Oh and to address a few earlier questions, my search for high end audio was actually rather short lived. You see after the fire I thought I was going to go with a complete Cambridge Soundworks set-up. But when they no longer offered the $2000 dollar power towers I'd been wanting to upgrade to all those years, I started searching for something else in the $2000 dollar range. Paradigm was the 1st company I really researched at any great length. Then I found Axiom when searching for subwoofers.
And I really liked what I saw and heard about all the Axiom products so from that moment forward I was gung-ho about a 100% Axiom HT system... until Bob's thread came up. Hearing about a person who was as disappointed in his purchase as Bob was, along with all the poor comments I read on the Salk forum really made me second guess whether or not spending $4000 dollars on speakers I've never even heard before was a wise choice. I didn't run out and search for another brand at that point, because Steve quickly picked up the ball and offered a demo at his place.
So I figured I'd wait to make my decision until I heard the speakers (he has every speaker I'm getting) first hand. Well I no longer have any hesitation or desire to search out a different brand. I'm not here to say Bob was wrong, I'm a staunch believer in 'to each his own'. All I'm here to say is that I love the M80's/EP800/QS8's & VP150 combo. If they are bright then I like bright. They will no doubt be 'brighter' yet in my living room, but I have no fear that I won't like them. My mind is made up.
So now it's order time. But my girlfriend & I depart on a 9 day trip to Rome/Venace & Florence on the 12th, so I'm going to wait until we get back from our trip to put my order in.
You never know, I may just NEED that $4000 dollars while we're there!
The whole post was excellent but, if I may, I'd like to address the part I've highlighted in blue.
It's good to see that you've learned that opinions about speakers are no more than that - opinions. If one looks hard enough, one can find user opinions, about any speaker, ranging from raves to "they're crap." You can just about always throw out the really horrible ones as well as the fanatically positive ones that make it sound like the speakers will cure herpes and make you look like Brad Pitt. It's likely the truth lies somewhere in between.
One would be wise to also discount the opinions that start out "I've never really heard them but........," for they are merely hearsay and we've already established that one can easily find a wide range of opinions about any speaker. Because somebody heard someone say something doesn't make it factual.
Lastly, I can guarantee that, at some point, you'll find yourself thinking something akin to "OMG!
That sounds a little harsh ." At that moment you'll likely think of Bob and start to wonder if he was right. Just remember that a good speaker will accurately reproduce what it is fed. I've never owned speakers, any speaker, that, depending on the source (most often with poorly recorded CDs and some concerts/movies on TV), didn't, occasionally, sound harsh. Garbage in - garbage out. The room itself (dimensions, surfaces, furnishings) can also be a factor. If a given speaker is truly harsh, it will
always sound harsh regardless what you feed it or where it is located.
Rome? Venice? Florence? I think I hate you.
