Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Axiom or Rocket - Buying without audition

I'll start things off with a couple of disclaimers. I have never heard M80s / VP150 or rockets but I do have M60s and VP100.

Given your room size and listening habits you would probably be fine with M60/VP100 but if there is any chance of moving to a bigger room in the future the M80/VP150 combo is probably the way to go. In terms of being "too big for the room" the only caveats I have seen re: M80 is that they like to be a couple of feet away from the wall and owners seem to be happier when they are not sitting too close. If the M80s are going against the short wall then everything should be peachy... if going against the long wall then you will probably want the listening position to be not much more than 4 feet from the back wall. Can you put the mains on the short wall ?

re: loud and clear non-fatiguing SPLs, M80s seem to excel at that. Again, I haven't heard them but they are supposed to be quite a bit better the M60 at high SPL and my M60s play louder than I ever want (13x23x8 room) without sounding at all strained.

re: "I do not like very high sounds" the sense I get is that Rockets are a bit more bass-heavy and treble-light than Axioms. Some people do prefer that sound and Axiom has a few speakers that lean the same way (M3, M40, M50), but the M80s are more "clean and accurate" than "mellow".

If you can find someone with B&W 703s a lot of people say M60s sound very similar -- and M80s are the same but able to play at higher volumes with the same clarity.

That's all I know ;(