Which pair of front speakers would you buy with $2000 or $5,000? I am curious about choices in those price ranges that are hands-down better (sonically, not cosmetically) than a pair of M60s.

While Axiom clearly do not offer such choice, I wonder if any M60 owner here had come across such choice but due to budget or other reasons picked the M60s instead.

Thanks!

I don't own 60's but I'd love to someday audition (with the intent of eventually buying) some Vandersteen Model 3A's and some Thiels. Both of those speakers have always caught my eye and I haven't read any bad things about them. I'd like to also try some Martin Logans as well. I've actually heard those (but an in home demo would be nice). Very sweet speakers.

Thiel CS3.6 for almost full range speakers
Reference 3a De Capo mm-i's for book shelf speakers
just about anything by JMLab.

I'll second 2x6's Thiel recommendation. They are some very sweet sounding speakers. And they're better cosmetically, too.

I too was going to suggest Thiel. B&W 703's sound pretty much like M60's but look nicer. Energy Veritas 2.4's are also quite nice.

Mag-ne-pan. All the way.

I know mine make me grin like a sh!t eatin' opossum every time I sit down for a listen.

M60's or 80's all the way around for a 7.1 setup, and then hopefully have some change left to be able to drive them all.

Like Spiff, I picked my M60's over B&W 703's, and I had the funds to get the B&W's.

I did an extensive A/B comparision between M60s and Meadowlark Blue Heron 2s (about $12000/pair). Meadowlarks are in the same technical family as Vanderstein -- time and phase coherent.

They were magnificent. Just a three dimensional, sweet resonant, accurate sound. Not the slightest bit bright or harsh, yet not laid back either. Most listeners judged the Meadowlarks significantly better than the M60s in pure stereo.

However my Axiom 5.1 config in surround often sounded better than the Meadowlarks in down-folded stereo. Fair? All my speakers together cost less than the two Meadowlarks, so fair from that standpoint.

You could probably find factory seconds or used models for $6-7k if you look hard.

I'm still happy with my M60s, which did pretty well against these super speakers. Axiom has an amazing product. But those Meadowlarks were sweet sounding speakers. If money was no object I'd definitely have them or something similar.

There are other speakers up the food chain. If you can afford it, audition and buy wisely, there's some nice stuff. But you can also spend a lot of money and end up with less than Axiom.

Meadowlark vs Axiom

I will upgrade in maybe a few years' time when I get promoted or something. When that happens I will get a new TBD pair for front, move the M60s to the rear, the QS8s to the side, and get a center to complete a 7.1 setup. I am not a big fan of monster subs, so will probably stick with the PB10 for a long time. Hopefully by that time the AV connection mess will go away so that I can also upgrade my receiver/player combo (perhaps with a Denon 8805?)

For the TBD front, you have suggested several brands: Thiel, Magnepan, Vandersteen, Martin Logans, JMLabs, Energy, Meadowlark. I will be scouting these brands to get an idea of how much improvement over the M60 I will get. If the improvement is slight, perhaps it makes more sense to get another pair of M60s for better timber/visual match. If the improvement provided by brand X is significant, I will get brand X instead.

I purchased the Axioms entirely based on internet info and without any auditioning, but for this next step, auditioning seems crucial. Who wants to spend $5,000 or a pair of fancy looking speakers that sound only marginally better than a pair of $800 M60s?

For now, I am a happy camper, even with a phantom center (sorry for the rhyme )

Thank you all for the suggestions.

You can probably build that Meadowlark for much much cheaper. If you like the meadowlark look at DIY designs. I can tell you off the bat that they are using the scanspeak revelator tweeter and the mid end scanspeak 18w/8546. The midrange is the scanspeak revelator mid.

I agree that the Vadersteins are great speakers, so are the relatively modestly priced Harbeth and Spendors. The Maggies are incredible and very modestly priced.

Wow, that's interesting. I am not very handy, but will look into this.

DIY high-end speakers? That's a totally new concept too me. You learn something new everyday.

Oh yes, a set of maggys . I might get a set of mmg's for my home office.

Thiel 2.4's.

A friend of mine has a pair of Allison One speakers that he bought from a kid in the early 80's for $100! Not too long ago, they were brought back into production and I believe they go for around $3500. I'm not sure about that though.

Anyway, they have a smooth natural sound about them that is highly detailed. They aren't very forward speakers, but they aren't laid back or warm either...just very neutral. They seem to require a lot of power though. The only thing I'm not too keen about is their wide dispersion design. They are made to be placed against a wall and away from the corners. It's a nice feature if placement is an issue, but somehow I feel the imaging is being compromised a bit. I'd still like to have a pair of them though.

DIY used to be the most common way to get high end speakers. I think that changed about 20 years ago, but before that most really nice sounding speakers were really ugly

I would go with the VS 4jr's. Sweet speakers.

I would look at models from the following mfg'ers:

- Reference 3a (although I would not limit them to calling them bookshelves - the de Capo's are among the best regardless of size)
- Totem
- Castle
- Living Voice
- Sonus Faber
- Focus Audio

as well as some of the models mentioned above - Thiel, Maggies, Martin Logan, etc

..this list could get long!!!!