Gonna have to wait a bit longer on that head-to-head as one of the speakers was damaged during shipping. I think I'll blame BC Ferries. They're always a good scapegoat.

Sorry to hear it was damaged. What was it? These things are kind of like car wrecks, you just have to look and ask questions.

It was an 8cm crack (almost half the depth of the speaker) caving in part of the casing. It looks like it was dropped on a post with a rubber cap or something as there was no puncture wound per se (other than the carton), just impact damage.

That speaker weighs next to nothing so I'm sure it wasn't dropped. It was thrown with extreme prejudice. Almost every single box I've received from Axiom has, what I consider to be, and excessive amount of damage (not to the contents; just the box). I feel that Axiom has exercised a great amount of due diligence with the packaging design. If it had to be more robust, it would have to be crated and that's a huge expense. If I was Axiom, I would be documenting each and every occurence like yours and negotiating compensation with the shipper.

From my experience, I would say something landed on it, as the M3 is not that hard to handle. The chutes the packages go down get clogged up and stuff up to 70lbs will go down them. The box doesn't stand a chance under the right circumstances. Some of the things I have seen go down the lines should never go.

I once worked in an airport. My tour included a quick in & out of the giant conveyor belt sorting area. Unless I'm traveling for more than a week, I CRAM my life into a carry on.

Smart thinking.

I called my local stereo shop who I've dealt with since 98 for all my equipment; Paradigm included, and asked if they would let me do a A/B test using my new M80's (opening the boxes tomorrow) VS Paradigm 11V5's and they are more than accommodating!!! Possibly next week. CAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNT WAIT!!

You are of course going to post your findings and pics, right?

Yes I will, but I'm not as technical as Mojo and others