Listening to any one of the speakers mentioned on their own, IMO, would not allow for the subtlties to be exposed thus making your dilemma a moot point. I am quite sure you would be happy with any of the speakers that have been suggested.
As you have pointed out Axiom customer service is the best in the business as far as I can tell, another good reason to go with Axiom.
Another idea would be to order the M2's, as they are similar in characteristics to the ascend's, and if they are not to your liking upgrade to the M3's, you would only pay for the price difference - no shipping charges applied when upgrading during the 30 day trial. If you think the M3's are still not for you and found the M2s closer to your liking but still not quite right, you could again upgrade to the M22 as the final test of the bookshelf idea, after that you would then have to move to floorstanders, which for 2 channel listening is the only way to go, IMO.
