The Reference 100s are supposed to be pretty close to M60s in sound, with a bit more bass and a tiny bit less clarity in the midrange. I haven't heard the Reference line myself recently but one of my friends who was looking for speakers looked first at the Paradigm Monitor line (OK), then Reference 40s (much nicer) and finally ended up buying M22s.
I'm not hearing consistent stories regarding the centers. The 470 uses the same drivers as the rest of the Reference line while the 370 uses the drivers from the Monitor line. Some people seem to really like the Paradigm centers (even a couple of people who went from VP150 to the Paradigm 370 and preferred the Paradigm) while others find the Paradigm centers "muddy" and prefer the Axioms.
I was kind of hoping my friend would buy a Paradigm Reference system so I could A/B with my Axioms but he ended up getting Axioms instead. Oh well
The Axiom models don't line up directly with the Paradigm models (Paradigm has more "midsize" speakers, Axiom has more in the large and small ends of the range) but from what little I have heard of them I would say :
Studio 20 is comparable to the M3 but a bit more bass and a tiny bit less clarity in the midrange (still very nice though).
Paradigm doesn't have anything directly equivalent to the M22 -- fantastic response but not a lot of bass. Paradigm product line is a bit more music oriented, Axiom assumes you will have a sub for most of their smaller speakers so they worry more about flat response above 80 hz than lots of bass.
Axiom doesn't have anything directly equivalent to Studio 40 and 60 (mid-sized speakers with lots of bass) although I imagine the M50 fits somewhere between them. The Studio 60 is a pretty big speaker (bigger than M60) with few drivers, sort of similar to the dear departed M40.
M60 and Studio 100 are supposed to be pretty close; again I expect the Paradigm would have more bass and the Axiom would be a bit more clear in the midrange.
Both are really nice... I think I would be happy with either.
