when i was in the market for speakers the two sets you are looking at were exactly what i was looking at. I ended up going for the axiom's due to cheaper price and WAY more reviews. However i must say the real wood veneer on the rockets is Absolutely beautiful and obviously is a step above axiom's vinyl. I ended up getting axiom high gloss cherry on one of their sales and am very happy with it though. I still wonder how the 850's sound....but its hard to imagine anything sounding better than the 80's for the price...or maybe double...
What i am interested in is the new LS speaker line the LS6 and LS9 look great!! and a well executed line array speaker is supposed to be amazing....better be for the price \:o