Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Paradigm Prestige?

I haven't heard Paradigms in 11 years. I can't therefore tell you if Axiom sounds better than Paradigm. I do know however that both companies employ the same philosophy in speaker design which is the one developed back in the mid 80s at the NRC. Having said that, they're bound to sound different because they interpret "the recipe" in different ways. If you want to know more about this recipe, look up my post on "We six curves of Axiom are".

$10K is a very decent budget. Considering Axiom products, which is what I am most familiar with, and a sale on factory outlet gear, you can put together an audiophile-grade 5.1 speaker system for under $5K quite easily. That will easily not only work but be over-kill in many ways for large spaces like my 4200 cu. ft. room.

I can't tell you what Axiom gear to buy but I can tell you about my experience. I owned a v2 system consisting of M80s, QS8s, VP150 and EP600 for 11 years. I really struggled with it and didn't like it particularly the 600 and the VP150. In the last 4 years, my tastes changed and I wanted greater soundstage width and depth and improved imaging like being able to actually place instruments and vocals on the soundstage. I didn't do any upgrades but I followed Axiom very closely in a silent kind of way particularly after Andrew Welker joined Ian's team. To make a long story short, around 2017, 4 years after Axiom released v4, I started seriously reading and talking with Ian and a few other knowledgeable people. I finally decided to upgrade to the 160 and 800 both v4 because those were very problematic for me. I was so blown away by both of those products (which frankly I was expecting after all my reading and discussions) that I decided to upgrade the rest of my system.

If you read my many posts and reviews of the QS10, 160, 800, M3, M5, you'll come to understand what Axiom created with the v4 is a real gift for us all. I'm also running M100s now and those, while they're terrific, aren't really needed to have an audiophile-grade experience.

I've gone on and on about all these products and I'm sure folks around here are long tired of my prose. Suffice it to say that while v4 looks the same as the v2 I had, that's where the similarities end. While v4 is very important, that's not the most important thing for you to understand at this point.

The most important thing is that Axiom today isn't like the Axiom of v2. These folks are cranking out one innovation after the other. I've been in product development for 31 years and I don't know how they do it. This is most important because like you, 11 years ago I thought I'd buy a system and be done with it for the rest of my life. That's not how it worked out for me however because my understanding of what I really needed evolved. So the real question here is not only how you can get a great sounding system but how can you evolve that system to take advantage of innovations in sound research for the lowest total cost of ownership.

Enter the Axiom loyalty programs, sales incentives and multiple on-line "stores". Every time you buy, your loyalty discount level grows. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Ian is very, very generous. Even though I am happy as the proverbial pig in sh!t with my system, I know there's stuff coming around the corner that will give me more of what I want - improved image focus, greater stage depth and wider soundstage. I also want to move to separate amplification and Axiom is going to make it easier for me to do that. I'll be able to trade my current gear in at very generous trade-in values to take advantage of the innovations that will truly improve my sound experience and emotions. On this point, don't be fooled by changes to speaker aesthetics that a lot of companies engage in. Those aesthetics may make the speakers appear better but they won't necessarily sound any better. The speakers are not just a tweeter, a mid-woofer, a woofer, a cabinet or a cross-over but rather how well a speaker company understands those parts and how to "sum them all" so that they work as a finely tuned system.

Getting into gear, I've tried M3s, M5s and M100s in my 4,200 cu. ft. space mated to my Onk, 800v4, vP160v4 and QS10. All of those speakers fill my space. Even those M3s which I long-despised since hearing the M3TI 11 years ago. Now, they are a different animal and even at 12.5 feet apart and 12 feet away, I had an amazing deep, wide and tall soundstage with images I could see across the layers. As I've said in other posts, the M5 and M100 improves on that with strongly diminishing returns after the M5. The M5 is simply amazing but of course I don't know how much more or less amazing to an equivalent Paradigm product. I just know that my finnicky ear-brain system that was so badly tortured by v2 gear is now so flooded with the chemicals released by v4, that I just can't get enough!

I have no reservations recommending the v4 speakers and sealed subs. I've been saying all v2 customers need to do themselves a solid and get on v4. I can't say anything about the ported subs because I've never heard them. If you have the resources to compare gear from the two companies within your space, go for it. Remember though that your tastes may evolve and it may cost you a whack of cash to satisfy them. Or you may not be able to satisfy them because cash is a barrier and that's a pretty crappy way to live the rest of your existence. Axiom makes satisfaction much easier. BTW, customer service is exceptional.