**The follow up after hearing the M60's**
Just an FYI to you all, I forgot to mention that at Mike's house, his room is not at all ideal for sound. It has tile floors, and almost completely flat un-altered walls. I mentioned this to cschang when I was at his place today - and after some discussion (ok, so he told me ) that could have definitely affected the speakers, possibly causing the piercing pitches.
I agree with pretty much everything here - but I'll quickly restate it as the speakers relate to my tastes.
One note of comparison/clarification - the Ascends were up on bookshelves (at about head level while standing) and the Axioms were on the floor (about waist level while standing)
The Axioms and Ascends both were amazingly clear. The big difference came through in the mids. The M60 did a "good" job of replicating these mid frequency sounds, and the CMT-340's did a "great" job. In my head though, two things muddy the situation. The Axioms highs were so crisp and clear that they were almost a focal point. I dont consider this a bad thing, but it really could have been playing with my ears/head. The other, is that the Ascends had very little low frequency response (They are bookshelves after all - not meant for that )
Over all, Id have to give the nod to the M60's - with their full range, and brilliant highs - its hard for me to say no
After hearing the M60's at cschangs, I'm much more confident that the room dynamics, coupled with the Denon receiver changed the feel of the tweeters in the M80's.
At this point in my search - Ive got my choices narrowed down to 3. Tomorrow I plan on hitting the two HT stores that cary the Paradigms and B&W again to hear them "the day after" if you will...
So now for the REAL short list: In alphabetical order
1. Axiom M80's
2. B&W 604's
3. Paradigm Monitor 7/Studio 60 (I really need to audition these again)
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-ZeNergy
