My $.02....
Before purchasing my M80's, my wife and I spent 3 months actively seeking out other speakers to try before just blindly throwing more money at Axiom. I had been reasonably happy with my m22's for a couple of years, but I wanted the presence and soundstage that come with floor standers.
I won't bore you with the details of all of the other speakers we listened to. Paradigm was very high on my list of speakers to try based on reviews and comments that they're a lot like Axiom. I have listened to the Reference Studio 20 and the RS-100's at a Paradigm dealer. NAD CD player, prepro, and amp provided the juice, which is all completely different from what I have at home. That alone makes the comparison somewhat invalid but the NAD stuff is about 3 times the price of what I have.
To our ears, the Reference Stuio 20's sounded quite a bit like the m22's, but with more bass and a little bit more midrange warmth. Some like that, some hate that. Very similar, maybe even a bit more pleasant sounding than M22's, but they're also about 2 times the price.
We weren't looking for bookshelves, so we went straight for the RS-100's next. We were impressed with the presence and soundstage. They looked great and sounded nice and powerful with lots of low and midrange force. Highs were also there, but were a bit too piercing. Too much sibilance for my liking. Bass was deep and powerful, and the midrange was clean with just a hint of warmth like the 20's. Now I don't mind a bit of midrange warmth, but some purists will say that they're too 'colored'. My wife (who was really rooting for the B&W 703's) didn't really like them but I thought they sounded pretty good.
In the end, we decided to go ahead and order the M80's with the full intention of returning them if they didn't meet our expectations. They absolutely exceeded our expectations and sound very similar to other 'good' speakers we listened to at twice the price or more. M80's are about 1/3rd the cost of the B&W 703's, and about 1/2 the cost of the Paradigm RS-100's, but can absolutely compete with either of those. Sonically, are they better than the others? No, not really. To my ears, M80's sound awfully similar for a whole lot less money, and that sealed the deal for me. At this level, it's really just a personal preference and getting that Nth decimal position of 'betterness'. To get something 'blown out of the water' better will require a significant investment to push into the serious audiophile level.
I don't claim to be a speaker expert, but I've heard quite a few of them ranging from $10 Kracos to $40,000 Dynaudio Evidence Masters. The least expensive speakers I've ever heard that could be described as 'blowing M80's out of the water' are my buddy's $10k+/pair B&W 801's.
