My wife and I visited a friend from work's house to see their landscaping. While there, her "audiopile" husband invited us to hear his system. I really wish I could remember what his speakers were - they were taller than me. My wife does not like loud music - but of course, he had to play our requests at insane volumes. Think of the old Maxell ad with the speaker wind blowing the dude int the chair away. Anyway he recommended Axioms as excellent sound at a reasonable price due to the direct marketing model. I signed up to the forums and lurked for a long time while saving up and hoping someone in driving distance would offer their systems on the "Hearing Things" thread. That did not happen - so I found a place to audition Paradigms here in town after reading the reccos from the regulars. I liked the Paradigms but the cost is roughly double if you don't go Vassallo. In the end, I went ahead and bought the Epic 60-500 on faith and was blown away and never had a moment's regret - sub excepted.
