I've been planning on eventually getting a new pre-pro for a while and have been anticipating the Emotiva XMC-1 as a potentially good option. I finally found a post in the Owners forum on AVS from someone who has received one! The initial report is that the sound quality is very good and there were no real issues with the unit. A good step in the right direction!
Until Axiom has any product in this area this may be worth considering, although admittedly it is significantly more expensive than a bunch of AVR's.
