Its a no-brainer (see, you're fitting in here already
) drive to Dwight. Its beautiful up there this time of year anyway.
Speaker price vs quality is a reverse exponential thing. For every $1,000 you get incrementally less improvement for your money (and in some cases you get nothing).
From what I understand, Paradigm has been going upscale over the last couple of years. they are cashing in on years of reputation as a great speaker manufacturer, prettying up the studio line and raising prices. Have you seen the new Studios? Nice curved back, beautiful veneer...
Throw a nice Rosewood veneer on the M80 and you go from a $1,300 speaker to a $2,000 speaker. Did that $700 make the speaker sound any better? Add the dealer markup (gross up 65% which = 40% margin), gross up another another 15-20% for sell through marketing and you are at a $3,800 M80. Tack on another $1,000 for rep. and dead sexy factor (the Studio not the Axioms) and you have a $5,000 speaker.
The math is a little loose, but you get the idea.
So, If the M80 gets you to within 80% (or better) of the sound qualtiy of the Studio 100 at $1,300 is it worth it to take a 2 hour drive to check them out?
By the way, check out the frequency and distortion graphs
here at the soundstage network. The Studio 100s are a hair flatter and have
slightly less distortion. Off axis measurements are also very close. People can tell tall tails, independant measurements can back up valid claims.
FYI there is a very good link to explanations of the various measurements and how they relate to speaker/sound quality at the top of each measurement page.
Now, get in the car already!!
