I am on a budget and I am trying to get some speakers for a receiver(Yamaha vrx 450) I think .I bought the paradigms cinema 70 Ct.v3s and the Harmon kardon hyks-7s but I don't know which to keep and I cannot set them up right now to listen does anyone have an opinion. The paradigms were 529.99 Canadian and the Harmons were 399.99 Canandian .Also does anyone think the Pioneer VSX-D914K WOULD BE A BETTER CHOICE OVER THE YAMAHA AMP?

I'm confused. Are you not even remotely interested in exploring the possibility of purchasing a pair of Axioms, particularly since you're posting this question on their site?

I think the question is "so what do I get if I'm looking for something less expensive than even the smallest Axiom system ?". I'm going through the same quest -- trying to find a not-too-awful system for my brother-in-law with a budget of "up to a couple of hundred dollars as long as that buys something really good". The other criteria is that they must be silver

The least expensive Axiom system from their store is 5 x M2s plus a cheap non-Axiom sub, which would run ~900 CDN. That would definitely run rings around either of the systems the poster mentioned but would also cost as much as the two of them combined.

A more comparable option to the systems the poster mentioned would be ordering 2 pairs of M0 plus a VP0 from www.canadianhifi.com and combining with a non-Axiom sub -- you could do that for <600 CDN. That would be a pretty nice combo, probably better than either the HK or Paradigm systems.

Between the two systems mentioned (Paradigm and HK) my guess is that it's going to depend on your room size a bit. The Paradigm probably has slightly better satellite speakers but the HK has a bigger sub that will probably do better in a large room. There aren't a lot of reviews on the HK but there are a fair number on the Paradigm system.

Good luck with your choice. I was looking at both of those systems plus assembling an M0/VP0 system from Canadian Hi Fi, will probably go with the Axioms myself of course

Fair enough. If you'll notice, I posted that at 3:25am. Not too tough to get confused at that hour, you know? No harm intended.

I didn't look up the actual models he mentioned - I guess I just thought he was looking for a pair of speakers and that budget would certainly accommodate a pair of Axioms.

I was confused by what he is asking and it is 11:25 am, but I'm still sleepy.

The only reason I knew was because I'm in the middle of looking at the same products. Came down to almost the same short list -- HK, Paradigm, Onkyo HT-5xx and the discontinued Axioms.

The HK is attractive if only because it comes with what seems to be a decent sub for a very low price. I was playing around last night with cheap towers I already own (my current surrounds) and no sub but IMO you just lose too much of the movie impact without the sub.

I did find that adding a good center (VP100 or inverted M2) to the cheap towers made a huge improvement in sound, particularly vocals. Sort of a sows ear with a thin silk veneer

Thanks guys sorry for the confusion I would indeed love to buy some axioms if I coud afford them.And I was under the impression I could ask any question,I did not mean to be rude or offensive to any of the Axiom staff anf if anyone knows of where I could get an Axiom 5.1 system for around $550.00 Canadian please let me know. Thanks.

Thank You very Much, I appreciate your taking the time to help me.

You can ask anything here...it's just rare that someone asks about other speakers without Axiom being in the list at all. No worries.

I suggest you take a look at the Hsu Ventriloquist system and the Hus STF 1 sub its $498.00 USD.

...or the Onkyo HTIB #770? 4770? I dunno. Whatever it is, it's less than $500 US and comes with a receiver.

BTW, you mentioned HYKS-7, I'm guessing you meant HKTS-7 ?

The 7's have been discontinued by HK and replaced with the HKTS 8's although for the life of me I can't see any difference between 7s and 8s. The HKTS 7's were ~699 but are being cleared out now so you got a good price for them. I stopped by a couple of FutureShop stores today hoping to hear the HKs but only one store had them (Ajax) and they weren't set up. FS seems to be pushing Athena and Polk right now.

How big is the room you will be using them in ?

I second the Hsu Ventriloquist system

I realize this doesn't help the thread, but FWIW I did solve my purchase dilemma -- configuring a real cheap HT system that would sound OK in a 5000 ft3 family room.

Figured my cheap towers (currently serving as surrounds) would figure into the solution somewhere. Problem was that they essentially had mid-bass and upper midrange and not much else (2 drivers = 2 ugly peaks, glad it was only a 2-way ). I found that hooking up the VP100 center made an incredible difference in sound quality since it carried a lot of the vocals and really filled the holes in the L + R frequency response.

I was about to donate my VP100 to the cause when I remembered that Future Shop had Quest center channel speakers on sale for half price -- $49.95 CDN. Hmm... I wonder. 4 stores later (the things we do for family) I picked up the last QC5 in Toronto, in a torn-up box no less.

Same driver complement as the VP100 (2 x 5.5" plus a central tweeter) although obviously not the same quality of drivers. The cabinet appeared to be ~3/8" plywood painted black although the brochure said MDF. Rapping the cabinet wall made a noise a couple of octaves higher than the VP100 (sort of a "tick" vs. "tock") but nothing rattled. Binding posts were OK -- basic 5-way angled 45 degrees.

Set everything up with the VP100 first and listened to a few DVDs & CDs for reference then switched over to the QC5. Better than I expected -- more forward than the VP100 and a bit "edgy" but I think some of that was higher output -- I had to take the center level down 3-4 dB to match everything up again.

Overall, I have to say "not bad". Not in the same league as the Axioms but I can enjoy listening to music on them. I guess the deficiencies cancelled out pretty well. Will still need to find some surrounds to go with the towers & Quest center but brother-in-law is in no rush to install surrounds and mess up their nice new walls, maybe I can sneak some QSs in later when they're not paying attention.

I'm going to be needing some QS's anyways since I was using the towers as HT surrounds. Ain't it great how these things work out ?

Check out the Athena Point 5 system.

Big bang for the buck. Nice sound ... and they are silver.

Oneair67, if your interested in purchasing Axiom speakers how about buying a new pair of m2's, or m3's, or m22's to start out with. Then add a component every few months (or longer) until you've got a 5.1 system? Or if your a factory outlet kind of guy, you can get a pair of m2's and a vp100 almost right away for 567.00 CAD. That would be a great start towards a 5.1 system.

Absolutely. Don't skimp just so you can have 5.1 right away. You'll only end up buying all new stuff again down the road.

Get what you can afford now, and add to it piece by piece. I'd suggest a pair of factory outlet M22ti's as a start.

The room is not very big it is 14*16 and the ceilings are about 11ft high.And yes the style is HKTS-7.I took back the Paradigm until I could decide wether or not I wanted to go with them they only have a seven day return policy at the store where I bought them and I did not want to get stuck with them.I have also considered other manufacturers but with the Canadian dollar customs and shipping it means the US prices are alot,higher.I grabbed the Panasonic SAXR50S Dolby Digital Receiver for 299.00 Canadian and the Panasonic DVD-F87S Progressive Scan 5-Disc DVD Player 135.00 Canadian so all I need now is some good speakers at a good price.Good luck with your purchase.

Sounds like your system is coming together pretty well. I haven't seen much better than the HK speakers for the price yet -- only concern is that your room is definitely "medium sized" so any of the small speaker sets (including HK) are going to have trouble really filling the room with sound.

Do you have enough cables and bits to start hooking up speakers ? You're really going to have to listen to them in your room at the volume you want before you're going to know for sure.