My Axioms (M60's,VP150,QS8's) arrived Friday moring on New Years Eve. Packaging was great....no noticeable damage to the speakers nor the ouside of the boxes.

I have to say these speakers look better than I expected...the website pic's just don't do them enough justice. The seems are perfect. I only found one minor flaw with a QS8 woofer grille....it appears to be glue that bled through the grille cloth and shows as a white crusty substance.

I haven't listened to much music yet...only parts of two CD's and some satellite radio. What I did notice immediately when listening to the CD's was how much better vocals sounded and how low bass notes now had a punch instead of a boom. Also, I can hear more detail than I am used to hearing. I expected all of these things considering my old mains are Sony's purchased back in 95'.

DVD's on the new system are fantastic. I have watched SW - Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones a few times. Several times I have listened in awe at the beginning of the DVD when the THX intro is played. Wow...it brought a big smile to my face. The pod racing and seismic charges scenes are simply amazing. The QS8's are wonderfully good. I haven't heard those scenes sound so good since I heard them on my buddy's Paradigm Reference system....which is hooked up to some serious gear (Carver Research amps, Lexicon MC12B, etc.).

I just watched SW - Attack of the Clones again today and it seems the M60's are sounding better with time. Call me crazy, but I would swear the mains are cranking out more/better/something? bass than they did when I first hooked them up. They just seemed to have opened up a little after a weekend of playing time. Perhaps it is just my perception and nothing has changed since the minute I hooked them up? In any event, this system rattles the house when my NAD T752 is at +5 and sounds ultra-clean while doing so. At times, you would think I was running a sub (dont have one yet). The M60's can really pound out the bass...more than I thought they would.

I didn't have a center before and my previous surrounds were 8 ohms. For this reason, I decided to experimented a little to see how far I could push the NAD. I clipped the receiver once when the volume was at +6....right as an explosion began to rip off on Attack of the Clones. Thankfully, NAD has the soft clipping. In my room, -5 seems to be about the right volume for casual listening. On action DVD's like Phantom Menace, between -4 and 0 seemed to be about the right volume for those like me who want it loud. Anything above that is 'show off to friends' volume. If I ever do show off my Axioms in the future, I won't go past +5.

I still have to AB these against the Wharfedale Evo's. Hopefully, that will come this weekend.