Axiom M3Ti
The Axiom reproduced the finger snaps perfectly. The snap had lots of pop. It hung around just enough and then quickly decayed. The bass sounded smooth, hard hitting, and natural. "She said I got some news this morning" sounded balanced, smooth, rich, and detailed. The Axiom 3Ti did the best job reproducing this track in the shootout. Again, this speaker sounded refined, focused, and well balanced.

BIC DV-62
The BIC reproduced the finger snap with perfection. It had lots of pop and the snap decayed quickly. There was a lot of bass, but it sounded a little tubby and uncontrolled compared to the Axiom and the Klipsch. The BIC DV-62 didn't reproduce the "She said I got some news this morning" very well, at all. The sentence sounded shrill and sibilant. The BIC sounded big and bold, not bad; but not as balanced as the rest of the speakers in the shootout. The BIC had the most bass output of any speaker in the shootout on this track.

Klipsch RB-15
The Klipsch reproduced the finger snap like it was 6" away from your ear. It was almost startling at times. The finger snap was very quick and the bass was smooth, tight, and effortless The Klipsch sounded a little sibilant and hooty when reproducing the "She said I got some news this morning". Again, the dynamic capability of the speaker were enormous. The soundstage was huge; we could not believe that such a small speaker could sound so big.

Unisound DAC 1.5
The Unisound reproduced the finger snap absolutely perfectly; the tweeter in this speaker is amazing at this price point. It sounded very precise with no hint of strain. The bass on the other hand was a little lacking. The drum hits sounded a little hollow compared to the other speakers in the shootout. The "She said I got some news this morning
" sounded very natural with the Unisound; although, at times the vocals sounded slightly compressed. This may be due to the fact that we had these set up in an average size room and the Unisound was not a particularly dynamic speaker. Nonetheless, that tweeter in the speaker is magical and had us smiling ear to ear.

We selected this track because it has one of the most intense drum solos we have heard. For the remainder of this review, we turned the volume up on these speakers to see if they were up to it.

Axiom M3Ti
The Axiom speaker handled the drum solo with precision. The speaker never sounded compressed. It always remained controlled throughoutthe entire solo. The transition from bass drum to snare then tom and finally cymbal sounded balanced and detailed. We would characterize the Axiom's sound throughout this track as accurate and very matter of fact, slightly forward of neutral. The Axiom speaker sounded very good at low volume levels and jaw dropping at high levels. These speakers can lull you or rock you; it's your choice.

BIC DV-62
The BIC speaker produced the hardest hitting bass on the solo section but at times it sounded as if the speaker was losing control. The transition from the Bass drum to snare then tom and cymbal sounded good but not as smooth or as accurate as the other speakers in the shootout. The BIC speakers sounded very good at low to moderate listening levels but at higher listening levels the bass although deep and plentiful sounded uncontrolled.

Klipsch RB-15
The Klipsch speaker was made to play material like the drum solo. Its huge dynamic capability really shined on this track. The bass drum to snare to tom then cymbal sounded absolutely amazing. Again, it was hard to believe that such a small speaker could produce such huge dynamic swings. The bass was tight and tuneful but did not hit the low levels like the BIC DV-62. We would characterize the sound of the Klipsch RB-15 with this track as big, high impact, in your face fun. The Klipsch RB-15 is the kind of speaker you can play hard and put away wet!

Unisound DAC 1.5
The Unisound speaker did an admirable job with this track but fell well short of the other speakers in the shootout. The transition from bass drum to snare to tom and cymbal sounded compressed at times. The bass had punch, but there was not a lot of it and when pushed hard these small speakers sounded uncontrolled and hollow. We would characterize the sound of the Unisound speakers as smooth and detailed but a little wimpy in the dynamics department. The Unisound speaker sounds great at low to moderate listening levels but head bangers, rockers, and folks with large rooms should look elsewhere.

We learned a lot from this shootout: disassembling the speakers and critiquing the build quality showed us the different design philosophies of the manufacturers. It also showed us that although these speakers had similar price points (with exception to the Unisound DAC 1.5), that is were their similarities ended.

All of these speakers have their respective positive attributes and most audio enthusiasts would be happy with any of them in their systems. But in the end, we must score them on build quality and performance. This shootout was really two shootouts in one: The Axiom and the Klipsch were in one category and the BIC and Unisound in another.

1st Place (tie) Axiom Audio M3ti
This was a very tough decision and one that must be made depending on what the individual plans to do with the speakers. If the system will mainly be used in a two channel set up or the system will be 50% music, 50% home theater then we would choose the Axiom M3ti hands down. Its refined, accurate, matter of fact sound catapulted it to the top. This speaker will play everything you throw at it with finesse and grace. The bass is large but not exaggerated. The Axiom would be equally impressive in a multi-channel music or home theater system

1st Place (tie) Klipsch RB-15
This is the speaker we would recommend if the individual uses it for mostly home theater applications 80% home theater and 20% music, or for the serious rocker that likes to listen loud. These speakers dynamic capabilities are huge. It's in your face presentation make this speaker larger than life. The exemplary build quality catapulted it to the top of the shoot out.

Many of you will think that choosing two speakers for first place is a cop out. Try as we might after listening many times we could not pick a clear winner. Both of these speakers outperform their perspective price points and you will need to judge these speakers based on your criteria. The Axioms look nicer and are $20 less. The Klipsch have impeccable build quality and are bi-ampable. I could go on and on chasing my tail forever on this match up. I will leave it for you to decide based on our information.

2nd Place
There was no second place because the Axiom and the Klipsch tied for 1st

3rd Place BIC DV-62
I know many of you will be disappointed at the lower ranking of the BIC DV-62. This speaker has a huge following in our forums and we realize there are modifications that can be done to make it sound better. We have discovered a few that have not been posted, that we will talk about later. The overall build quality, fit, finish, and less than top-level performance knocked this speaker out of the top tier.

This speaker was one heck of a bargain just a few short years ago, but aggressive marketing and slashed prices from competing manufacturers have left this speaker behind. This speaker is in need of upgrade to compete at the other speaker's levels. We understand that this speaker can be purchased at various stores at discounted pricing and at these discounted prices along with the modifications may make it a better bargain.

We placed this speaker in 3rd place because it has the potential to be a good speaker. The DV-62 will play low and loud, it has very good dynamic capabilities and it will easily fill a large room with generous amounts of sound. During the evaluation we added a few modifications of our own that made this speaker sound better. You may choose to experiment with these modifications.

We added 1 lb of poly fill to the interior of the enclosure, being careful not to block the port. This lowered the total bass output of the speaker but made the bass tighter and better controlled. We added one layer of rope calk to the stamped steel section of the woofer basket. This added mass to the woofer assembly and helped the slight ringing sound produced by Patricia Barber's voice.

The last thing we did was adding open cell foam strips to each side of the tweeter face. This helped with diffraction and it also seemed as though it tamed the sibilant sound the tweeter often made at higher listening levels. We have heard that there is a crossover modification for this speaker but cannot confirm this. Our final thought about this speaker is if you can find it at a substantially reduced price and perform the modifications it may still be a bargain at no more than $175 per pair total.

4th Place Unisound DAC 1.5
Placing the Unisound in last place was a tough decision. I felt this little speaker had the best tweeter in the shootout helping it to sound so rich and smooth. The Unisound speaker build quality was about average, but unfortunately the speaker suffered from a dynamic shortfall. This little speaker would be a great choice for the individual that has an apartment or small room, or for the person that likes a laid back presentation at lower listening levels. This speaker would provide a total knock out to all the competition if it were a little more dynamic. Replacing that little woofer and retuning the port length would be a good start, implementing a higher quality crossover would be the next, but then how much of the original speaker will still remain? At that point you may just as well consider purchasing the Axiom M3ti in favor of tweaking or modifying an average speaker into a potentially good one.