I think everyone reaches their own personal "good-enough-for-me" plateau and then berates anything more than what they have (sour grapes?).
This is called 'ego' and it gets bruised easy in the world of audio. Like a butterfly landing on a pinot grape on the vine and the pinot comes out like it was hit by a Toyota with a stuck accelerator.
I'm sure that there is better kit than what I own available, but I've not yet heard it. Some things that most reviewers drool over (Magnepan speakers, for example) just don't work in my room. I've heard them sound good in other rooms, but they don't sound their best in mine.
And this is why even sticking to one brand may not work. I've had three sets of speakers on my main floor and none sounded very good but of the three options, the best sound was not from the $6k Tannoys i've got there now, and nor were they Axioms.
The same three brands sounded great in our media room, but the set i don't own i preferred best (for midrange and high end, but were a bit bass heavy). Comparatively, the Axiom M60s we have exhibit a much more controlled bass but almost a muted mid and high end. Odd considering that i AM a person who has termed the Axioms as 'bright' in the past and no, that word doesn't mean 'detailed'.
If i could have married the Axiom bass and price with the other brand's mid and high end plus wood veneer finish, i would have my perfect speaker.
Room physics makes a huge difference for sound but when all else is equal, you may settle on more than speaker brand for your house depending on the room.
For the same reasons that Maggies don't work in my room, I'm not even interested in trying the omnidirectional Axioms. They won't do there best here either.
Those are two very different sound principles (i.e. difference between Magnepan electrostatic design and Axiom direct driver, bipole-like idea). I really wouldn't jump to conclusions trying to compare those two.
