Welcome Brandon,
Of course your best option would be to find someone in your area to audition Axioms, or make use of Axiom's 30day trial period. You can check the "Hearing Things" section and look at the list on page 1 of Amie's post, to see if there is someone close to you that will let you stop over and have a listen.
I know what your saying when you say "mixed reviews". I was a long time contributer at AVSforum and other boards. For whatever reason there are a few folks that like to give Axiom a bad name. In many instances it was just hearsay and the actual individual never listened to Axiom speakers.
I can tell you that I've owned my share of various brands and Axiom is the best speaker I've ever owned. In my opinion, they are one of the best "bang" for the buck speakers available. Also, their customer service is second to none.
I will tell you I spent about a year auditioning various brands before I came across Axiom. Compared to the Paradigms, I would say you would have to look at their "Studio" or higher lignup to find something comparable to Axiom. The "Monitor" series, in my opinion, is a couple of grades below in sound/quality.
Personally, before I had a chance to listen to some Axioms, I was about to pull the plug on some B&W 703 floorstanding speakers, and the matching center/surround/sub. Just one 703 cost more than 2 m60's from Axiom.
Boy am I sure glad I had the chance to listen to Axiom. To my ears, and I've been around music much of my life, the M60's sounded better than the 703's.
I now own M80's, and you can see from my signature, just a few other Axiom products.
I can assure you that Axiom makes wonderful speakers, with about 30years behind them based on findings at the NRC in Canada.
If you decide to jump on the bandwagon, you won't be disapointed.
Randy
