The story continues...

My brother was in town this past weekend and we went out and listened to some gear. (No I didn't bring my M60's with me, that will wait until he's finally ready to make a purchase.)

On our first stop we listened to some B&W CDM 7 towers and the smaller CDM bookshelf speakers. We also compared those with the NHT ST4.

In a nutshell, we liked the B&W's but weren't all that impressed. The NHT ST4's were quite terrible. Much fuller sounding than the B&W's (due to their built in sub), but clarity was lacking, and the mid-range was quite veiled.

One thing that was determined in this stop - my brother wants Rotel gear. He'll probably end up with the RSX-1055 receiver, and their RDV-1060 dvd player. (Based almost solely on looks more than sound. By brother is a big lable whore.)

2nd stop...

Here we listened to some Vienna Acoustics towers. Very nice. Much better than the B&W's, but room acoustics may contribute to that, as the first store's listening area was dreadful. Regardless, we both enjoyed the VA Bach's. Next we listened to a pair of Def Tech towers. I'd heard a few people mention Def Tech's, but I myself had never heard any. Wow! Very impressive! The two demo cd's we'd been using, really came alive on the Def Techs. I'm not exactly sure of the model number, but I think it was the Def Tech BP2400. I can see why Def Tech has fans now.

At this store we also listened to the Pioneer VSX-53 vs the Denon 3803. I think something was set up wrong, because the Denon sounded like poop. We'd heard the 3803 vs the Rotel in the previous store, and there was very little difference in sound. But like I said, I think the electronics end of things has been somewhat decided already.

Now we head home, and I throw the same cd into my system. Granted, audio memory isn't great, but he says to me, that he thought my system sounded as good as anything we'd heard. (I agree, with the possibility of the Def Tech's perhaps edging my M60's out. I'd have to hear them side-by-side) but the M60's certainly out shine either of the B&W speakers, and Vienna Acoustic speakers we listened to.

Yeah Axiom! Boy I love my Axioms.

fyi:

B&W CDM bookshelf speakers $1300
B&W CDM 7 $1800
NHT ST4 $1000
Vienna Acoustics Bach $1200
Def Tech $1600
Axiom M60ti $800