The Salk's have been the flavor of the year on AVSForums, but they are still more expensive than Axioms. Brightness is a personal opinion about how a speaker sounds. I do not find Axioms bright, nor do the the many of us that own them. I do find many other speakers to sound muffled in comparison.

Jason
M80 v2
VP160 v3
QS8 v2
PB13 Ultra
Denon 3808
Samsung 85" Q70