With the mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in the CE business in recent years along with China being the focal point and pretty much dominating the business, the waters have been quite muddied as to what one might call "high-end" and what isn't. I am sure many remember the Lexicon/Oppo fiasco of a couple of years ago. Wilson speakers are excellent, but, their premium models costing $20K and up are gigantic so size is part of that expense and many of us could not fit these in to our set-up anyway. As well, I don't think there is an electronic product out there, regardless of price, that doesn't have parts in it that are almost primarily manufactured in the Far East. Take in to account many companies that have moved their production there as well. Among several others, a case in point is the prestigious speaker manufacturer B&W already mentioned in this discussion. Although designed in the U.K., other than the top of the line 800 series, all their other models are built from the ground up in China. Some are still adamant about the idea of anything being built there in that they feel it is an inferior product. If that is the case(which I don't personally believe), B&W sure hasn't reflected this in their prices, so how does one really know?
The way I look at it and regardless of any naysayers, Axiom has been around for over thirty years so when it comes to their place in the speaker market and how they compare to the competition, they must be doing something right.
