I have heard some in the Aperion forum (that I am actively participating in right now also) say they listened to the Axioms and found them to be to "bright." I'm new to this arena so I'm not sure I know how to fully interpret that [I equate "bright" with harsh or tinny], but I'm looking for a speaker system with a nice warm sound. Do you believe the Axioms would fit that bill?
In two words, "he** yes"
Seriously, as I write this, I'm sitting in the HT with my wife watching the Dave Matthews Band Live Concert BluRay with my wife. She has literally been marveling at the sound all day. We watched the first hour this afternoon and she was practically begging me to get back in here all day long to listen to the rest. My wife has to this point in life been TOTALLY disinterested in audio. The sounds of the guitar that come through the Axioms in this recording are just unbelievable.
Since we've gotten the Axiom setup in our HT, she's as eager to get in here and listen/watch as I am. (she's a huge DMB fan as well, which doesn't hurt)
Enough about my wife and back to your question... is it a nice warm sound? To me, it is nice,warm, beautiful (pick your adjective). Admittedly, my ears are not "professional grade," but I can tell you that with your stated goal above, I'm 99.9% certain that you'll be ecstatic with the Axioms and never think about sending them back.
Honestly, you might be happy with the Aperions too, I can't say anything bad about them other than about the manual switching required for the surrounds - that would be a total PITA in my book and I don't think it'd be worth it to me to have to go through that when switching audio sources. Even if audio quality was exactly the same between the two, this drawback would be enough to push me to Axiom too (back to the issue of my laziness)
By the way, you asked how I like the QS8s... try a search on the forum to get some historical much more detailed reviews as well, but my quick response is that I find them to provide great envelopment for surround material. I also occasionally play my 2-channel audio in 7-channel stereo mode which really brings out the impressive sound of the QS8s.
Lastly, I see you have the Epson 1080 UB pro. How do you like it. I was planning to buy the 1080 UB (no pro version). How's the picture quality? I would presume when watching HD content either via DVD or satellite/cable, the picture is great, right? What about non-HD content?
I'll forward you a PM about the 1080UB so you can stay on topic here. I just wrote some info up for another member here and can pass the same message along.
Have fun shopping, feel free to hit me/us up with more questions.
