It comes back to the so misquoted statement that I made. The improvement in sound I got from going from an older set of speakers, in my case a pair of Energy C3, to a set of M3v4 speakers was gigantic. The M3 are about $600. The improvement from the M3 to M100 is there, but not 4 times better considering the cost of the speakers are over four times the price. If you moved to the LFR1100 your cost jumps up well over 10x the price.. do you honestly think you are getting that much jump in sound? Yes it is bigger and envelops you more. But it is a night and day better sound like going from a 12" black and white TV to a 100" 4k laster projection?
Totally fair question. There is definitely not a linear relationship between cost and performance, and the knee of the curve is somewhere around the M3. Past that you get continued improvements in sound quality plus the ability to fill larger rooms (or play more loudly) but you are definitely dealing with diminishing returns per $$ and your money is getting you nuances rather than night-and-days.
One of the reasons I was so excited about the M5HP was that IMO it gave Axiom a "this is as good as most people are ever going to need" bookshelf speaker, which I felt was a gap in their lineup previously.
That said, if you do have a large room to fill then going to larger speakers does give you more than a nuance in benefits. For a smaller room it gets tougher to justify going much past M5HP or M60 from a value perspective, although the larger speakers are still going to sound better even so.
Going from regular to LFR is arguably another expensive nuance, but one I definitely wanted to try.
Since I don't play my system very loudly these days I don't expect to get more than another nuance going from passive to active crossovers, but (a) I grew up on active crossovers - talk about a mis-spent youth - and (b) I really like the work that Ian and Andrew have been doing and am really interested in the possibilities that come from doing the active crossover in a DSP rather than a few op-amps.
Bottom line - do I expect a big difference between passive and active LFRs ? Nope. Do I expect some interesting nuances which I might or might not find really desireable ? Yep.
I do agree with your point about being able to listen to the speakers... the "internet direct" model works exceptionally well with smaller speakers but starts to get a bit strained once you are talking about LFR1100s and a stack of electronics that comes up to your waist. It probably would be worthwhile for Axiom to set up a listening room with a permanent set of LFR's that can be A/Bed with other speakers from their lineup for a while, just so more people can see and hear what they can do.
If you are not able to connect with Ian while you're up in the area and I do go ahead with trading to the actives, I would be happy to haul them out to your place so we can A/B them with your speakers.
