Which would be better? JBL S310II or Axiom M40. (1 Viewer)

[Kye]

I am currenty using BIC 62CLR as main left, right, center and JBL N24 as surround, powered by Sony DA5ES. This set up was good enough for me when I was living in small aprtment, but since I moved into my own house I think I'll need larger speakers as my mains. I am currently looking at JBL S310II or Axiom M40 as my budget is abouth $450. Which do you think is the better speaker for money? My living room is about 18 X 24. Please help me with your advise. Thank you.

 

[Leo_P]

I just replaced my Axiom M40's with B&W CDM 9NT's. The B&W's sound better than the Axioms, but not by much. BTW, the B&W's cost about 5X what I paid for the Axioms. IMHO, you're getting a lot of speaker for the money with the Axioms. The only problem I had with the Axiom speakers was with the center channel, but that's another story...
I started out with a set of JBL speakers (NSP1) and I think they make decent stuff. I have no experience with the model you're looking at though, so I can't help you there.
Anyway, if you can, listen to both sets of speakers and let YOUR ears make the decision. FWIW, I don't think you'd go wrong with either choice.
Enjoy!

 

[Kyle P]

I have a set of JBL 310s and I am very happy with them for HT as well as music. I drive them with an onkyo 797 and they will play much louder than I care to listen. I think the strong point of these speakers are thier ability to image the soundstage. I used to have about 10 K invested in esoteric audiophile stuff in the 70s then children came along and it all had to go (little fingers!). But now when I reinvested in audio video I was pleasantly surprised at how well consumer grade equipment performed (especially the JBLs) I use them at the large (full range) setting and allow my JBL PB 12 do only the bass below 60hz. the sub pretty much dissappears when listening to music. etronics.com has the 310s for 184 each. Good luck!