Fred, unfortunately I have little useful info to offer you, but I did want to give you kudos for doing all the leg work. Half the battle of finding good speakers is narrowing down what type of sound you're looking for. The only way to do that is go out and listen! Good job.

I'll let the others who've done direct comparisons between Axiom and Paradigm offer advice.

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"Nothin' up my sleeve. . ." --Bullwinkle J. Moose