have. Very simply, they are dull and lifeless. And they were dull and lifeless with my Bose 601s. It's not like they sounded better with the Boses and sound bad with the Axioms. I just didn't know what good was until I listened to Mark Knopfler: The Ragpicker's Dream one day through the Axioms and was startled with the 3D-like soundstage in stereo. Through my 601s, this recording sounded flat...it was the Axioms that revealed the recording engineer's magic. So I started the "Stunning Recordings" post in order to discover music that could give me this wonderful effect.

The truth is that now I don't listen to flat music. Even if I don't like the style of music, I'll listen to the recording if it has stunning sound quality. And my definition of stunning sound quality includes a "life-like" soundstage.

I've been experimenting with PLIIx and Neo6 in an attempt to bring life to flat recordings. Others have managed to achieve great results but I haven't yet. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I've certainly eliminated one factor...my ears . I am now starting to think that it has to do with my room acoustics as a result of a rather live environment.

Very nice review and it just shows how good the Axioms are comparing them to a speaker that costs 4 times as much. For me and the few mega buck speakers I have heard, the difference isn't enough to make me hand over the money; but if I were to find a deal like you did, I would have bought them too.