I have only met one salesperson that actually seemed to know what Axiom speakers were. Oddly enough, it was an 'assistant-manager' type at the local Best Buy-Magnolia store. While browsing AVR's, he asked what kind of speakers I had. When I answered, "Axiom", he actually sort of nodded and said that he had heard of those. "They're a Canadian direct-seller, right? I've heard they make good stuff," he said. He asked me a couple of questions about them and seemed to be genuinely interested in them. I was surprised.
But every other home audio salesperson I've ever met, from big-box stores to boutique high-end shops have either not known about Axiom or has been negative about them. To be fair, most have said they've never heard of Axiom. But several that claim to know what they are have made negative comments about them. "Oh, those are the speakers they sell out of a van, right?" "You don't want those, they're chinese-made garbage". "Those are crummy speakers and they know it, which is why they don't sell them in any stores." etc, etc.
For the ones that immediately talk of how bad they are, I chalk it up to plain old fear. Fear that the direct-to-customer model of Axiom will drive them out of a job. Fear that Axiom speakers really are as good as they are. After all, we're bypassing the middlemen by buying Axiom speakers.
