Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners m80's or m60 w/Amp?

I bought my m60's a few months ago and they were way better then my Bose 701's. I ended up keeping the m60's and awaited for the delivery of the PC13. Now that I have the PC13 Ultra, I find that I turn my system up a lot especially during HT. We have thrown a few parties now and I find that the music is a bit laid back and not very forward.

I was wondering if an Amp like Emotiva LPA-1 or IPS-1 will open them up or should I just upgrade the speakers to the m80's? My Amp will push them so there's nothing holding me back except for the choice.

A new amp won't do anything for forwardness. If anything, it will make them MORE laid back when driven at high levels, since a underpowered amp can make speakers sound harsh when overdriven.

What is your room like? Is it large, full of soft surfaces, or otherwise non-average?

Wow, I never thought my 60's sounded laid back, most people found them very detailed. Have you calibrated your speakers/sub to matching SPL, maybe your running your sub to hot?

Randy's most likely right. The sub is too hot.

Mojo Hot.

My living room is open, L-Shaped and is 14x20x8

I bought the Avia Disk and used the good old RS SPL meter. Using Avia, my sub should be at -17 and I run it at -20. That is why I'm considering either a new amp or the m80's.

So, if I were to buy an Amp, wouldn't it make the m60's louder?

Alex, my room is 31ft x 30ft x 9ft and is open into another portion of our basement. My Denon 2805 at 100watts per channel drove my previous m60's to levels that most people would not try.

You don't say what receiver your using, but as efficient as the 60's are, I would think they would be plenty loud. Yes a bigger amp would allow you to possibly crank it up further before clipping. I'm just trying to grasp your problem.

No, Alex, you're the one in control of how loud your M60s play, not the amp in your present receiver or in a new receiver or separate amp. Adding still more maximum power capacity doesn't make anything louder unless you intentionally turn up the volume level beyond what you were using before and the new level is something that your present amp couldn't do(unlikely).Keep in mind that power increases in a logarithmic, not linear way. This means that power increases from 1 to 2 watts, 10 to 20 watts, 100 to 200 watts, 1000 to 2000 watts, etc. would create the same increase in sound level(if the extra power was in fact put into use)of just 3dB, a noticeable but not substantial amount, especially if the sound level was already over 100dB(e.g. an increase from 105 to 108dB).

My current receiver is Yamaha RX V2200 @ 100w x 5. It is outdated, but offers everything that I need right now.

I was thinking of buying an amp with 150w x 7. I'm running a 5.1 system right now, so with the two remaining channels, I was thinking of bi-amping the m60's.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have money right now and want to spend it on something. I'm looking to increase the sound and try to get ever-so-close to that Theatre Sound.

Alex,

An extra 50W isn't going to do it for you. Buy an A1400-2 for your two front channels and then you can revel in your cochleas turning to mush.