I'm pretty new to this high end audio, so forgive me for not using any jargon or being very descriptive. I'm just a music enthusiast that can't spell and has trouble figuring out how to program a remote. Anyway, when I was shopping for speakers, I listened to B&W, Paradigm, Boston Acoustics, McIntosh and JBL. Out of all of them under 5K, it was a toss up between the B&W 703's and the Paradigm Studio 100's. Both were at different shops, so I couldn't go from one to the other to really compare. But those are the two that just seemed to call to me. I didn't want to put down 2400 or 3000 for a set of speakers, so I started looking at Axiom and Onix. Lot's of folks compared the sound of Axioms to B&W, but I don't know if I'd buy that, entirely. Similar, but definitely different. I bought the M80's and if I had to compare them to anything, it would be the Studio 100's. I think the 100's have just a touch more base, but that's probably just acoustical differences of my home vrs the store. Plus they were running them off high dollar McIntosh and Rotel stuff. I have a Harmon/Kardon 7200. I suspect that's a big factor. I have no regrets with the M80's. They sound great and crank louder than my neighbors a couple streets over can stand. Plus, with the 1300 bucks I saved, I'm buying a sub and new mega changer to go with them.
.....mike
