Sriram, I just took a look at the Sherwood Newcastle site(not the most informative that I've ever read)and see that the R-672 features HDMI "switching". Now while this allows you to select between multiple HDMI inputs to send audio and video to your TV, it doesn't necessarily mean that it processes the audio part out of the HDMI cable and sends it to separate speakers, such as your Axioms. Unless I missed it in my quick check, they don't have the R-672 manual online, so I couldn't verify this, but you should check your manual to see if you need to make a separate coaxial cable connection from your player to your receiver for audio.
