Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo M80 vs Paradigm Studio 100

A 3-4 months back I was ready to come home with Wharfedale Evo-50 until I heard of Paradigm Monitor 11. I liked the Paradigm more cause of the bass..it sounds fuller to me but and then I add a sub with Evo-50 during my auditioning and the Evo sounded awesome too. Then I saw the Paradigm Studio if money wasn't issue I definitely would had bought the studio. Sadly I went home with no speakers since I totally got myself so confused I can't decide which one to buy. So after a week or so I finally decided to buy the M80s cause of I had read on this forum. Since I can't justify paying the price of studio..Axiom M80s-Vp180-Q8-E305 were the speakers for me. So far so good.. I finally push the speakers abit with AC/DC live cd and Lotr movie last weekened and quite happy with results even the wife was also quite impressed by it esp.. she listened to music louder than I do. I didn't get a chance to compare the M80s to Studio side by side but I went to a friend house who had a 5.1 Paradigm Studio set-up and I listened to Rolling Stones and U2 live concert ..let me tell you these speakers were amazing..to compare it to my M80s..I think the M80s will give the Studio a run for its money..

As Alan says the speakers are similarily good.

... but not similarly priced.

Yesterday I found a used pair of Coincident Super Eclipse III speaker. Even it is used, still expensive. I read its specs and says its tweeter is not metal. What is difference metal and non-metal? Other than the tweeter,their specs seem similar to M80. Why are they more expensive? Are they made of gold??

I would say a well designed metal tweeter(titanium, aluminum, berylium ect) will play with more detail(crisp) to higher freq's than fabric type tweeters which are often known to roll off the highs somewhat. To some people this may mean "smoother", to others it means the sound is "coloured". The key with metal tweeters is that they are designed well, a poorly designed metallic tweeter may sound rather harsh at higher fq's.

Just taking into consideration the material alone whether it is a metal (aluminum, titanium) or soft dome (silk) is not enough to quantify any differences between them. Ideally you want a material that is light, rigid/stiff and has good damping. There is a lot more to a tweeter than just the material used.

Unfortunately I have never heard of those speakers before.

Dr. House has it right. Just because metal makes a high pitched noise when you hit it with a hammer, and fabric does not, that does not mean that metal, vibrated at a high rate of speed, necessarily makes a more high pitched noi than fabric vibratedat the same speed.

After all, are metal-coned subwoofers bright or harsh?

In my square room, I have a sibilant sub.

Also note that how that specific tweeter is implemented into a speaker design is very important, especially in the crossover network. A poorly designed crossover can also be the cause of non-desired behavior that might be exhibited with a specific tweeter and speaker in general.

In my class room, I once had a sibilant sub too!