I'd invite you over, but like Sirquack said, I am remodeling my basement too. Plus, like you mentioned, you are about 2.5 hours away from me (I've driven the Des Moines to Quad Cities trek many times, 3 hours from Sirquack is about right, but I am bout 25 minutes closer)...
My family lives back in Dubuque which is only an hour away from you, but I don't have space in our vehicle to pack up my speakers AND get all of my family's "stuff" (wife and 2 daughters, so they pack a LOT of "stuff") when we go back for Easter or a couple weeks after that, sorry....
I ended up buying my setup without ever hearing them. It was a little nerve racking, but I am very happy with the setup that I have. If you keep reading around the internet, you will see that these speakers have won awards all over the place, and reviews are good too. You might have to take a leap of faith like I did, but it does ease your mind if you can actually hear them first, so I can sympathize with you there.
