Hi Sean:
I would like to offer a counter point - please hear me out before you dismiss them outright. Axiom has been building quality speakers for 30 years & has thousands of satisfied customers world wide. They are well known in the industry for providing excellent, prompt & friendly customer service. The Chief Engineer/CEO was not a cabinet maker - he is an audio engineer who designs speakers & audio equipment & has done so since the beginning. Some of his stuff is mildly unconventional but always pragmatic to cut costs to the customer while still providing decent performance. I like his 'out-of-the box' thinking & designs; however, this sometimes raises the hackles of other 'experts'. Along with some negativity, there are reams of positive reviews on the net & I believe that you can even find some here at AH.
I have 3 current Axiom setups - 2 audio only (1 with a tube amp) & 1 HT throughout my house that sound just fine - very competitive within their price range despite all of the needless negativity that you have already encountered. They have provided me with countless hours of pure enjoyment over 20 years along with many others out there - the silent majority of users.
I'll let gtp from above reinforce my comments with a few randomly picked excerpts from his many posts on the net over the last couple of years when he ran Axioms:
- I've been a Axiom owner since 2008 and couldn't be happier with my purchase and I even plan on upgrading to M80s and the VP180.
- I by the way love my Axiom M22s and Vp150
- I think Axioms are great speakers, but I would skip the sub just order the pair of M60s, VP 150 and the QS8s
- I really like Axioms, I could listen to them all day without "earbleeding" or Headaches like some say on here.
- I own an Axiom 5.0 system and I couldn't be happier, very neutral speakers,
Anyway, I'm sure that you get the gist. I have tons more but I don't want to bore you.
As with any product, Axioms aren't for everyone but it might behoove you head over to Axiom's site & have a look around, especially the forum section - mostly a friendly place, ha!!.
Cheers
TAM