My brother, looking at getting a new system, was wondering what the difference was between these speakers? We haven't heard the Axioms yet, and the KEF sound real good (just a tad bright), and are still looking for the Polk store.

Low-Mid-High tones, warm or cool projection, spatial imaging?? What do you all think they would sound like if paired with a better Denon Amp??

Thanks in advance!

Hi ATCguy,

I'm a little embarrassed. I've only been here a couple of months and after listening to B&W, PSB, Mirage, Paradigm and Axiom, I said I was going to get Axiom. I even ordered four samples of the upgrade finishes. Then I stumbled onto Kef. Well long story short, I now own a pair of Q7's and a Q9c. I still may get some Axiom QS8s but the Qcompact is a sweet little speaker. Not only is the sound stunning, the design is a huge WAF.

It's funny that you said the Q's were bright. I find that the base extension and open, clear mid range make it a tad laid back. In fact I really bought them to 'tame down' my Yammie 2400.

But, as always, it's your brothers ears thatmust decide.

Good Luck

I think M60 is a great spekaer but I own the Kef Q7's as well, I did find the Q4 bright but not the Q7.

Finally it will come down to the listener, I have always been loyal to Kef after owning the Kef 104's and found Q7 met my needs

I bought Polk RTi8's at Circuit City and love them. I suspect they sound very similar to the Axiom M60's because they sound very similar to my M22's only they have more bass. They sound a little more detailed to me also, but I have been having trouble with my M22 secondary system(different room, receiver issues) so I would not take that comment as the gospel. The Circuit City near me does not carry the Polk LSi line but their website has a "dealer locator" that may be some help. Overall, though (and I know this is no help at all) you are looking at 3 outstanding options and will end up with a great sysytem no matter what you choose - it's just a matter of sound preference/price/appearance.

I do appolagize to everyone that has responded to my erroneous title. The KEF Ref series, specifically the 203's, were the ones we heard. I didn't know this until I went back to look at Monster current regulators today. Sorry for the confusion on that, but I'm still curious if anyone has heard those KEF's as well?? Anybody??

The Ref's are quite a bit more expensive than the Q-series and the extra money shows. They are more like the B&W Nautilus 803's only better. I think the Q7's are worth the extra $250.00 CAD just on looks alone. Soundwise they are almost equal to B&W 704 (which some on the board think sound like 60Ti), just not real wood veneer.

BTW once you get the warm cherry upgrade (similar to the dark apple Kef finish)you're only $130.00 away.

upgradeitis - are you stating that Q7's are more expensice than M60ti ? I got my darl apple for a lot less than the M60ti

Don't tell me that!!! In Canada the MSRP is $1800 +/-. I got mine for $1250.00.

we should talk offline, if you need more Kef stuff I can give you the name of a vendor within US, much cheaper that the rest

Well I cannot help you fully, but a little.
I recently auditioned the Polk LSi-15 briefly - one song but a good one - at a Frys Electronics, of all places. I don't know if they are nationwide, but we have several around here. The one where I listened has a dedicated sound room with doors to close off the thumping from the car stereo display... But another store has everything open, so you cannot tell a thing.
In any case, the LSi-15 are quite nice. The image was good and the sweet spot was fairly forgiving. In fact, you could wander about and not have terrible timbre changes. Frequency response seemed nicely balanced. It will really depend on what the placement will be in your brother's house because they do have the side-firing woofers. I bet they are crossed above 80Hz so might be directional. The LSi-9 (same thing less the low drivers and big cabinet) were also very good and got an excellent review in Soundstage. Probably not worth the 900 bucks due to lack of real bottom end, but the LSi-15 might be worth 1200. I would definitely have to do a home audition for that, and would want to have heard the M60s first, too. I only have M3s and like them a lot, so whadda I know how the bigger ones sound. But I did a long audition of the Audes Blues ($2000 and it looks just like the LSi-15) and think it is great. But lots of money.
Good luck, let us know if you get to do comparisons.