I think I might be able to add some good input. My friend has owned a Paradigm system (Studio 100's, ADP's, CC570). I have heard his system countless times as we were neighbors for 5 years. I now own M60's, VP150, and QS8's.
Much like yourself, I was floored when I first heard his system. It is basically what got me interested in home theater. To be honest, if I could have afforded Paradigm Reference, I would have never done any research on my own and just bought a Paradigm Reference system from a local dealer. However, I could not afford them nor did I want to pay that kind of money for a home theater. Hence, two plus years ago I began my own quest that ultimately led to my purchasing an Axiom system. On to my thoughts.....
Without any AB comparison, and only judging by my own ears, I find the Studio 100's to have a slight edge over the M60's. The most notable difference between the two is that the Studio's seem to emphasize the mid-bass region a little while the M60's remain more accurate. Overall they are very close sounding. For some reason, I never thought much of the ADP surrounds. I have always believed they are the weak link in the series. I easily prefer the QS8's over the ADP's....to my ears they just do everything better. As far as the center channel, they are again very close but I think the CC570 is marginally better. Vocals seem to be on par with one another, but the CC570 seemed to have more punch on DVD's.
One thing to consider is that my buddy's Paradigms are hooked up to some serious gear....much,much better than mine and 3 times the power. I have a 80/w channel NAD T752 and a bottom-feeding Toshiba DVD player. He has 3 2-channel Carver Research amps at 300w/channel, a Lexicon MC12B which is always set to Logic 7 for movies, and top of the line CD & DVD players. The differences in our gear is substantial and it is conceivable that it attributed at least to some degree to what I heard and therefore how I formed my opinions.
It would be interesting to see how the two systems compared if I was able to hook my Axioms up to his gear. It would certainly level the playing field. Maybe I should give him a call and see if he would do that some time?
