Truthfully if you ask 10 people here you'll probably get 10 different recommendations on what receiver to buy. I love my HK525 and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the HK225 but I'm sure the various offerings in your price range will be very similar. At that price range the wattage is probably close and the only difference being cosmetic along with a few features (like auto-calibration). I still think everyone should own a radio shack SPL meter and good test disk to setup their speakers though.
Any of your recievers will sound great paired with quality speakers like the Axioms. Pick one base on aesthetics and whether or not you like the remote. I do find the H/K remotes a bit cheap feeling but I use a Radio Shack super remote to control all my audio/video anyway. You might want to pick one with the best universal remote if everything else is equal.
Frank
