You didn't mentioned what AVR you were using, but if you have an HK, you will absolutely want to try the regular Dolby Pro Logic (not DPLII) processing mode with your older rock music. On about 80% of my CDs it makes a huge difference. I had a friend over who immediately noticed the same thing that I did.
Over the years, I've had a few radios, boom boxes, and car radios that had a Dolby switch. The only thing it ever seemed to do was reduce the volume a little, and make the sound more "compressed". Not on my HK630 - it actually works the way it is supposed to. It appears to increase the width and depth of the soundstage, boosts the midrange, and "cleans up" the highs at the same time.
Personal tastes aside, I played Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind last night using only my M60s. It sounded damn good without DPL, but it was absolutely incredibly with DPL enabled. (As incredible as any band who's lead singer's nickname is "Air Raid Siren" can sound. hehe...) The m60s did a great job of recreating that magical mixture of the dual guitars that makes Maiden stand out amongst the other metal bands. The bass guitar was strong, clear, and easy to follow. Man, now THAT guy has fun playing bass. I never wanted to be a bass player, but I'de give it a shot if I could play with them.
I've also played some AC/DC Back in Black, and From Those About To Rock. The cannons scared the @#%$! out of me even though I knew they were coming. It sounded like I had real artillery in my living room. WOW!!! Im pretty sure Angus and the boys were talking about Axiom when they said:
Weeeeeeeeeee saluuuuuuuute yoooooouuuu!!!
---- FIRE! ----
My answer Monster, Yes. Axioms are good rock speakers. But it took me a lot of screwing with the room, speaker placement, equipment connections, and DSP modes to get them there. So I guess the answer is that they ARE good rock speakers, but they might just not be "easy" rock speakers.
