Yeah, Rich, I am image obsessed for sure. Not sure about SPL-starved but I have noticed some of the very well-recorded jazz and brass pieces I listen to need a lower (quiet) level of 85dBC at my 12 foot listening position. These same pieces have peaks of an additional 20dBC. To hit 105dBC at a 12 foot distance requires a lot of peak power with an electrodynamic speaker like the Axioms as I've reported before and many of us know.

Besides being able to hit the peaks accurately, great imaging also requires detail through a high resolution Family of Curves, precision and accuracy in processing and amplification and "low" noise. These three things lead to separation, or a blackness, between the images. The precision and accuracy and low noise is very, very difficult to achieve. Axiom has made a great start with pre-amplification digital filtering but I suspect this is certainly not the end. We might think that every enhancement from now on is a refinement but so is getting a new eyeglass prescription every couple of years. Look at the difference those new glasses make!

House of the Rising Sone
Out in the mid or far field
Dedicated mid-woofers are over-rated