Good to see you back in the game. 3 words, demo, demo demo.
You already know what the Axiom's can do

, now you just need to find out if the Rockets can keep up

.
Thanks. I'm looking a buying a system before Christmas, but the more forums I read, the more I read about how speakers sound different in different environments. With that in mind, I can't imagine more opposite environments than you have compared to my room. In fact, I wish I had your room for a more immersive sound experience. So I'm thinking I'll need to buy speakers and demo them in my house, then send them back if I don't like them. The problem with this is the expense associated with shipping the ID speakers. B&M speakers should be easy. I plan on buying Polk RTi12's to demo against some ID speakers like Axiom or Aperion.
I'm trying to put together a short list of speakers to demo in my own home, so that is primarily what I use the opinions in these forums for. I already know I'll be demoing Axioms in my house at some point, but I'm curious if I should add the Rockets to my list given their new low price.
In these forums, I look for reviews that have demo'ed speakers in a room that opens to a 2 story cathedral ceiling style home, to help narrow down my choices. I also look for common issues between different reviewers. For instance, I think everyone agrees that Axioms are 'forward sounding' or 'bright', whatever that means. I guess you get more high frequency sound levels from them?