This past weekend I went with a friend to listen to speakers because he wanted to upgrade. We listed to the Paradigm's and frankly was amazed at how average they sounded (esp their center channel). Their $500 sub has decent output but zero clarity (all boom). So we headed back to my place and played the same material on my system. I had a feeling he would be able to tell the difference and he did as he now has an order into Axiom for 6 speakers.