Welcome to the Axiom forum, and you are entitled to your opinions.

As for your test, I have done that many times on my system. Parasound Halo amps, Denon,Sony and Oppo players, using both Axiom and Rocket speakers. Cables consisting of a mix of Axiom, Bluejeans, Monoprice.........with the volume maxed at +15db there is no hiss or popping from any of the speakers. Actually not a sound of any type, perhaps I'm just lucky.

ROCK 'N' HAXIOM Theater