Three years ago, when I was finalizing my choices of speakers (just before I learned about Axiom, actually), I was dragged by a friend to a "listening contest" by a "unindentified company" that wanted to win over an important reseller in Montreal (for whom my friend performs installations once in a while).
We were seven and all seven were generally impressed by all the speakers we heard and thought it was probably a virtual tie between the three, assuming probably a slight plus for the "marvel speaker that only takes 250 hours of break in". The three speakers were: Totem Wind (the "marvel speaker"), Paradigm S8 and some Boston Acoustics (I can't remember which model exactly).
Once the speakers were unveiled and that the actual sequence in which we heard was matched with our scores of the 20+ tracks (half classics, half rock), the saleman was in shock that the points given elected the Paradigm S8 (by a large margin) and the B.A. a bit ahead of HIS Totem Wind.
Red-in-the-face, insufficient break-in period was blamed for this "charade of a test" (organized and supervised by him!) and a fight almost broke out with the store owner accused of "sabotaging" his highly superior speakers! And that, of course, we were all ignorant non-audiophiles!
Fun time. A few months afterward, I got M80s and I am still VERY happy with the road I chose.
