Great sound! clear, efficient, dynamic, good imaging, good build quality, low price.

None

GREAT speakers, regardless of price.

Thanks to Axiom we have a reference speaker for next to nothing. Read the review at soundstage.com. It is an accurate review, not just hype.

The M22 is astonishing! ( Read the review at soundstage. ) I will only add a couple of things. First, they are efficient speakers, and work well with my low powered tube amp. BUT, they are so clean and clear that you will want to turn up the volume...and for that you need lots of clean power. They sound really good with my KT88 amp, but I like them cooking with the Accusonic monoblocks (135W/ch). The treble is clean and sweet enough that solid state works well, no exacerbation of the treble problems of most amps.

I have a pair of M3Ti's hooked up to the DVD player in the living room, and the M22's in the dedicated listening room. I've got the NAIM CD5 with high cap power supply, silver interconnects, and Analysis Plus speaker cables. All plugged into the Price Wheeler Brick Wall power filters. The sound is absolutely phenomenal!

Axiom is also a great company to work with...I bought mine through the web site and got the speakers delivered free in two days (to the US!). I got quick, friendly e-mails, and would recommend this company to anyone.

My friends were over the other night to listen to the new speakers (Axioms). Both were blown away, and one said these little speakers blew away his B&Ws (much more expensive), and the other said he was going to get a pair right away before they disappeared (because they seem too good to be true).

Get yourself a pair, you will love these!

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Audio Physic, NEAR, AR, KEF, Sound Dynamics, Energy, and more...

VALUE,TREBAL AND THE MIDRANGE,GOOD BASS TOO.

NONE ARE YOU KIDDING.

I first heard of AXIOM on soundstage.com the came to audioreview to see what the people had t say.Man do these speakers have a good rating or what?After coming accros a review saying somthing about The Audio Shop.

So I checked it out and Marc set me up with a great deal.The M22Ti's arrived about 5 days later.I was in shock as to the build quailty of the speakers they had a better build than polk or jbl.The binding posts the woffers the twets all the best i have ever herd fro this price.I wish I lived In Canada!

To test these speakers I used Slashs Snake Pit albums,slash came across crisp and clear and at extream levels wile playing RUSTED HEROS (great rocking tune)The bass reamaned tight and plentiful but agile.I run these speakers on my HARMAN KARDON AVR 55 with a ROTEL power amp.These speakers are highly recomended!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

POLK,JBL,SONY,B&W,ENERGY,h/k, NONE COMPAIR IN THE PRICE RANGE.

VALUE!, Sound, Looks

None at this price.

Speakers arrived yesterday (no shipping fee or tax in the US... that's a bonus).
I got a new A/V reciever for Xmas, Denon 3802 with 7.1 capable so I needed a new set of surrounds. Was a little hesitant ordering unheard but with the return policy I gave it a chance.
20-100 hour break in? How much better can they get? Right out of the box these things sound great. I placed them beside my mains, A/R 91's circa 1978, for some A/B comparing. The clarity is fantastic! The imaging is unbelievable!! I actually got up off the couch and stuck my head up to my center speaker because the vocal was coming right from the center of the soundstage. Obviously my center wasn't doing anything, but the Axioms made me check. It wasn't just the vocals, sound seemed to be coming from the entire wall. I was surprised at the bass of the Axioms, very good. I think these speakers are great! Compared the the A/Rs... The Axioms don't put out as much sound (I don't mean loudness) How do you describe fullness off sound. The A/Rs produce a thicker, richer, fuller sound. The bass is obvious, but the A/Rs are 4ohm 60lb 12" woofer monsters that rumble right down to about 30hz. The Axiom's at 14lbs hold their own. If they were my mains, I'd probably get a sub-woofer.
Overall... I'm very pleased with my purchase. "Bang for the buck" I'm not sure you do any better. I looked at Polk and Boston (at any resonable price,not near the performance of the Axioms), B&W and Paradign (performance close, but not for the same price). You will have NO buyers remorse with these. I kinda hate to send the Axioms to the back of the room, relegated to surround duty, but I really look forword to experimenting with the 5 and 7 channel stereo and DVD audio. It should give the Axiom's a chance to shine!
One more thing... I bought from the scratch and dent department. Honestly... I can't find the flaws.

Midrange, highs, power, and price. Vocals are great!

Bass. That's why they make a sub.

For the price you have to love these speakers. I bought two pair from the Factory outlet and can't find any flaws. I'm waiting for the Axiom EP350 to hit the Factory outlet.
They sounds excellent on my new Denon 3802.

Similar Products Used:

I listened to the JMLabs 905 and was not impressed. I'm glad I ordered the Axiom's.

Neutrality and capability of revealing upstream components and cable limits

Lowest octave of bass in a large room and less upper air magic than bipolar ribbon tweeter units

This is the followup review I posted on Dec 14, 2001.

(Price quoted is translated into equivalent US dollars although they were bought in Canada.) What follows is long and verbose but hopefully educational for those who think the holy grail for moving from mid-fi to hi-fi...sometimes one step forward sounds like two steps backwards.

I saw the recent terse unhappy reviews from "Pete/Oz" and think I can see why...case of two wrongs (bad JVC electronics/cable and twenty something questionable speakers) working OK together but ruthlessly exposed by clean updated speaker. I've been through this treadmill in my early years with bad cable...nowadays it is much easier with good cables such as Kimber and Cardas around. These speakers are also very good at showing you the correct "absolute phase"...get it wrong and everything sounds really muddled. Revealing speakers
are like that. I have a cut from Joan Armitrading which demonstrates the importance of this in a night and day way...listen to eithe "Down to Zero" or "Love and Affection". It sounds awesome with the + of the amplifier connected to the red speaker terminal (and - to black) but horrific...the other way. Every amplifier is different and some sound best with the amplifier "+" connected to the speaker "black" terminal. The speaker is but one part of three or four componets that are the key to hi-fi versus mid-fi. The best way to get there is to beg/borrow a friend who has access to real hi-fi. The other thing to try is reverse the AC power plug polarity using a cheater plug modified so that the wider male slot is thinned using metal cutters. The above two tweaks took me five years to discover (at a time prior to internet tweak pages) but are worth their weight in sound that just sucks you in...I have rescued many a system by doing just these two things.

Well I have these exactly a month, now. As mini-monitors that are supposed to reveal what the actual recording is like, the M22Ti's have instead turned out to be a monitor on the state of my overall playback system. My reference for sound is a friend's system consisting of ProAc Tablettes wired with Kimber 8TC to a modified Jadis clone Tube amplifier(Soundtech) via a passive attenuator to a MSB DAC to a Pioneer Transport and two years of near constant tweaking with RF shields, noise killer sprays, physical isolation techniques, fishing line, sandbags, and crystal oscillator dampening. His ears, system and repeated cancelled audio auditioning invitations (and resultant visit )eventually ended up with my speakers powered at his house in lieu of the Tablettes. The result was very similar sound to what he had with a touch more bass reach. I was floored to hear how a double run of Kimber 8TC improved the tightness and slam of the M22Ti bass when powered by a tube amplifier. Listen/See the Eagles reunited on DVD doing the "Hotel California" number.

My modest system is a twenty something heavily modified/simplified NAD 3020, homemade Cardas 2x24 Twin-Ax(sourced raw cable from Part's Connection site http://www.partsconnection.on.ca/pdf/wires.pdf) connected to stock cheapy APEX DVD player. My speaker wires are 4ft runs of Monster Powerline 2 (10 years old and not used for last 2 years), Signet OFC Musicline bought from surplus, and last a homemade "Chris Venhaus" designed DIY braided Kimber-clone via CAT 5e ethernet cable.

I think we are now ready to comment about the M22Ti. I think the main thing is that I find myself sucked into listening to them more and more music as time goes on and I gnerally am relaxed afterwards. The DIY speaker cables are the most revealing of detail but my ear is sort of hooked on the euphonic ring/twang from regular 14 gauge zip cord and found to lesser degrees in the Musicline and Powerline 2 speaker cables. This results in a slightly lean sound that goes lower and higher but has an iron type grip on the mid-bass hump pioneered on the LS3/5a...recording engineers were on to a good thing for mini-monitors missing the last octave and a bit of bass.

I found the recent additions of the M22Ti and DIY speaker cable to provide me a true sense of the "Decade" album of Neil Young. This album just sounds awful on mid-fi systems and mis-tuned hi-end systems (see AC plug phase and speaker absolute phase above) in the un-naturalness of Youngs' voice and a untuneful bass. Get it right and the cuts of "Harvest", "Heart of Gold", "Star of Bethlehem", "Deep Forbidden Lake", "Love is a Rose" and "Long may your Run" on Disc 2 just play like a perfect blend classic folk with beautiful vocalization on Young's part, blooming midrange and extended highs that allow the guitar's sound and soul to be all that is needed. Coupled with the rythmic driving bass...it is magic. It is a great album to do subtle fine tweaking to a stereo system. For me in a 12'x15' room, the bass in more than adequate. My main problem is that I discovered that Nirvana can be short lived...excellence in one listening session did not always continue into the next day...even if no changes were made to the system. Gradually, all my recent extended listening found that the variable AC power coming in which was optimal after about 10 P.M. on a weekday night.

So what more can I say ? I like my M22Ti and would purchase them again. The DIY cables and the speakers are good enough with no burn-in and fresh out of the speaker packaging but I do detect things getting better with time due to the burn-in
of drive units and wire. In search of a better time slot to play "music", I am finally open to the concept that AC power cables can make a difference in the overall sound by bypassing/shunting some of the RF noise. This is picked up along house power wiring and cannot wait to see what aspect of sound the M22Ti will bring forth when I remove this noise component. I almost feel sorry for the reviews that Oz and Pete put up below because I can tell you that they only reflect their "holy grail" expectation and subsequent unfair letdown. I will write to the organizers of this site to modify their ranking schemes to minimize the impact of deviant reviews that do not reflect the mean using standard deviation concepts. I probably would give the speakers a 4.5 based upon the sound of my overll system with them in. A 5.0 is in order due to the bludgeoning of Oz/Pete...too bad we could not see what else they have posted to see their experience level. We'll I'll do my little part and make it a 5.0 to partly correct the errors of their ways...I have some suspicions about their true identities but I've rambled on enough... Go Leafs Go!

Similar Products Used:

Optimus LX-5 and ProAc Tablette, Totem Arro, and Rega Camber 3.5

Midrange and Tweeter purity with increasing levels. Great looks and finish. Very Solid Cabinet. Great web site.

Needs stand, no bass hump,

My Journey Finding Axiom:

I'm not sure how my net surfing got me to Doug Schneider's M3Ti review, but I'm grateful for it led me eventually to the M22Ti. I was looking to buy my last pair of speakers to replace my modified Optimus LX5 (grill and plastic tray removed and tweeter damped with blutak on top). With the LX5, I have an amazing midrange and highend and limited low bass. The bass that is there is actually quite tuneful and fast providing you plug one port with straws and blutak the whole bottom to a solid stand. Back to the M22Ti.

Over the last two years, I have been looking (http://www.angelfire.com/ca/rchau/audio.html) ind a speaker that combines the virtues of my last two speakers
(Rega Camber with good bass and the LX5 mid/high end). I went to the 2001 Toronto Home Entertainment Show in search of my next speaker on Oct 19, 2001. I carried around one CD by Rosanne Cash called "10 Song Demo" that was made direct to two track. Of note are 3 cuts on the Album titled "Temptation", "Child of Steel", and "Mid-Air" that feature will miked Vocals, Piano and Guitar. The first cut is just piano and soaring voice that is very telling of the dynamic capability and tuning of a speaker. The one speaker that I liked was the Kinima Hi G2 speakers featuring dual alloy midbass units and silk tweeter wired with Cardas cable. I soldered many a interconnect cable over the last decade and settled in with a thin dusty light blue Cardas cable composed of various diameters of enamelled copper for the midband and sweet highs. The designer Graham Day-Myron voiced his speaker with Cardas. I put on "Jazz at the Pawnshop" and liked what I heard...could it be those "alloy" drivers ?

I know some high end friends that have Tablettes (amazing little speakers with great swing and rythym), Tangent RS4 (like the LS3/5a but with bass), and have heard the Totem Arro in a store after read Soundstage's Todd Warnke's positive review. Destiny seem to dictate a mini-monitor with some level of bass extention. The Arros just didn't seem to be dynamic enough. At the show, I saw a lot of narrow floorstanding speakers with dual midbass units...the promise of midrange and fast/more bass. The surprising thing was that after playing Rossane Cash's "Temptation" cut...nothing I heard at the show approached the smooth but detailed sound of the LX5. More bass? yes...but at a price. More extended listening to the Kinima showed them to be a fine speaker but at over $2K...they should be. The Cardas cables needed a breaking-in period of several tens of hours. I saw a salesman go ga-ga over a supposed Totem Model 1 slayer in the form of the Opera Loudspeaker's Super Pavrarotti. The "Temptation" was never so shrill! I'm getting way off topic
but my forty something ears made their way over to "Replay Electronics" where a down to earth guy name George let me compare the M40Ti and the M22Ti over the course of 1/2 hour.
We moved speakers away from walls, onto stands, and played cuts 7 and 9 from Windham Hill Records Guitar Sampler, 1,7 and 11 from Rosanne's 10 Song Demo, Mile's Davis Flamenco Sketches (alternate take on re-issue of "Kind of Blue"), and Mary Chapin Carpenter's cut number 8 called "Come on Come on". The speaker had great voice, tempo, mids, and sweet..sweet highs. The sax sung, the piano sounded like piano, and my simply miked standards showed me this to be a classy speaker. The electronics driving the whole show were a pair of Cambridge Audio Integrated amplifier and matched CD player...not too shabby. Each was about $600 dollars.
These are not the last word on deep bass but are basically minimonitors with decent real bass and not the bass hump.
For this, these should act as great satellites for the sub-woofer addition to round out the low end due to their polite
and decent bass that will lend well to integration.


I had to help my sister move some stuff and I live in a 3 level flat with tenants on each floor, but a quick low volume audtion (tough test) showed them to be very promising
replacements for the modified LX5 speakers. The look of Aluminum alloy midbass units, ribbed port, solid cabinet feel, and the exquisite veneer finish on tapered cabinet just oozes high-end sound. I'll get back
to a rating when I have more time. For the time being,
I'm giving them a 5/5 to keep the status quo of this thread.
My units may be factory seconds with slight cosmetic faults but they are audibly perfect.

As the Axiom box says...it is "Excellence by Design". Doug...I see why your excitement over these speakers is contagious. I'll be back in two weeks time for a more detailed review.

Similar Products Used:

Energy XL25, ProAc Tablettes, Optimus LX5, Rega Camber, Kinima Hi G2, Tangent RS4, and Totem Arro and Forrest.

Natural sound (uncolored), 3D soundstage, imageing, focus, transparent, airy highs, solid mid-range, value, build quality, customer service, well balanced, great intergration with sub.

no low bass, but remember that they are "bookshelf" speakers.

My KEFs have a great "british sound" but after 4 years with them I got the bug for something different. My NHTs are very good speakers but are somewhat dry and uninvolving. I have been listening to speakers in the $1200 to $2500 range at dealers for several months and have heard some that I really like. I had also read the reviews of such speakers as Axiom and Triangle but pretty much dismissed them because, after all, how good can a $400 or $500 pair of speakers really sound?
There is nowhere locally to hear the Axioms nor the Triangles. So I ordered a pair of Axioms knowing that I could send them back for a full refund if I didn't like them and honestly I fully expected to do just that.
After listening to the M22s for two weeks, I am so impressed with these speakers that they will be staying in my system and replacing my KEFs as my main speakers. They have out performed the KEFs and the NHT Super Twos all around except that the NHTs are "full range" and go down to about 35hz. But the mid-range and especially the treble on the M22s are spot on. The M22s also intergrate with my sub system much better.
The M22s have many strengths but the first thing that I noticed was that they just disappeared in the sound stage as compaired to my other speakers. With the KEFs, I was always aware that the sound was coming out of the two speaker boxes.
I am very puzzled by Oz's review that there is "no soundstage and all the sound is muddled". My experience is quite different. In my system, the soundstage often extends to the outside of the speakers and is quite deep also. In my system I find that there is nothing "muddled" about the sound, in fact, there is great focus and all the instruments and voices are well outlined and balanced. The sound is smooth and virtually grain free and seems to flow out rather than being squeezed out (like many of the higher priced speakers I've listened to lately). It sounds to me like Oz needs to check some of his (or her) upstream electronics. Or maybe its just that he is pissed off that he has to spring for the return shipping and it really has nothing to do with the performance of the speakers. And Pete's review is just puzzleing and enigmatic in general (and I WILL be looking for his M22s on Ebay). Reviews without details are not helpful to anyone except maybe for some self-serving hidden agenda of the writer. In any case, these do not deserve a 1 star rating.
The build quality of these speakers is excellent. Much better that my $1200 RDM-2's and way better than anyone should expect from a $400 pair of speakers. BTW, I bought mine from the "factory outlet" (scratch and dent) selections on the web site. I am still looking for the cabinet flaws! As far as how they look, I would say that they have a hansom, well dressed, apperance.
I am still scratching my head and wondering how Axiom can sell such a quality product at such a low price. The quality/value ratio is incredible. This is a well balanced little speaker that outperforms many speakers costing much,much more. If you are considering buying these, you should read the review by John Pottis at Soundstage. Just go to axiom.com (a very good site btw)and go to the reviews section. I whole heartedly agree with his assesment of these speakers.
And by the way Oz, I have no interest in "Axiom's profitability" other than I love to see companies that provide a high quality/value ratio for real world audio enthusiast, especially in the world of so called "high end audio" where there are so many over rated and over priced "holy grail audio toys".
There are better speakers out there but they will cost a hell of a lot more than the Axioms. Although they are not the best speakers I've ever heard and maybe not even the second best, I have to give them 5 stars all around. On this review forum a 5 star rating for value means "Bargain, Giant killer" and 5 stars for overall rating means "Far better than you imagined". In my mind, these speakers are far better than I imagined they would be.

My system:

Pioneer changer (works well as transport)

MSB Link II (I consider this an important and esential part of my system)

B&K PT3 pre-amp (sometimes a Creek OH-12 passive pre)

Odyssey Designs - Stratos 2ch amp (greatness period!)

NHT sw2si subwoofer system (with two slave woofers-excellant)

Monster cable all around (competent)

All of the above mentioned products are characterized by a very high quality/value ratio and provide a wonderfully satisfiying audio experience.

Happy listening all!

Similar Products Used:

KEF RDM-2, KEF Q-75, NHT Super Two, KEF Q15,

No Sound Stage. All the sound is muddled together. Could not outperform my 20 year old pair of JVC speakers (doesn't say much for Axiom!). Axiom's return policy! They won't credit my credit card and now I have to dispute it with the credit card company.

I bought these from Axiomaudio.com with their 30 day money back guarantee. "If you don't like them for any reason, return them at our expense, no questions asked." I called to return them, and the first words were "You pay for return shipping." I quoted their policy and they said they did away with that a couple months ago. I pulled up the website while she was on the phone and it STILL stated "If you don't like them for any reason, return them at our expense, no questions asked." Half hour later website got fixed (pretty quick!). Took them 2 days to send me the info via e-mail to return them. I returned them, and 3 weeks later (not so quick!), my credit card still hasn't been credited. Overall they aren't what people put them out to be. Maybe all these favorable reviews are written by people with an interest in Axiom's profitability. Major dissapointment!

Similar Products Used:

JVC, JBL, and Cambridge Sound Works.

These speakers are even better now then when I posted my first review.Bass is fuller and has more impact.

you need to buy stands if that is a weakness?

This is my follow up review of a great little loudspeaker called the Axiom M22Ti.I do admit I have a lot of loudspeakers such as Bose AM-5 mk2 & mk3,and the Bose 901.

All of these loudspeakers do sound realy good but for diffrent reasons,take the Am-5's for example they were made for the none audiophile but they still sound good.

And as for the 901's well there only ment to do one thing and that is to convay the presance of a live show.They do that very well in a large room.

The Axiom's are diffrent again the're made for the audiophile on a budget,and are the best bargan on the market today.

What really shines about these speakers is the CLARTY and the surpurb SOUNDSTAGE.And the low end is good too.

I use these speakers in my huge log cabin,I have them set up about 10" from the wall(a good spot)The amp im using is a rotel intergrated amp.
A great buy!I give it my full recomendation.

Similar Products Used:

Bose Acustimass 5,901,JBl,Paradigm.

very realistic sound without being overly bright

none

Great speaker at a great price. Ordered from Marc at The Audio Shop, as others have said very fast delivery with FedEx and great customer service, also cheaper than buying from Axiom direct. These speakers just sound real, especially breaking glass when watching DVDs in HT setup. I have a HTD center channel which sounds good but the highs are sharper on the Axioms but not too sharp.

I took a chance with these, as the M3ti got all the awards. I haven't been sorry. No buyer's remorse. One of these days I might spring for a matching Axiom center channel.

Similar Products Used:

MB quart,HD direct