I was up visiting Joe at Axiom last week and we had this same conversation. I did have a chance to listen to both side by side. I left with the 80's. I felt it had a little bit better bottom end. The sound was slightly different, not necessarily better, just slightly different.
One thing Joe mentioned to me, and you need to be aware of, is that the 80's are a true 4 ohm speaker. Meaning most H/T receivers on the market will not handle the load. The result could be your receiver shutting down and damage. You need to check with Rotel if your receiver can handle the load, I wouldn't think so.
I am using a Rotel RSP-1066 Pre-amp with an RB-976 bridged to 150 watts/channel. I really think you need to go separates if you have the 80's for stability. It won’t hurt the speaker, but might damage your receiver.
I also listened to the B&W 700 series and Paradigm Studio speakers, side by side. Both were very nice sounding speakers. I did find the B&W’s a little flat in the bass area and like the Paradigms overall sound better. However to my ear, I could not justify the cost of either speaker in comparison to the Axiom’s. In the case of the 60’s, triple the cost. OUCH!!!!!
Like I tell everyone, if you like to spend large amounts of money and brag to your friends you have B&W, go a head, I am sure you will be happy with them. If however, you want almost equal sound, or in my opinion better sound, for a whole lot less you need to get the Axioms!
Hope this helps.
