About 3 years a go my son decided he wanted to become a bedroom DJ.
After saving his birthday money & Xmas money, I took him to our local disco shop.
When the assistant stopped laughing after we said we were looking for an AMP & speakers for about £300, he told us the cheapest AMP he had was £300.
At this point the owner came in and asked if he could help. He set up a 300w Matrix amp (which was their cheapest amp) to a CD player and asked us what type of speakers we wanted. After explaining that money was tight, he proceeded to connect up a pair of AXL 150RMS speakers, saying “These have just come in, I have tried all the speakers in here & for the price I think they sound a lot better than more expensive speakers”. We listened to them & they did sound good, he then connected up another pair that were double the price but the same wattage. None of us liked these as much as the first. In the end we listened to about 6 pairs of speakers (all in the 150-200W RMS range) By the time we got to something that sounded as good as the AXL’s they were £300 each. We left the shop happy with a Matrix 300w amp, a pair of AXL speakers & speaker stands for only £400. (the speakers were £100 the pair & he through the stands in for nothing)
My son is now using a 400W stage line amp £99.99 with these speakers. He has done a few discos for myself & friends (up to 250 people) the speakers & amp have coped well, for 4 hours on almost full tilt. Everyone was remarking how good the system sounded, and they couldn’t believe the amp & speakers cost just under £200. How long these will last if he decided to make a full time go of it remains to be seen.
If he decides to do a lot more he wants to get a 1Kw amp & speakers, and because he likes the sound from the AXL’s we have been looking to see if they do any larger wattage speakers, but so far haven’t found anyone stocking them now.

Sorry Jackwabbit, I don't know much about that make at all. Having had a quick search on good old Google, I've found a shop in the USA that seems to sell AXL stuff. I can't find out where they're manufactured though.

There is alot of chat recently on the Forum (including some from yours truly) about speakers and sound EQ'ing etc, so if you've not checked that out yet it might be useful.

Personally, I love the main rig I've got using Peavey Messenger Pro's (subs & tops) but they're not cheap and as Chris P says, "it's all down to personal preference and what you think sounds good".

Happy shopping

Ian Stuart