Like Rich said, you have to invest the time to set them up properly. That's the case with the vast majority of speakers. I don't know about the passive LFRs either but I can vouch for the transparency, imaging and soundstage of the actives. The sound with the actives isn't "coloured" either like it is with the M100, M5, etc. Those are wonderful-sounding speakers but sorry - compared to the actives - they are colored.
The room matters too. Cork tried but Jritz got better results. Maybe jritz's room is bigger, more evenly balanced across the reflecting surfaces, etc. Also maybe jritz just values soundstage and imaging more than other aspects.
I can also vouch for not using a centre. I've done a lot of testing and there is no doubt - zero - that actives with no centre for movie watching is far more accurate than with centre at the MLP. Dialogue to the left and right of centre collapses to the center with a center speaker. Not so with the actives and it is quite uncanny frankly. Also the imaging is far more natural-sounding - like you're listening to a real person rather than a more localized voice. Once you hear both of these qualities, you can't go back. I couldn't achieve this with any other speaker.
BTW, I look at how the passive LFRs were set up in Axiom's demo room and I know they weren't set up properly. So Chess, what you heard was likely crap. I think you just need to do yourself a solid and stop torturing yourself and try them in your space.
If you don't like them, punt them back to Axiom.
