Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions M60s with Crown Amplifier XTi 4000

Hello,

Thanks for reading this post.

I have a Crown Amp XTi 4000, which I used to hook up to my $300 karaoke speakers (BMB CS-500). This setup sounds better than my M60s/Onkyo NR801 (Both for normal music and karaoke). So I was thinking the M60s were 3 times more expensive than BMB CS-500, how could the BMBs sound better. It must be the Crown Amp vs the Onkyo. So I hooked up the BMBs to the Onkyo. It's hard to tell whether this setup is better than M60s/Onkyo.

What I want to try is to hook up the M60s to the Crown Amp XTi 4000, which is rated at 650W/8ohms/channel. However, the M60s is rated only 250W/8ohms.

My Questions:

1) If I hook the XTi4000 to M60s, would it pop or blow up the M60s?

2) Is M60s rated 250W Peak or 250W RMS?

If someone has some experience with Crown Amp and Axiom Speakers, please suggest or share the experience.

Thanks much for your time,
Jake

You could go ahead and hook the crown amp to the M60s. They are rated at 250 watts rms. It's doubtful if you will over drive the Axioms with the Crown.

It could be a problem with the Onkyo.

It could also be you just prefer the sound of the other speakers in question. What sort of music are you playing on the Axioms and is it from the same source as the BMB's are getting. many things could be giving you this difference.

The 80's are rated at 400 which is very conservative, based on lab tests exceeding 1,000 watt peaks. I'm sure the 60's are also a conservative rating. You will cause more harm to speakers if you have low power versus more.

I used the same source when comparing them. Also tried different kind of music (different Original CDs). I let two other people listen without letting them know what setup being played. Basically, it was a blind test for all 3 of us, and we all agreed with each other.

Rick,

What do you mean by "problem with the Onkyo"? Is it not strong enough to drive the M60s? or Is its power nothing compared to the crown amp?

Anyway, thanks for your feedback. I will hook it up to see what happen. The worst case is that I still have the BMBs. Or perhaps I can send in for replacement because it's still under warranty...:-)

I don't know what your other speakers sound like but the Axioms should sound pretty darn good in their own right. How is it you have the Onkyo set up?

What kind of system do you have the M60s in? Stereo H/T? How are your setting in the Onkyo?

It would be hard to believe that those bar speakers would sound better than m60's, all things being equal.

It could be the M60s are revealing poor qualities of the recording, and the BMB's are hiding it, making them sound better.

I could not find a website of the manufacturer of these speakers?
It seems there main use is intended for karaoke, not critical listening?

Try 5starkaraoke.com. I found them there.

Another thought, were the speakers level matched when doing the comparison? If not the BMB's could have been playing louder and when doing testing the louder speaker is almost always chosen as sounding better.

One thing I need to make clear is that I did NOT say that the BMBs are better than M60s. I said the combination BMB and Crown sounds better than M60s/Onkyo-NR801.

Again, between BMBs/Onkyo and M60s/Onkyo: I could not tell which one was better.

I don't remember the exact setup in the Onkyo, but I used the same setup when comparing both speakers (on the same Onkyo). Some basic settings I can remember are: Loudspeaker, Stereo Mode, 80hz. Is there any particular setting in the Onkyo that I need to set to make it sound better?

I compared them at different sound level. Basically turn the volume from low to high then back to low. I couldn't do it too low because the Crown Amp's fan is constantly running.

Let me try to hook up the Crown to the M60s to see how it turns out and definitely will let you guys know.

Thanks.

If you set x-over at 80hz, this means you are using a subwoofer? This might not be the most appropriate when comparing speakers unless the blending with the sub is perfect for both.

I was a litte nervous when hooking up the M60 to Crown...But after hooking up, I could notice the difference as compared to the Onkyo.

Below is my summary (some of you may not agree if you're a big fan of Axiom)

1) crown/BMB vs OnkyoNR801/M60: BMB sounds better

2) OnkyoNR801/BMB vs OnkyoNR801/M60: It's hard to tell which one is better

3) crown/M60 vs OnkyoNR801/M60: Sounds more accurate, cleaner, tighter, stronger on Crown. I guess this is expected because the Crown is much stronger than the Onkyo

4) crown/M60 vs OnkyoNR801/BMB: M60 is much better. I guess because BMB designed for Bar/Karaoke. Onkyo is not strong enough to drive it.

5) crown/BMB vs crown/M60: On low to mid volume. I like M60 better. On high volume or Karaoke (mid-high volume), I prefer BMB

My conclusion:

- Crown DOES make a big difference. Only problem is that the constant running fan is a little annoying sometimes.

- If everyone rates the M60 high, then BMB CS500 is too cheap for its price ($295). 3 times cheaper than M60, but sound very nice. Don't get me wrong here, I also like M60 much.

Anyhow, thank you all for your suggestions.

Cheers!

I would imagine the 10" driver is making a big difference in sound and over emphasizing the bass.

Also curious if you calibrated the speakers for each comparison, unless you had them at level SPL and doing a AB blind test it really is not a true comparison. But, it is a nice general review. Also, where did you have the speakers placed during the comparison. Just setting them next to each other affects the soundstage and FR.

Thanks for posting the info Jake.

I was just doing a blind plug-in and play test. I had the BMBs sitting on top of the M60s.

Were the speakers level matched? (same db?)