Hey Rick,
Now, wait a minute here....
I don't know squat about reselling old gear. I just use mine until it goes terminal and then I use it to keep my dinghy from moving during beer drinking, er, fishing season. Sorry. But, in your shoes, I would sell the HTIB as a set; I'll bet you can get some value for it.
BUT, that Onkyo TX-DS747 is a pretty darn nice unit that you paid good money for. It undoubtedly has better amplification electronics than the HTIB rig. Is it "broken" in any way? It does Dolby Digital, right? (decodes a coax or optical digital input signal) It has five channels of amplification, right? Do you have another DVD player besides the one in the HTIB?
Let's reassess here, especially in light of that asset, Axiom's surround speaker design, and other forum members' experiences with 5.1 vs. 7.1.
The Axiom surrounds are superb. I have the QS8's and am delighted. As many folks have pointed out, they are very flexible relative to placement, and the quadpolar design is very enveloping.
I bet that 5.1 with the Axioms is going to present you with not only better tone but also better "Surround" than the 6.1 with those directional Onkyo's you are currently using. I don't think that there is much (any?) discrete 6.1 material right now; the only thing the 6th channel is doing for you is matrixing the other surrounds to give you a fuller rear sound stage. Depending upon your room and listening habits, it may not negatively impact you to "downsize" to 5.1 with the Axioms.
One of the board sages (Craig aka spiffnme) has terrific Rotel gear (no, not the canned tomatoes and peppers, which are yummy, but don't have good frequency response). He went from 5.1 to 7.1; for him, the difference was not a life changing event. I'm sure he'll chime in, especially if I've misquoted him.
Which leaves us with - is DTS the only other "deficit" of the Onkyo 747? My experience (and I'm just a guy sitting on my couch drinking a beer) is that the DTS soundtrack of most movies is not THAT much better than the Dolby Digital soundtrack. Not enough to warrant trashing that big Onk at this time anyway.
Here's what I'd do:
1. Pack up and sell the 760 HTIB.
2. Buy another DVD player if you have to. Don't go off the deep end. Newer stuff is becoming available (including universal player changers), and everything is getting cheaper and better all the time.
3. Buy as much Axiom as you can at this time and hook it up to your Onkyo 747.
If you are on a budget and want to continue to have upgradeitis, you would be thrilled, THRILLED I tell you, with M22's and some stands, VP100 and QS4's. If you have more to spend, want your face to hurt from smiling so much, don't want to wonder "what if", don't care if you neglect to bathe because you can't tear yourself away from the media room, etc. buy the M60's, VP150 and QS8's. Combined with your SVS, you'd be a really happy camper for many years to come.
4. THEN decide when to make the leap to a new receiver and a 6.1 or 7.1 setup.
Of course, all this is moot if your 747 does not do Dolby Digital. But I think it does.
Anybody mix Ro-Tel with cream cheese? Yum. Lunchtime.
