Originally Posted By: grunt
The way I look at it is if I were to decide to upgrade my mains or whole system for that matter (can’t imagine why I would unless I won the lottery and then I’d upgrade my house (read room) first) I would revisit all potential speakers that focus on neutral presentation. So say if the new Axioms came in at the same price as the B&Ws I though sounded better than the M80s (but not 3 times better) then I would also consider the B&Ws as viable upgrades. To do otherwise out of brand loyalty would not make any sense to me.


Very good points, but I'll say that brand loyalty does make some sense. If you have a history of being taken care of by the company, that's value, too. Also, if I'm only upgrading mains, sticking with the same brand for timbre matching to the rest of the surround system is something else to consider. Of course, we don't yet know how well they match the current lineup and have only been told that the VP180 would be the most appropriate center to match with the new flagships. You're right that I should still look at speakers from other manufacturers in the same price range, whatever that ends up being. I still think there are compelling reasons to stick with the same brand, but I would still expect the new speakers to outperform the M80s by a fair margin, or why keep them.