You should be able to find a good system for that budget. I just ordered my axioms friday (epic 80/500 5.1). I auditioned them before I pulled the plug and was VERY impressed. Once you get an idea of what you want you could always check out the audition thread and see if anyone is in your area with axioms you can listen to.

I will let others chime in with more experience around here at this point. Many people have compared various axioms in an a/b setting so they may offer some suggestions.

-David