Hello letigre,
The only Mirage center I've heard was a bipolar model (front and rear-firing drivers) and it was very colored sounding. It certainly wasn't neutral and would not match your Axioms. Older Axioms were always quite neutral and natural sounding.
Tonal colorations on center speakers are very noticeable because our ears are ultra-sensitive to midrange coloration on dialog voices and vocals.
If the Mirage center isn't bipolar, then Murph may be correct about the level being set too high. I'm assuming you are listening in Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Pro LogicII. Normally, only center-mixed dialog, vocals and instruments panned to the center will show up in the center channel. It's also possible the Mirage center is tonally colored and a poor tonal match.
Regards,
Alan
