Hi, all.
I jumped in a bought this amp without first contacting Axiom. Well, it has a buzz and I'm (painfully slowly) working with emotiva to help me solve it, but I wanted to ask some opinions.

Here is the situation: I have a 7.1 channel axiom setup (m80s
front, qs8s surrounds, m22is rears, vp150 center and ep500sub). I use a denon 3808ci receiver and listen to hi-res sacd's dvd-as as well as 2-channel analog with a rega tt, shelter 501 cart, jolida phono preamp, oppo universal player and regular cd player and blu-ray player. I am trying out an emotiva mps-2 amplifier.

I am not loving this amp and thought I would, but this is probably tainted by the unresolved buzz. I wanted more quality and a lower noise floor, blacker background and all that from an amp. It does seem to play louder at equal volumes when compared to my denon 3808ci when it was used alone to drive the speakers. But. . . the amp is making a buzz/hum sound (lower now that I turned off a floor lamp, but still not what I like - wanted silent and expected silent, but maybe I'm ignorant about amps),
that is not acceptable to me. To me, the amp is not rich or warm
and maybe doesn't play well with my fairly bright seeming system. Have you any suggestions as to what will make me get the "wow" factor? The $1700 of this "bargain" amp is a lot to me. So, questions:
1. Am I expecting too much to have it at the least be quiet?
2. I'm on my third day with it and it seems to be growing on me in a way meaning I think I'd not like to go back to just the denon driving speakers (the sound is opened up a bit and seems to have plenty of power in reserve - just a feeling). Are my ears adjusting to it or the other way around? Still, listening to albums over the weekend, the amp made steely dan's donald fagan seem like he had a lisp as sibilance seemed to be showing through on Aja. I got fatigued (though maybe from dealing with amp issues and not being in the mood to listen to albums). Something was just a bit bright, but maybe the amp is allowing the axioms to show some brightness? Maybe the denon used to correct for this? I don't know.
3. If you were to advise me, what would you suggest I do? Anything to break it in? I saw how sirquack had substantial problems with it (ugh! after the fact of buying it myself!) Should I run some adventure movies through it to see if I'm going to have that problem too?
4. Should i look at different, better matched amps?
5. Will the axioms hold up as I go down this upgrade path? People on forums often suggest upgrading my speakers, though I have enjoyed the m80s particularly since I got them.
6. Could you just give me your opinions/ideas/suggestions based on your knowledge of axioms? I want more quality and to eke out every bit of music resolution I can. HT seems fine either way, but music is where I want to hear it all. Do you think my amp is damaged or that my home just has bad wiring (buzz
problem) and that any amp will be a problem? I am using blue jeans rca cables from the receiver to the amp if that helps. Thanks in advance for any help. I am quite frustrated at the moment. Finally - I sent much of this email to Alan and he kindly responded with a way to test the amp to see if it is an amp problem and gave me much perspective, but he suggested I post here as well, so here I am. Hope y'all can help. Thanks in advance. Wish I'd read here first, but made that impulsive leap.
Laura