I have a question, never owned good speakers before. This year I bought Monitor 11 and RF82. I run them them as my A and B speakers together and I like the sound. I am interested in the M80, they have a nice look to them and I have read the reviews and I am looking for an honest answer. I will likely look for someone in my area so I can listen to them and would also like Alan Loft's opinion. So my question is, what kind of difference in sound quality would I hear if I purchase the M80 in comparison to what I am running now. Is it a little difference, alot of difference, what would be the differences in bass, midrange, treble, clarity, tightness, etc. Would it be worth it for me to sell my present speakers and replace them with M80. Anyway, that's my question and like I said earlier I am looking for an honest answer. Thanks for the input.

Welcome to the forum SpeakerFreak.

I consider Paradigm and Klipsch both very respectable speaker manufactures. To say you never owned good speakers before might be bit of an overstatement.

You should be able to get some good feedback because it seems alot of people around here have listened to both the Klipsch, Paradigm and Axiom line of speakers.

Cheers!

Hi, thanks for the input. Although I did not mean to imply that I think my current speakers are not that good, I just meant these are the first decent speakers I have ever owned. I am very happy with the sound, just want to make sure I am getting the best sound. So if I was going to get better sound, clarity etc then I would consider changing.

Never heard the Klipsch but have A/B'd Monitor 11s with M80s and the M80s have better detail and bass extension, IMO.

SF, welcome. You apparently run the Monitor 11s and RF82s in parallel, located next to each other, and playing simultaneously. If so, I don't think that any of us could give a precise judgment on such a setup. We may have heard one or both of those speakers, but certainly not in a parallel setup.

I'll speculate that it sounds impressive in comparison to what you had in the past, but that a conventional setup with excellent speakers such as the M80s would sound even better. Of course this is just guesswork, but there's nothing more that I can honestly say. Hopefully you'll be able to find an audition(check the list in the audition thread, of course), or consider trying the M80s on the 30 day home trial.

My friend has some Klipsch RFII ????, can't remember the model number. My previous M60's and current M80's are really in a different league in overall sound. It is my understanding the Paradigm Studio series is similar to Axiom sound.

Hi Speakerfreak,

Paradigm's Monitor series is quite good; I think you'd find the M80s a bit more neutral and natural, with smoother more extended bass. Paradigm's floorstanding speakers typically have a bit of a hump in 100 Hz to 200-Hz region to "goose" the bass so it will be apparent to shopppers in retail stores. I don't care for that much and once said as much to Paradigm's designer, who replied, "Yeah, I know, but the dealers love it." (I'd told him that if he just got rid of the fat hump in the bass, it would be a really excellent speaker; this was after some double-blind tests when I was editor of a Canadian magazine.)

Anyway, the M80s are very similar to Paradigm's Studio series.

Now, Klipsch. I've never liked any Klipsch speakers because they use horn-loading on the tweeters, which of course increases the efficiency and SPL output, but also makes strings, vocals and other upper midrange stuff somewhat harsh and aggressive. I suspect you'd notice quite a difference between the Klipsch and Axiom's M80.

Regards,
Alan

The M80s are similar to the Studio 100s imo(bass, imaging, detail). The Klipsch I found were quite strong on the low end(which I liked) but the higher freq's became difficult for me to listen to for more than 15-20 minutes.

Most Klipsch speakers are 2-way or 2 1/2 way are they not?

I liked the Paradigm Monitor 11's as well, good price/performance.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their answers and opinions, they are all very helpful. I have not made a final decision yet but I am definately more informed now. Hopefully soon I will get to listen to them, and that will provide me my answer. Thanks again.

Thank you for making this thread! I had the very same question on my mind but I was going to wait until I had heard more Speaker Lines.

I was somewhat impressed with the Studio's clarity but not so much with the Price Tag! If the Axioms are comparable to the Studio Line, that's good enough for me!

Now I've also heard another Mid-fi line, by Focal. I've never heard anything like their entry-level floorstanders before. Maybe the sales-guy lucked out on the position when he set them up but they had an amazing lack of presence. By that I mean the soundstage and imaging were so good I almost couldn't look at the speakers. My eyes kept going to the "location" of the vocalist or guitar. If I recall correctly the detail was above average but not amazing, and they were a little light on the low-end.

I don't suppose anyone can compare Axioms to the Focal Chorus line? I listened to the 714's.

Thanks again
snazzed

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