Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo M80 vs M60 and sub woofer

I think there are a couple of very happy Parasound Halo owners on the boards. One ended up getting Halos because his Outlaw multichannel amps were having a tough time keeping up with sustained high volumes into M80s.

EDIT -- I should mention that the Outlaw Monoblocks never had a heat problem, just the 7 channel driving 5 M80s and a couple of QS8s real loud. In some states that would be considered abuse, but apparently not in California

In terms of where to spend your money, it seems that up to a point (say $3K for speakers) you get the best bang for the buck by spending more on speakers than on electronics, after that all I can say is there is less agreement on what you get for the extra $$

I think my system spending was about typical if you want some numbers. Very roughly, in $CDN not including tax, I spent :

- 21% ($1500) for receiver and DVD/CD player
- 51% ($3700) for speakers (including subwoofer)
- 28% ($2000) for display (projector + DIY screen)

In this price range I would partition money about the same way if I were doing it over again, ie I would spend relatively more on speakers than electronics.

Jet, if you don't have any significant budget restraints there's no problem with the separate amp proposal. Keep in mind though that the M80s are slightly above average in sensitivity and are by no means difficult to power. Especially with the EP500 taking most of the lowest bass load in a type of active biamping arrangement, either the 2600, 3805, or other similar receiver should drive the speakers with ease. In any case, the cost-effective route would be to try it first rather than assuming that more money needs to be spent.

I will second Spiff's recommendation for the Odyssey. Great amp with a great warranty (which I believe is transferable). I have the smaller Khartago amp and really enjoy it.

I really like hearing from you guys that have done that and been there -- good sound advice - no pun intended... I think I will try the Denon 4306 and see if that puts out enough juice - if not then go with the power amp. Kind of off the stereo subject, does anybody know if the HDMI 1.3 version will go with the current A/V receivers??? Have you heard of people waiting to buy A/V receivers until 1.3 comes out?

JETT the neat deal about using the receiver is that you can always add a power amp at a later date if you feel you may need to *and* because most processors are costing a small fortune nowadays you can gradually add an amp here and there 'till you have a complete separate system using the receiver as the processor.

I'm using an H/K receiver and have my 80s pre-outed to a Rotel RB-1080 amp and am quite happy with the setup. I was originally going to replace the H/K with a processor but for the 3k US dollars expenditure on the processor I've since decided to axe that idea and use the receiver as the processor and add additional power amps for the remaining speakers.

And BTW ... Welcome!

Odyssey Monoblocks - Does anybody have these, have you had a good / bad experience with them. Seems like a good / practical way to power the M80s...