Those are all very different speakers Spiffy. The Bics are horn loaded, the Athenas are dual 8 inch woofer big boy floorstanders that are pretty much 100 lbs shipped, and those Paradigms are probably the best built of the lot and have the biggest snob appeal. I've only heard the Paradigm and the Athenas and to be fair the Paradigms were in a treated room that had a much better layout then the one the Athenas were in. I heard the Paradigms driven by a Denon 3805 and 1910 and the Athenas driven off of a HK 335 and a HK DVD player (I think the 22?). In my opinion the Paradigm sounded better but was easily bested in the sheer amount of Bass put out by the Athena. The Athenas rocked really hard and both music and movies sounded really good. The Paradigms were awesome, but without a sub running they did lack the punch of the Athenas. With a sub the Paradigms were better, but were they 50% more money better, I don't feel that they were.
Those Acoustechs have Horn drivers and I'm always a little leary of that for myself. I have only ever heard cheaper quality horn speakers and found that they were too bright for my taste after a little while. The big plus of those Acoustechs is that they are very efficient speakers so you can save on the electric bill or get a receiver with a less powerful amp. Have you considered the Bic 84 floorstanders? You ought to be able to pick up a pair for about $400 or so shipped and they come with 2 8" drivers and 2 passive radiators. I haven't heard those yet either but I bet they can crank out the bass.
