TheTruth,
You are correct in some aspects and a bit off in some others. Speakers do not need break in to 'loosen up'. This has been audio myth for a long time, at least to those who read and believe in the imperical science.
The speed at which a driver vibrates per second is phenomenal. The mere second you put a sound through the speakers, the drivers are as loose as they are ever going to get.
However you are correct in that the brain requires time to adjust to a new sound. Typically this adjustment period is far less than 6 months. If i recall it is more in the range of hours. Only the individual preferences will determine whether that sound is 'better' or not.
It sounds to me like you enjoy a speaker with more bass (hence your preference for the Paradigm lineup and your comment about adding a sub for overall improvement).
I cannot say how Paradigm has decided to design their speakers but i highly doubt they are configuring their products specifically for certain ranges of music. No customer in their right mind will buy 3 sets of speakers to cover all the bases so to speak.
All metal tweeters are not the culprits for sounding bright, thin, tinny or harsh. More often it is the source music reproduced on a particular set of speakers that creates this perception.
As you state, you feel the Axioms would not be good for rock music. Well most mainstream rock music is not recorded very well. They are recorded for masses of teenagers who like to listen to such music on $200 Sony boomboxes and in cars. Alot of the upper frequencies are boosted as are the lower end frequencies. This is done so the music sounds 'better' on such low quality systems. I can remember trying to turn up the treble all the time while riding around in friend's car on friday nights trying to get an inch of better quality out of the music. He was always trying to turn up the bass knob.
When this 'hot' recorded music is played back on a decent system (Axiom based or otherwise), these overdone frequencies become very evident and hence, many recordings do not sound nearly as pleasant as they may have in the past on a lesser quality system.
For those who do prefer to listen to this type of music, there certainly are metal tweeters that are more laid back than others, including some in the Axioms lineup (M50 vs. M60 for example), however i have personally found that most soft domes or fabric tweeters do tend to roll off the upper frequencies giving a more suppressed upper end that makes the 'hot' recordings alot nicer on the ears.
I just recently bought a pair of Tannoy Revolution R1s which are a perfect example of this effect. They are nicely detailed and certainly no different in their playback of high notes and vocals, but they are alot more smoothed and almost filtered compared to my M60s (or from what i remember of the M22s when i auditioned them).
Would i buy Tannoys over Axioms based on this?
I'm not 100% sure. I do love the Axioms for home theare. The clarity is phenomenal, but the Tannoys would certainly be a bit easier on the ears if many of my music recordings were 'overdone in the oven'. Since many of my wifes' recordings are more non-mainstream jazz, blues, acoustic, etc., the M60s produce a detail than cannot be beat for its price range.
