Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Thinking of Axioms but own Paradigm and Klipsch

I've never heard Focals but most stereo speakers are pretty good at creating just that, a stereo effect. Indeed, some speakers are better than others but I'd be willing to bet that you are correct and placement of the speakers vs. your seat was more the key.

Perhaps they are indeed awesome speakers but I wouldn't worry too much about comparing soundstage in a shop where the speakers are all lined up in different positions on a wall. it's just not a fair comparison for that specific item.

Edit:
Bored on a conf call so I checked their web page. They are a cool looking speaker with the angled grills on. for some reason they remind me of Cylons.

They don't publish a graph but just from the frequency response given, one could safely say that the Axiom equivalents will give you deeper bass.

+1 to everything that Alan says.

While I have not owned Paradigm speakers, I have heard them demoed several times. They're good. To my ears, they share the same sort of 'musical ethos' of Axiom. If Axiom ceased to exist, I'd likely turn to Paradigm for replacements. I came close to buying a 'closeout' pair of Reference Studio 100's a few years ago. Really lovely speakers. But it'd be a stretch to call them *better* than M80's. At the same price, sure, RS100's give M80's a run for their money. But they're not the same price, the RS's are almost twice as expensive.

Now Klipsch.... Horn-tweeted Klipsch speakers have the honor of being the only kind of speaker where I've asked the shop owner/demoer to turn them off. For some reason, I simply cannot stand their horn-loaded tweeters. Literally like fingers on a chalk board for me.

If you want to hear what Axiom's sound like, the best way to do it is to arrange a demo. Many of us here have no problem offering demos at our homes to curious board members. There are a few threads over in the 'Hearing Things' area that may help. You can either look for forum members in your area, or email Axiom directly (I think...) and they'll set something up.

But if you can't or don't want to do that, I've always said that Paradigms are the closest mass-market speaker you can find that will give you a taste of Axiom's sound. If not Paradigm, I've found that B&W's 7xx series speakers are acoustically similar too.

I can't compare the two for you, but Focal is a solid speaker company in terms of drivers. I have owned them and am not shocked you liked the sound. They have been making some of the best mobile audio drivers available for many years - with prices exceeding $5,000 for the Beryllium Utopia Be speaker, without a box, just drivers and crossovers!

And from the Utopia Home Series it looks like they figured out how to use a saw for some cabinets as well (WOW!). But dollar for dollar, Axiom generally comes out on top of comparisons with companies like Focal (of JM Labs).

What was the price of the Chorus line?

The Focal 714v Floorstanders I listened to were $1000/pair (round numbers).

I'm still a n00b when it comes to good quality Entry Level Audiophile stuff. When I say I've never heard anything like those Focals, it may or may not actually mean anything.

So far the speaker lines I've listened to are:
- Paradigm Monitor series
- Paradigm Studio series
- B&W 600 Series
- Focal 714s

Still want to hear PSBs and B&W 800s

Of course I've heard consumer level Sonys, Polk and Energy as well.

Thanks
snazzed