I don't think you will hear many complaints about the Mavic Aksiums. They are Mavic's entry level wheels and the make good use of the new technologies.

If you choose to go with the old school gold standard wheel, the you would probably be looking for something like an ultegra hub, 32 spokes and something like a Mavic Open Pro or CX33 rim. These have been considered the "standard" quality wheel for quite a while.

The only thing interesting to note between the two styles and the arguments of the proponents of either is that Mavic no longer makes the old school wheel and has I believe transitioned over to straight pull spokes on all of their in house wheelsets.

You will get similar results from either style.