Original Publish Date: Nov, 2002

You may be puzzled when you look at this Loudspeaker Face Off Review and notice that there are brands and models of Loudspeakers ranging drastically in price and size. There are reasons to our madness as to why we choose such a diverse range of Loudspeakers to review.

So on with the Face Off we say, and bring on the amusic!

Electronics & Accessories	Description
Sony TA-E9000es	Preamp/Processor Firmware Ver. 2.01
Sherbourn 5/1500A	200/300 watt x 5 Power Amplifier
Aragon Soundstage	Preamp/Processor
Aragon 8008x3	200/400 watt /ch x 3 Power Amplifier
Aragon 8002	150/300 watt/ch x 2 Power Amplifier
Harman Kardon AVI 200mkii	Integrated Pro-logic Amplifier
Sony CDP CA 8ES	CD Changer
Harman Kardon FL8350	CD Changer
Apature OFC 12awg	Speaker Cables
Monster Cable Z2 speaker wire	Speaker Cables
Apature Interconnects	RCA / Digital Interconnects
Velodyne SPL 800	8" 600watt Subwoofer
RBH Signature 1010-SEP	Dual 10" Aluminum subwoofer with 350watt amp.

 

Speakers Tested	Retail Price
Alon Napoleon (5 Napoleon Satellites and ThunderBolt Subwoofer)	$3499/system
B&W DM602S1	$599/pair
Paradigm Studio 40v2	$1200/pair
RBH 61-LSE Limited Edition Signature Series	$1795/pair
Monitor Audio GR-10 Gold Series	$1495/pair
Axiom Audio M22ti	$400/pair

 

Reviewers	Background
Gene DellaSala (GDS)	Electrical Engineer; Founder and Chief Technical Writer for Audioholics.com
Steve DellaSala	Mechanical Engineer; Musician and Cofounder of Audioholics.com
Clint DeBoer	Recording Engineer and Multimedia Developer

 

Face-Off III: Alon Napolean

Alon Napoleon: Bottom Line: http://www.alonbyacarian.com Pros: Compact size Crisp highs Decent imaging at low volume levels Cons: Sound compression and break-up at moderately high volume levels Honky midrange Mediocre build quality

Although we weren't planning on reviewing a subwoofer satellite system, the opportunity presented itself when the Marketing Manager for Alon Loudspeakers phoned me and boasted about this new 5.1 Subwoofer/Satellite System that, according to him, sounded better than $20K systems with a mere price tag of around $3500. We all heard these claims before from loudspeaker manufacturers, thus the reason why we wrote the very controversial, but much needed article called "Top 10 Gimmicks in Loudspeakers".

But, we figured what the heck, let's give this company the benefit of a doubt and see just how good their little miracle system really is.

Alon Napoleon woofer pic. Notice the OEM woofer with a plastic basket. This type of woofer is used in many cost sensitive systems.

The Napoleon system is a typical 5.1 Sub/Sat system with five small two-way satellite speakers and a subwoofer. What is unusual about the system is that it does not offer a dedicated center channel speaker. This could be a mixed blessing, depending on the quality of the speakers. If the speaker system performs well, and has a wide dispersion pattern and dynamic range, than having all five speakers with identical driver topologies would be a perfect match. However, if the speakers could barely hold their own, and you place one of these under achievers on top of a huge big-screen TV, you may find the sound lacking. The speaker would get lost in a world that it can't call its own, sounding no better than the whizzer cone speakers that are inside your TV.

Unfortunately, the latter case is what we found to be true with the Napoleon System. In fact, we initially tested a pair of Napoleons by themselves without a subwoofer to hear how well they produced the frequencies they were responsible for (80Hz to 20KHz according to the user manual). Surprisingly, the Alon Rep recommended running all of the satellite speakers on full range and crossing over the sub where we felt appropriate. When voicing our concerns about how these little speakers, (based on the laws of physics and common sense), would not be able to handle full-frequency range (20-20KHz), and if pushed, would become distorted and incoherent, he simply shrugged off our concerns, claiming that these speakers were different.

Our listening results were quite disappointing, especially since we anxiously received the Alon 5.1 speaker system with high hopes. The mediocre build quality of the Napoleon Satellites was apparent from the moment we unboxed them. They had the appearance of a speaker system one would find at the local electronics shack in the mall. They came finished in what Alon referred to as a Brazilian Santos Rosewood, but actually they looked more like 1970's dark brown vinyl. The cabinets were square, and substandard metal grills covered the drivers. We decided to not let our first impression of appearance hinder our objectivity. After all, there are many moderately well constructed speaker systems that perform better than the sum of their parts, Pinnacle being one brand that quickly comes to mind.

Our first test disc was from (Sade's CD, called "Lover's Rock"). This disc helps to instantly determine the frequency range of a speaker system that is being reviewed, as it has loads of bass, mids and highs. (Track #4: "Somebody Already Broke My Heart") really tests a speaker's mid and lower bass capabilities, and how well they can accurately handle the sounds they must deal with. With the volume set low, the Napoleons sounded ok, but a little on the thin side. We didn't think this was a problem, as they would be expected to sound this way given their size and driver compliment. We figured we would ultimately cross them over and allow the sub to handle the bass despite the claims from the Alon rep. The vocals sounded clear, but forward, and the highs were detailed but somewhat bright. The tweeter brightness seemed to subside a bit after a few hours of break in passed. However, to our surprise, as we increased the volume, it became extremely obvious just how compressed and unfocused these speakers truly were. The woofer cones began breaking up, which in turn had deleterious effects on midrange clarity. In general, the speakers sounded very congested and boxy. Crossing them over at 80Hz and allowing the mighty little Velodyne SPL 800 sub to handle the bass duties helped considerably to decrease the stress on the speakers that resulted from the bass they were relentlessly attempting (but unable) to produce. However, this still did not tame their boxy, honky and bright composure. The voices had a cupped and closed-in sound, almost like listening to the music through a straw.

Alon Napoleon baffle pic. Notice the lack of bracing, and extremely narrow baffle that separates the woofer and tweeter. The inductor windings are directly soldered to the binding post, demonstrating mediocre workmanship.

When we discussed our concerns with the Alon Rep, he faulted the set-up and/or our cables. He went on to suggest that high-end cables which are sometimes higher in capacitance (say 200pf /ft) than normal 12 awg (20pf/ft) zip cord (due to winding schemes, or construction) may cause the speakers or amplifiers to oscillate, resulting in sound degradation. A courteous explanation was given to him as to how this was just not possible. I also modeled the metrics of the cables we were using in PSPICE, and demonstrated how the cables had a flat bandwidth and adequate phase margin beyond 100kHz and thus were transparent to the speakers. In addition, all of the amps we were using to power these speakers were more than capable of driving a few thousand picofarads of cable capacitance. In any event, we continued our review with his recommendations and used normal 12AWG speaker cables. The Alon Rep also claimed that we must hook up the Alon Thunderbolt sub along with the Napoleons as they were designed to work together. The logistics of that claim didn't really make much sense.

If we were ignoring bass capability and focusing on evaluating mids and highs performance we should be able to do so independent of the subwoofer.

Besides we had two perfectly good subs (RBH 1010-SEP and Velodyne SPL-800) already integrated into our system. Unless the Thunderbolt Sub had some magical pixie dust to correct the frequency and distortion problems we were hearing in the Napoleons, using their sub was a moot point. On that note, we opted not to install the Thunderbolt sub as suggested. Even after changing the cables and adding the Velodyne and RBH subs to the mix, the more we listened to the little Napoleons, the more fatiguing and unmusical we unanimously found them to be.

Further listening sessions with these speakers proved that regardless of driving them with the Harman Kardon Integrated amplifier, or Aragon electronics, there was little difference in performance and no change to the lack of musical enjoyment that these speakers bestowed upon us. If we had heard these speakers being demoed at a famous electronics shack in the mall, or a consumer department store, we wouldn't have given it much thought, as that was the type of sound one would expect in those places. However, the Alon's were being marketed as "high end" speakers capable of outperforming $20K systems, at least according to the Alon Rep. Viewed in that light, it was almost comical that someone would try to pawn them off as such.

As with all of our reviews, we sincerely hope that the manufacturer will take these observations of ours into consideration and produce a better, solid, more pleasing speaker in the future. It is our intent to point out the obvious and hope that we can make a difference in the way companies manufacture and market their products.

Face-Off III: B&W; DM602S1

B&W DM602S1

B&W 602S1 Bottom Line: http://www.bwspeakers.com Pro's: Efficient Warm, full-range sound Good build quality Name recognition Con's: Bloated bass Recessed midrange Mediocre imaging

We realize that the DM602S1 is two generations old compared to B&W's current offering and have heard the S3 and S2 series in other systems before. They are a marked improvement over the S1's, the most notable changes being in the floorstanding models. Unfortunately we didn't have either of the newer models to use in our speaker face off, and Clint was nice enough to let us borrow his for this review.

Good quality cast aluminum baskets.

Our first impression of the 602's was that they were a medium size, and boxy looking bookshelf speaker that were rather lightweight and, based on our knuckle tap test, not particularly inert in construction. It annoyed us that B&W employed such substandard binding posts, which could not even accommodate banana jacks. We literally had to jerry rig the speaker cables in order to connect them.

One again we started out with the Sade CD ("Lover's Rock") on track #4. What we noticed this time was considerably more bass extension as compared to the Alon's, with a more laid back and warmer sound presentation. The Alon's tended to come at you with their forward and sibilant sound. The B&W's sounded much more recessed, perhaps even a bit too recessed. The bass was prominent, but very boomy and loose. This could be attributed to the large boxy cabinet, as well as the under-damped properties of the woofer and enclosure. The highs were present, but very closed in. They did not even have a hint of the openness of the less expensive and better performing Axiom Audio M22ti speakers.

Solid internal bracing

The DM602S1 was an adequate performing overall speaker but suffered in its ability to convey clean and detailed midrange. The 602S1's portrayed an overemphasis in mid-bass and tended to smear vocals during high volume output. Rebecca Pidgeon's voice in the SACD ("Spanish Harlem") seemed to lack life and character. While the presentation was large, the inner details of her vocals were missed as was the tonal range and articulation.

Even with their sound flaws, we still considered the B&W 602S1's to be a decent speaker if you are after a lot of sound output from a modestly powered commercial Receiver. With very little power, they will play fairly loud and are a relatively easy load to drive. Where the B&W speakers shined best was for home theatre use. Their power handling and broad frequency range made for an acceptable theatrical experience something that was not part of this particular review scenario. In addition to making a great deal of noise with minimal amplification, they include the B&W name to impress your friends.

Face-Off III: Paradigm Studio 40v2

Paradigm Studio 40v2 Bottom Line: http://www.paradigm.com Pro's: Excellent dynamics and efficiency Attractive styling Well-balanced sound Great value Con's: Slight boxy sound when placed in small rooms

Paradigm is a Canadian-based loudspeaker company whose primary focus is on performance, no nonsense build quality and value. Paradigm's current best product line, spanning from bookshelf speakers to large and heavy floorstanding giants, is from their Reference division - more commonly known as the Studio Series. The Studio 40v2 (Retail $1200/pair) is 21" H x 8" W x 12" D weighing a hefty 40lbs each! The Studio 40v2 is their middle of the line product in this series and is basically a smaller version of the Studio 60v2 with respect to driver topology, utilizing a smaller cabinet in which produces less bass output. The v2 in this series stands for the newest version of these speakers as they have been refitting from their original highly successful Studio Series loudspeakers. The v2's offer better cabinetry, extra internal baffled type bracing, more finishes, and improved crossovers. However, the drivers remain somewhat unchanged from the original series with only minor tweaks for enhanced power handling and performance.

Upon setting up the Studio 40v2's in the listening room, we were immediately overtaken by their girth and apparent excellent build quality. Lifting them was a chore. When positioned for optimal placement, it became obvious by their weight that their build quality befitted their impressive looks. These speakers were by far the best crafted, most aesthetically pleasing out of all the ones reviewed in this article. In fact, the Paradigms were the only speakers in this review that we felt looked and sounded better with their grills on. Usually we take the grills off of speakers for cosmetic and performance reasons. However, the Paradigms seemed to sound a tad smoother with them on, and looked more impressive as the grills blended as one with the cabinets.

It was refreshing to see such attention to detail that Paradigm had bestowed upon a budgeted speaker system such as this one, which made them look and feel so solid. There are many loudspeakers on the market at more than double the price with nowhere near the comparable build quality of these beauties. While excellent build quality is a great feature, a loudspeaker's most important attribute is sound quality. After all, you're not buying loudspeakers to act solely as nice furniture to fit your room's decor. We can leave that to the Manufacturers of Legacy Audio Loudspeakers.

In contrast, it is more logical to buy a piece of furniture that also happens to sound excellent. This niche is adequately filled by the Manufacturers of Paradigm Speakers.

In addition to their impressive build quality, the Studio 40v2 speaker system had a very pleasant overall sound. They did not sound boomy or hollow like the B&W 600 series, nor did they sound honky or forward like the Alon's. Instead, they sounded musical and dynamic which are two critically important virtues of a quality loudspeaker design. This was likely attributed, in part, to the extra bracing in the cabinets, and the quality of the crossovers utilized. In fact, if memory serves, the original Studio Series didn't sound quite as good as these. The Studio 40v2's tonal balance was excellent, and ranked right up there as one of the best loudspeakers in this review. The midrange was clean, and detailed, slightly on the dark side, but not too forward sounding. The highs were equally transparent without sounding sibilant. In fact Sade's CD ("Lovers Rock") literally rocked on these speakers with tight clean bass extension and a huge, dynamic soundstage. When we replayed this song on the Paradigms using the Aragon and Sherbourn Electronics, the bass became even more prominent and tight, with plenty of slam. We found little reason to use a subwoofer with them in small to medium sized rooms and had to check on several occasions to be certain the subs were actually turned off. When we listened to the Rebecca Pidgeon SACD "Raven" disc, we were quite impressed with broad soundstage the Paradigms portrayed on Rebecca's voice. Although, we did notice that the overall sound quality of her voice was not as fluid as we heard when compared to some of the other speakers in this review.

Internal cabinet, notice the amount of stuffing and baffled bracing.

The Pat Metheny / John Scofield CD ("I Can See Your House From Here") literally hit home on these loudspeakers. All of the dynamics of the instruments were clearly heard without a hint of strain regardless of how loud we played them. These speakers seemed to be bullet proof in that they accepted everything we threw at them without complaint or lack of composure.

The weakest point of these speakers that we found was that they tended to sound a little boxy when placed in smaller rooms, compared to the Axiom Audio, RBH, or Monitor Audio Speakers. This may be partly attributed to having a wider baffle, and their ability to achieve higher bass outputs than all of the other speakers in this review. It is a difficult task to build a medium to large full range speaker system with relatively large drivers while minimizing the horizontal baffle surface area. This is the reason why many companies choose odd cabinet shapes, or place the tweeter on top of the cabinet. These techniques help to minimize diffraction, resulting in a more focused and transparent sound. We felt that the Paradigms really needed more space to breathe and open up. We discovered their optimal sound character when they were placed about 10 feet apart on stands at ear level, and slightly toed in, while sitting 14 feet away from them However, the Studio 40's really seemed to excel in a larger living room environment, slightly toed in, especially when mated with a good subwoofer. They played amply loud in the larger room and welcomed more power, especially from a separate high quality power amp, as opposed to a receiver. Their bass extension was deep and tight down to around 50Hz with a smooth roll off below that.

This allowed them to seamlessly blend with the RBH sub, yielding quite an impressive dynamic presentation usually found in much larger and more costly floorstanding speakers with multiple drivers. The beautiful aesthetics and well-balanced nature of these speakers would bestow a sense of pride upon any audiophile who owned them.

Face-Off III: RBH 61-LSE

RBH Limited 61-LSE Bottom Line: http://www.rbhsound.com Pro's: Fantastic sound Pristine imaging Neutral tonal balance Con's: Pricey Requires excellent electronics for best performance May sound bright in reflective rooms

The RBH 61-LSE is a Limited Special-Edition Loudspeaker from the Signature series of RBH Sound, Inc. A few years ago, Gene approached RBH engineering with the idea of implementing the drivers from their fabulous Status Acoustics line into their normal Signature Series line given their similar model sizes and driver topologies. RBH Sound, Inc. Engineering welcomed the idea as a good concept, but the company didn't heed the advice right away. Instead, they chose to custom build Audioholics.com the first prototypes of the 1266, 661 and 61 LSE versions of these speakers.

RBH Sound, Inc. was very happy with the results from both a performance, and consumer value standpoint as they now had a product at about half the price of their high performance Status Acoustics line with nearly similar performance. We were equally thrilled to have possession of a truly high-end speaker system at a fraction of the cost of what one would expect to pay.

The key to the cost savings resides in the cabinet material. The Status Acoustic line-up features a superiorly inert and beautiful composite material, while the Signature line-up features an attractive standard MDF (medium density fiberboard) with a choice of over thirty real wood veneer finishes.

The standard Signature Series was impressive even before receiving the upgraded Status Acoustics drivers and crossovers. The Signature Series always had a very neutral, balanced and dynamic sound with tight and well-extended bass response that truly shined when paired with the best electronics. However, being the obsessed Audioholic Gene is known to be, more alterations were desired. Thankfully, a company was found willing to support his fanaticism, and thus the LSE series was born.

The 61-LSE shares many of the virtues of the original 61-SE's previously reviewed. However, with the Status Acoustics driver and crossover upgrades, these speakers have been lifted to a higher plane of musical enjoyment. Much like one of Gene's still favorite little loudspeakers the Status Acoustics Decimos, also previously reviewed, the 61-LSE managed to combine their best virtues along with those of the standard 61-SE's.

They didn't quite image as pristinely as the Decimo's, nor convey all of the micro-dynamics with as much poise and conviction. Nevertheless, their quality difference when compared to price is only beneficial to the most critical set of ears belonging those individuals with a fatter wallet and desire for a more cosmetically pleasing cabinet. In general, the upgraded, cost effective LSE's retained about 90% of the sound qualities of the much more expensive Decimo's. We would have to say that is an outstanding achievement and excellent compromise!

Listening to Sade on these speakers was a real treat. The highs were open and more fluid compared to other speakers in this review. Only the Monitor Audio GR-10's and Axiom Audio M22ti's, and maybe the Paradigm Studio 40v2 gave a close approximation of this sound quality, but none of them managed to do it so naturally and with such flawless quality. Just as the original 61-SE's, the upgraded 61-LSE's have a fundamental rightness to their sound. They don't come at you aggressively, but they do persuade you to listen. The more we listened to these speakers, the more they revealed their accurate and neutral character. The bass from the Sade CD ("Lover's Rock") was tight and reasonably extended, however, the deeper extension and elaborate slam offered by the Paradigm Studio 40v2 was missing, thus buttressing the argument about complimenting quality bookshelf loudspeakers with a musical sub. When the 61-LSE's were crossed over at about 60Hz and we connected the fabulous RBH 1010-SEP subwoofer, the bass impact was far more satisfying.

SACD really took on new life with these speakers. Particularly impressive was Gloria Estefan's ("Caribbean Soul") SACD. Every detail, regardless of dynamics, was present. We couldn't help but think how it would be a thoroughly enjoyable experience to listen to these babies at low volume during the late hours of the night while the kids are asleep.

Rebecca Pidgeon's voice sounded fantastically real on these speakers. However, we did notice a slight audible buzz at high volumes emanating from the phase plug during the track "Spanish Harlem".

It appeared that the bass from this track had the proper amplitude and frequency to excite increase turbulence thru the opening of the cone and phase plug enough to become audible. These is a common problem with phase plug drivers, but not a major issue, especially if you cross over the speakers at around 60-80Hz and allow the sub to handle the lower bass duties. Once we did this, the slight audible buzz diminished into nothingness leaving us with pure sonic enjoyment.

The phase plug essentially eliminates the need for a dust cap, which in turn, reduces cone mass. It allows more airflow thru the motor structure, which improves cooling and thus increases power handling. A Phase plug also helps to disperse higher frequencies that the cone is producing. It allows sound to emanate broadband throughout the driver as opposed from the center of the driver. This helps the driver to act like an ideal point source by reducing beaming effects at higher frequencies.

Note: Beware, many loudspeaker manufacturers use a quasi phase plug which looks like a phase plug for marketing purposes, but does not physically separate from the cone of the driver. These "so called" phase plugs can do more harm than good as they provide an inconsistent surface area and they also increase mass of the cone yielding poorer frequency response and linearity. You can tell if the driver has a real phase plug if it remains fixed while pressing on the cone.

Listening to jazz music on these speakers was a joyful experience for us. The 61-LSE's really brought out all the textures of Lee Ritenour's & Larry Carlton's guitars in the CD "Larry & Lee". The instruments retained excellent separation and placement within the deep soundstage the 61-LSE's presented.

However, there is a downside to the excellent merits of these speakers that endowed them with pristine imaging and transparency. Because these speakers have such a wide dispersion, thanks to the fabulous Scan Speak 9500 tweeter, they tended to sound bright in reflective rooms.

If your room has many parallel surfaces, vaulted ceilings, glass doors, windows, etc, you may surely not realize the full potential of these beauties.

Normally we recommend not toeing these speakers in, again because of their wide dispersions characteristics. However, in an untamed room, you may find that toeing them in, using a laser pointer aligned with the outer edge of each cabinet, so that when you position each cabinet, the light will shine at a common point near your sweet spot, or favorite listening position.

In addition, the 61-LSE's will sound equally as good or bad as the source you feed them. Listening to a well-recorded CD will provide a rewarding experience. However, listening to a poorly recorded CD such as those 1970's and 80's rock CD's remastered from their analog tapes may send shivers down your spine. The 61-LSE's are a loudspeaker system as true to the source as we have yet to come across. They are a unique speaker that provides a level of listening intimacy often hard to find in a cone type loudspeaker. We do caution potential buyers to be certain and match them with the best of electronics (a high current amplifier for example) or you may not be able to unlock all of the special qualities that they offer.

Face-Off III: Monitor Audio GR-10

Monitor Audio GR-10 Bottom Line: http://www.monitoraudio.com Pro's: Excellent sound Great Imaging Tight and accurate bass Con's: Slightly forward midrange May sound sibilant with poor electronics.

From the moment we unboxed these beauties, it was apparent Monitor Audio meant business. They had the unusually good build quality, look and feel from their predecessor Studio Series, but with a more up to date look sported by the dimpled cone and silver phase plug on the woofer.

The cabinets passed the "knuckle test" with a nice deadened thud, raising my confidence that these speakers not only had a beautiful appearance, but also a great build quality.

These speakers shared none of the virtues of the budgeted and overrated (in our opinion) Silver Series. The GR series employ considerably better drivers (especially the tweeter), higher quality crossover parts, and more solid cabinetry.

Monitor Audio GR-10 cross-over

The resultant choices of better parts were clearly evident by the incomparably better performance that the GR-10's demonstrated over any of the Silver Series products and even the Gold Series predecessors, known as the Studio Series. Gone was the bright, compressed and boxy sound of the Silver Series, and in entered the more musical, open, dynamic and balanced sound befitted by its looks and price point. After extensive listening sessions on these speakers, the only major gripe with the GR-10's was that the midrange tended to sound a bit too forward on certain source material. This is more of personal preference than actual criticism of design. In fact, on certain source material, such as Harry Connick's ("We Are In Love") CD, the forward midrange presentation on the song "Heavenly" was preferred. Harry's voice really sounded lifelike and three dimensional as all the textures of his voice were neatly presented on these speakers. Rebecca Pidgeon's voice truly shined on the GR-10's. You could hear breath each time she began singing a new verse. Her voice was clear and right in front of you. We felt the GR-10's were the closest competitor to the 61-LSE's in the type of high fidelity sound they both offered. The 61-LSE's had a more open top-end revealing all of the subtleties and nuances of stringed instruments. The GR-10's managed to do a lot of things right, however we do generally prefer a more evenly balanced midrange sound characteristic from a loudspeaker, while some people may prefer the more "in your face" sound that these speakers conveyed. Adding a subwoofer to these speakers really helped to balance the overall sound of the system, as they tended to sound a tad on the thin side without one.

Face-Off III: Axiom Audio M22ti

The Axiom Audio M22ti was a last minute surprise contender to this Speaker Face Off III review. Up until a few weeks ago, we never even heard of this company. Our good friend Ray from RLA Home Theatre phoned about this product and claimed we had to acquire a set for review. We must admit that we were skeptical at first once we found out that the retail price of these speakers was only $400/pair. We remember thinking to ourselves, how could these be a serious contender? They are in the price range of the likes of mass market loudspeakers from JBL, Infinity, Cerwin Vega, Bose, etc.

Our first thoughts regarding these speakers upon unboxing them was, how is it possible for a company to offer such a handsomely well-crafted product for such a low price? They must have put all the money into the cosmetics and thus employed low quality drivers as a result. However, after extensively reviewing the build quality and listening to these speakers, our misconceptions disappeared. For starters, we were particularly impressed by the 5-way gold plated binding posts and the rigidity of the fixture affixed to the cabinet.

All we can say is that our initial assumptions about what a pair of $400 speakers should sound like were completely changed after our experience with these divas. In fact, this experience has forced us to re-evaluate what a pair of $1000 speakers should sound like, because these certainly sound as good as any $1000/pair speakers we have ever listened to. The highs were delightfully transparent, and clean. In fact the only speakers in this review we felt to be better in this regard were the considerably more expensive RBH 61-LSE ($1795/pair) and the Monitor Audio GR-10 ($1495/pair).

Many attributes of the M22ti's simply dazzled us, especially considering their price point. Most audiophiles are willing to spend in excess of $400 just for a pair of speaker cables or power cords. The M22ti's are an audiophile speaker costing less than these elaborate and mostly unnecessary novelties. They managed to create a wide-open soundstage, while at the same time, portraying a precise stereo image. So precise that at times, these loudspeakers almost seemed to disappear into the room. The midrange was very smooth and neutral sounding. There was little to no coloration when listening to female voices, such as the beautiful voice from Rebecca Pigeon's SACD title song "Spanish Harlem". We did agree however, that the tweeter output may have been a tad high (say 1dB or so) as there was a slight emphasis in the "S's" in her lyrics. Some of the other speakers in this review, such as the Paradigm Studio 40v2, handled these öSä sounds with a bit more softness and finesses. However, this characteristic was not overly apparent in the almost ruler flat frequency response measurements of these speakers published by other professional reviewers. Some of this effect may be emphasized with a combination of reflective room acoustics, and poorly recorded source material. However, we didn't spend much time dwelling on this issue considering it was relatively minor and only the most critical set of ears would care or bother to notice. The M22ti's delicately revealed Rebecca's voice with smooth, broad sound character with only a hint of forwardness and overhang. The slight coloration we heard in her voice may be attributed to cabinet resonance. However, after we experimented with placement of these speakers, most of those characteristics went away. We do however recommend users to match these speakers with warmer sounding electronics if possible.

On the downside, with the exception to the Alon's, these speakers had an almost anemic bass response compared to the others in this review.

The reasons for this are quite simple:

• The M22ti's utilized the smallest mid/bass drivers.
• Bass costs money.

Rather than taking the approach of offering boomy bloated bass, much like the B&W 602's, or the likes of the previously mentioned mass market loudspeakers, Axiom Audio chose to tightly tune the response of the speakers to somewhere on the order of 60Hz. This allowed for a smaller cabinet, while at the same time minimizing cabinet resonances from the lower frequencies, thus allowing for a more cost effective design. While the M22ti's won't rattle your house, they will produce clean tight bass in a low enough region to blend well with a quality sub. In fact, these speakers really came alive and showed their true potential when coupled with a sub. They produced dynamic, articulately, well balanced sound, typical of floor standing speakers costing considerably more money. Figure if you purchase a good sub for about $600 and these speakers for about $400, you have a two channel speaker system for $1000 that would rival most floor standing speakers at this price point, while competing comfortably with many models costing twice as much. The M22ti's sounded their best in small to medium sized rooms. They didn't require enormous amounts of power to play clean and loud. However, when listening to these speakers in a larger living room environment, paired with the Aragon electronics, their dynamic limitations became quite apparent when doing direct comparison between them and the Paradigm Studio 40v2's. But considering the Paradigms retail for more than three times the price of the Axiom Audio's, these results shouldn't be much of a surprise.

If the rest of the Axiom Audio Speaker line-up performs as well as the M22ti's, it would seem that they have a great product line on their hands at an uncommon value.

Best of all, they offer direct sales to their customers with free shipping and a 30 day money back guarantee. The direct sales approach is most likely what allows these speakers to reach consumers at such an affordable price. Direct sales cuts out the middle man (the Electronics Store) turning what is ordinarily a 50 point line to a 20 point line, yielding at least a 30% savings to the consumer. With so many positives going for this speaker, it is easy to recommend these to anyone looking for affordable high-end audio that doesn't consume exorbitant amounts of space.

Speaker Face-Off III: Conclusions

There really were no overall obvious winners in this review.  It is all a matter of personal tastes, budget and requirements that should ultimately guide you on your purchasing decision.  Make no mistake, in most cases you do get what you pay for.  Anyone telling you a $400 pair of speakers will be as good as an $2000 pair of speakers is either smoking something or comparing a legitimately well designed $400 speaker to an esoteric "audiophile" voodoo $2000 speaker system.

We felt that the most intimate, articulate and natural sounding loudspeakers were clearly the RBH 61-LSE's.  They displayed an uncanny ability to disappear in the room and just sound REAL.  They were best suited for a high-end two-channel set-up in small to medium size rooms and also worked very well in larger rooms when coupled with a musical subwoofer.  They were the least efficient loudspeakers in the review, requiring significantly more amplification power to achieve similar SPL levels of the others.  However, this speaker gets our unconditional recommendation for the serious audiophile who demands nothing less than excellence.

The Monitor Audio GR-10's yielded similar performance to the RBH loudspeakers with a tad less detail and openness in the highs, depth in soundstage, and overall low end frequency extension, but with a more forwardly presented midrange and dynamic nature and higher efficiency. Both the RBH and Monitor Audio loudspeakers should be coupled with the best of electronics in a moderately well to excellent acoustical environment to achieve the ultimate performance.

The Paradigm Studio 40v2 were the most rugged, and dynamic performers in this review.  They were more than capable of reaching SPL levels high enough to satisfy all but the most desensitized ears in medium to large size rooms.  They worked well with moderately priced electronics and high end separates, thus providing the ultimate slam without a subwoofer in small to medium size rooms and with a subwoofer in larger living rooms.  They did however tend to be a bit fussy about room placement when asked to work in smaller rooms.  Thus we felt their best sound character was achieved in medium to large sized living rooms in a home theater type configuration.

The Axiom Audio M22ti's were truly a surprise performer given their size and price.  They were capable of achieving many virtues of the high fidelity sound of the more expensive RBH and Monitor Audio loudspeakers in small to medium sized rooms.  However, their anemic bass response, slightly compressed dynamic structure and somewhat sibilant nature made a subwoofer a requirement when listening to bass intense music on these speakers.  They didn't require much power to achieve high SPL output in small to medium sized rooms and thus would serve well for both music and home theater in budget to moderately priced systems.

The B&W DM602S1 were adequate overall performers.  But it was hard to give them our personal recommendation considering we unanimously believed the Axiom Audio's sounded better and were at a lower price point.  We realize the DM602S1 are not a current product line of B&W, but it was an interesting experiment to compare these highly acclaimed speakers to a more cost sensitive system such as the ones from Axiom Audio.  We are confident that the DM602S3 would be a marked improvement over the S1 version and if the opportunity presents itself, we will update this review with that of the S3 version when we acquire review samples.

We recommend steering clear from the Alon Napoleon system.  Although we did not evaluate the Thunderbolt subwoofer, the Napoleon Satellites were less than pleasing to listen to, and were at a price point that their sub par performance was inexcusable.  Perhaps when Alon completes further design improvements to this product, we will have a more positive review to report.

As always our recommendation is to listen to these speakers yourself to determine what best suits your listening preferences, requirements, budget, and system accommodations.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Alon Napoleon

$2499/set ($700 w/o Sub)

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value

 B&W 602S1

$599/pair

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value

Paradigm Studio 40v2

$1200/pair

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value

 RBH Signature 61-LSE

$1795/pair

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value

 Monitor Audio GR-10

$1495/pair

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value

 Axiom Audio M22ti

$400/pair

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value