Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M 60 vs Paradigm Monitor 7

Witch speaker would sound the best overall(Home Theater
Music) in a room 17w*21L*8H.Inclosed and have M22 to put on back wall.Pioneer Elite 100 w receiver?

Are you looking at the Paradigm Monitor 7s? There's no Studio 7 in the lineup.

If you're looking at Monitors, the M60s blow them out of the water. One of the board regulars upgraded from Monitor 9s (which are noticeably superior to Monitor 7s) to M22s (the M60's bookshelf counterpart), and the difference was pretty staggering.

The Paradigm Studio line speakers are more comparable to the M60s-I've heard them favorably compared with the Studio 100s, although I'd probably put the comparison with the 80s or 60s just based on the product line.

Thanks for the reply.Made a mistake with speaker type.

Hmmm...I just replied to Yates28 post and he said he replaced his Paradigm 7se v2 (I assume this is the same model?) with the M60's. Maybe he can give you more info. about the differences between them. From the looks of it though, he's really happy with his M60's.

This past weekend I went with a friend to listen to speakers because he wanted to upgrade. We listed to the Paradigm's and frankly was amazed at how average they sounded (esp their center channel). Their $500 sub has decent output but zero clarity (all boom). So we headed back to my place and played the same material on my system. I had a feeling he would be able to tell the difference and he did as he now has an order into Axiom for 6 speakers.

The Paradigm studio and monitor series are being discontinued and combined to produce one speaker line, the aluminum sided Millienia line, at least according to my local dealer. At least that's the line they're going to carry. The Dumbing down of Audio movement claims another victory. I again listened to the studio 20s and the monitor 7 & 9s while I was there. I agree that the 7s sound very average. For what it's worth, I still think my M22s are preferable over the studio 20s.

Agreed. The M60s are much better than the Paradigm 7's and 9's. However, the Monitor 7's can be had for a few hundred $ less than the M60s. The Paradigms were ok. However, they sounded a little hollowed out to me - no mid range.

What are they doing to the Monitor and Studio lines? They are combining them? Aluminum sided? Weird. I've heard good things about the Studio line. Too bad.

I believe my local dealer just isn't going to sell the studios and monitors. He's only going to sell the Millenia line. That's the way they seem to do business out here in the hinterland. That's ok. Then they can't complain too loudly when I make my home audio purchases in Ontario. I don't believe Paradigm is going to dump the reference line.

My brother in law bought a Paradigm setup including Monitor 7s for his home system. At the time he was sure they would outperform my Axioms.

The Paradigms sound OK (they are still pretty decent speakers, and I'm not sure he could have done better for the $$ from a traditional dealer) but everyone who hears both systems ends up deciding that the M60s are more clear than the Paradigms, particularly for movies.

We have not had time to do an A/B test in the same room but I don't think the room differences are significant in this case.

I too was comparing Monitor 7's with the M60's. Sound wise, the M60's are far better than the monitors. The best thing about the monitors though is the real wood finish, it looks a lot better than the vinyl. If looks and price mean more than sound quality, go with the monitors.

I am going with the Axioms...

bflat

I'm not sure if you are still looking for information, I seem to bit a little late to the party. I owned the Monitor 7v2 for 4 years, and currently own the Studio 60v2. I also performed a double blind A/B test between my Studio 60v2 and the Axiom M60 last winter.
First to your question, in my opinion, the Axiom M60 will easily outperform the Monitor 7. The Monitor 7 was a good speaker, and was in my opinion a great value, but it is not nearly as accurate as the Axiom.
In my double blind A/B, myself and the 3 others in the room agreed that both were very good speakers. After we tallied the score, speaker B won for me (turned out to be the Paradigm), while the others scored the Axiom as the favorite. The term that is often used to describe the two speakers is 'similarly good'. The Studio 60 is more expensive, so the decision would come down to individual preference. But going back to the original question, if I had to choose between the Axiom M60 and the Paradigm Monitor 7, I’d take the Axiom in a heartbeat.
As for the comment of the real wood on the Paradigm, as someone else pointed out, currently only the Signature series offer real wood.

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I also performed a double blind A/B test between my Studio 60v2 and the Axiom M60 last winter.

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El G, this is one test i wish i had the chance to do myself. Alan has drawn several strong comparisons between the Studio line and Axioms in the past often commenting on how similar they are.
One thing i can say for sure, every speaker i have A/B'd with the M60s has been distinctly different, but all very good.

Chess, I debated between the Studio 60 and Axiom M60 for quite a while before going with the Paradigms. When the opportunity arose a few months later to double blind A/B the two speakers, I packed up my Studio 60s and went on a road trip. Ian and Joe from Axiom were on-hand, and they made the experience that much more enjoyable. It was great to chat about the results after the test with the designers and builders of the Axioms. Although I indicated the two speakers were similarly good, there was definitely a noticeable difference in sound when doing a direct A/B. The Axioms bass was deeper (surprising considering the smaller drivers), and the Paradigm had a much wider soundstage. The Axioms were also substantially more efficient, and had to be turned way down to match levels with the Paradigms. Following the test, my colleague immediately put in an order for the Axiom M60, and I soon purchased a set of QS8s.