After scouring my local (and regional) hi-fi shops, I was all set to get the Energy Take 5.2 system after an extended demo.
While researching various HT topics on the net, I ran across an online review (eCoustics.com, I believe) of Energy's Encore system... the one that was a bit "out of my league" price-wise ($1650 or so US from an authorized dealer). In this review, Axiom's Epic Mini system (it may even have been the Micro) compared rather favorably to it, and the reviewer offered his opinion that you would be hard-pressed to find significant performance differences between the two systems for their differences in price. As I'd never heard of Axiom, this caught my attention, and I followed the link to the Axiom site for a couple months of research and lurking on this forum.
I finally decided to give Axiom a try, and have been totally impressed with my system. For the money I was set to pay my local dealer for the Energy Take 5.2 system (plus tax and surround stands), I was able to get the Epic Master system plus the QS4 stands. As a novice to HT, I think I'd have been satisfied with the Take 5.2, but I feel I got more for my money with Axiom. I remember thinking that if the Epic Mini compared favorably with the Energy Encore, then any of the Axiom systems up to my budget limit would have me better off than if I paid through the nose for the Take 5.2 at my closest Energy dealer (50 miles away). As an added bonus, Axiom's customer/technical support is outstanding.
lando622
