OK... more like incredibly lucky than stupid.
Long story short. I'm a busy guy. No time to "shop". I paid off my 65" Mits a couple of weeks ago, so I figured it was time for a nice sound system. I stopped in a few stores and listened to a few speakers. I knew for sure which ones sounded bad. My problem was that once a set of speakers sounded "good" to me I lost the ability to judge them any further. This left me with at least 4 possibilities that I could live with. The lowest priced set that I liked was around $750 per pair for mains. There was a matching center, and the store recommended the smallest bookshelf speaker made by the same manufacturer for surrounds. The high end speakers that I liked were around $1100 per pair for mains with the same deal for the center and surrounds.
After months of reading reviews and forums on the web, I realized that a lot of people have put a lot more time and effort into selecting speakers than I ever will. A lot of you ended up with Axioms that you are perfectly happy with even after comparing them to much more expensive speakers.
So, I took a blind leap, and ordered M60s, a VP150, and QS8s...
All I can say is "WOW!". They arrived yesterday, and I finally had a chance to unbox them and check them out tonight. They sound wonderful, and the Maple finish with black grills looks incredible.
I didn't order my (SVS) sub yet, but I am not in such a big hurry to do so now that I have my Axioms. I was completely suprised to find that when hooked up to my HK AVR630, this combo produces enough bass to shake my couch. It almost feels like I have shakers installed under it. My house is a mid 50's brick exterior, plaster interior rancher. It is very sturdy with actual 10" 2x10 joists under the floors. Based on what I've read, I was not expecting any where this level of bass. I also have never been able to max out the volume without ever hearing any distortion on any of my previous alleged "audio" equipment. VERY cool..
The "brightness" that I was hoping to be minimal turned out to be non-existent. After being within 3 feet of many, many, live cymbal crashes, I can attest that my Axiom speakers sound just as bright, but not any brighter than the real thing.
One of my M60s has a small dent in the frame of the grill, and a small hole in the fabric below that. One of my QS8s has an approximately 1/2" long by 1/8" wide by 1/32" deep indentation in the aluminum cone of the top woofer as well. It sounds fine though. I'll call Axiom in the AM. I'm sure they'll straighten it all out.
I would like to express my gratitde to all of you that did the hard work, research, auditioning, and comparison shopping for me. All of your effort saved me a bunch of time, and I am sure a few dollars as well...
I LOVE the way that these things sound. I am one extremely happy camper right now, and I feel damn lucky.
