Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Damned M50v4

My ebony beauties sound so sweet in here. Totally blow the M5v4 out of the water (that's right Alan Lofft!). Even with their tweets recessed behind the M5s, they are wide and dispersive. And whereas the M5 over-loads the room with bass which is impossible to trim out, the M50s bass is so damned articulate and no sub is needed!

10x12x7.5 room. M2, M3, M5, M2OW, M5OW...all v4...don't work on short or long wall. The M3 and M5 are too boomy and the M5 is easily discoverable. The M2 disappears nicely, no boom but bass is not lush.

The M50v4 is a slam dunk. No matter where I place them, they sound fantastic! No EQ required. They are absolutely transparent and 3D image like crazy. I hear the Pink Floyd chopper swirling from the front to the side, behind me and back around the other side to the front. There is no song, no matter how old and badly recorded, that doesn't sound holographic. As these M50s illuminate all the walls, the sound stage width and depth is absolutely immense. I'm set up in an almost equilateral triangle with the speakers on the long wall almost 10 feet apart.

The relatively low height of the tweeter does wonders in low ceiling rooms because ceiling reflections are attenuated and the tweeter normal is below ear height lending to the disappearance effect. The cabinets are acoustically inert which also doesn't give them away. And the lack of a dedicated mid-range also naturally minimizes resonances.

I've brought twin EP125v4 in here and my Yammie sub. I've set the 125s as left and right feeding from my OhSoSweet Pioneer pre-amp outs. The Yammie is being fed both channels and is in the back. I actually enjoy the M50s without any subs! I can definitely tell, from my experience with my active subs, what's missing but I don't care because it sounds so good as is.

I've asked Andrew for the SP and LW plots. I think the LW plot on the product page is old from maybe v2 or v3. These M50s may be the most linear Axiom passive floor-stander across their stated operating range.

When I listen to my ALFR and active sub system, the difference in clarity is startling. But in this small room, the M50s 3D image and disappear much better than the other room/system which is more than 4x larger. This room also gives a much more intimate presentation like one is in the first few rows. The other room is like way from the back.

Surprisingly, the reduced clarity is not a bug but a feature. Likely because the all-important mid-range has been kept largely resonance-free in the important bands. The mids remind me of my Bose 601 series II but that's where the similarity ends.

I love them. I'd like them in real ebony vs. vinyl but I'm not going to dare letting go of these!

Guess your telling us that in a small room you found the M50’s work best. In other rooms the other speakers may work better …

M50 for the win. Nice.

Is this a room in your house that you don’t normally have a setup in? I recall you have your front room with bay window and your basement area too.

Just curious, what inspired you to try the smaller room?

My M3 v4 sound amazing in my bedroom. Approx 16 x 12 x 9 high. Powered by my Marantz Class A solid state.

Small rooms are tricky to get right. How dissimilar are the m3 and m50?

Hello Rich. How are you? Have you cleaned up your room yet, young man?

I have found the M2 bookshelves and M50 are totally inoffensive in any room. Both image amazingly well and disappear acoustically. The M50 though is absolutely exceptional in that it also has enough bass to please me during music without sub. And with that comes a warm, lush sound.

The M3v4, M5v4, M80v3, and M100v4 have been offensive in smaller rooms and even in medium rooms like my living room. The bass is dominating. I can't wrestle it with a bass control but Audyssey tames it nicely. The M3, M5, and M100 all image very well but only the M3 and M5 disappear. The M100 is discernible at times and I can't tell you if that's due to ceiling reflections from the high-mounted tweeters or some other resonances. The M100 takes the prize for fidelity, image separation and image size.

As I've said before, one thing my Boses did really well is not sound offensive. It's easy to do when a speaker doesn't produce highs and lows. But they didn't image. You could drop them anywhere, they didn't bleat and fart, and you had stereo everywhere yet nowhere.

I consider the M50s to be in a class all their own. You can have lows, mids, highs, imaging, and transparency in any room.

I'm still waiting for the LW and SP curves.

Hello Tyler. Have you melted your M60s yet? If you do, you can just trade up.

I'm glad the M3s are serving you well in the bedroom. I was worried they may be bass heavy but if they are away from boundaries or played not too loud, then the risk of bloat is reduced.

The M50 is not an M3 that has been stretched to an M40 and then M50. I like the M3 but it is nowhere near as refined as an M50. Bass is lower, tighter, warmer, and mids are lusher. The M3 tries to do bass it shouldn't; the M50 knows better and that's smart because the room gives it a helping hand. Images are larger. Dispersion is greater and more 3D-like. I like the highs better on the M50. I take the M50 over the M80v3 any day!

This was the yoga room but I've moved that upstairs. So this is now an intimate 2-channel room.

You’re seem to following in 2x’s footsteps… going for a system in every room

Rich, I've been in transition. I now identify as a v4 tweeter. I want my tweeter friends all around me.