The DHL guy showed up last Monday with my speakers, they were scheduled to be delivered Tuesday so imagine my surprise!
I got 2xM60ti's VP150 2xQS8's and a EP500 (all in black).
First of all I want to mention that if the factory outlet speakers have cosmetic defects then I want to see the regular ones because mine didn't have anything I wouldn't expect on a regular product.
All I could find was a small spot on the VP150 were the color was slightly lighter (I wouldn't even call it a blemish) and a very small glue residue on the bottom of the EP500. I've seen products for sale that have worse defects! That speaks volumes for Axiom's quality!
I haven't had time to dial them in properly but I did a quick automatic setup and I can't barely describe the difference!
Until now I had a Kenwood HTIB and I actually kept two of the speakers as rear surround until I can afford purchasing some more QS8's and whenever the automatic setup did the test tones I couldn't believe the difference between the Axiom and the small Kenwoods! The test tone on the Kenwoods would be dull and muffled when on the Axioms it would be very clear and sharp!
I put in Star Wars EPII for a quick test and I couldn't believe how much more sound effects I could hear! And the EP500 was rocking my house so hard! I'm going to be the neighborhood's nightmare
.
Even my wife commented that she didn't remember the sounds that were coming out of that movie!
I was in a hurry so I wasn't able to do a lot of listening yet but I did try the tuner and dialed it to our local classical station and those speakers are so good that you can tell that our reception isn't as good as it seems since even the background noise is clearer!
I'll try to make a more in depth review of my impressions this weekend. I'll post some pictures of my room too.
Now all I need to do is get some sound/video calibration DVD and a SPL meter!
