Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Hearing Things Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire

I am looking to audition a pair of m80's. I live about 25 minutes south of Boston, MA. I would like to bring my 40 watt Manley Stingray over to drive them.

Sicerely,

Lampshade

I hope you get a chance to hear the 80's. If not, look for 60's to hear, they will give you a good idea of what to expect from the 80's.

Thanks Quack. I really want to hear the 80s because they are 4 ohms and my amp likes 4 ohms better than 8.

Currently I am contemplating another crazy idea. I have lots of them. If I get the 80's. I am going to get them in high gloss orange. Big money. Later I will add the other speakers, center etc.

I might do this instead...

I have written the speaker designer of my current speaker to see if his center channel will match well with my speakers(they have been discontinued). If he says yes, I am going to get that center channel and keep using my current speakers for a home theater and stereo role. I will have to buy the monoblock version of my amp to make everything match up nice no matter which brand center combo I end up with.

Option B should run about the same money as the high gloss orange M80s.

For the curious:
Current speakers- JM Reynaud Trentes
Current Amplifier- Manley Stingray
Mono block amp needed- Manley Mahi

I also need some speakers for my 2 watt per channel SET. Maybe some M3s.

2 Watts!! Mojo would be proud !!

Lampshade, you MUST provide pics if you end up getting the High Gloss Orange M80s!

Wow, I thought everything would drive an 8ohm speaker.

It will drive the 8 ohms no problem. It sounds better when it drives 4 ohms.

? umm ok

The lower resistance in the speaker is allowing the amp to deliver more power for better dynamics.

The 80's do have better dynamics than the 60's, according to Ian.

I don't know the amp design theories behind it, but I know you should always try to match the speaker impedance to the amp rating. 4 ohms and 4 ohms , 8 ohms and 8 ohms...
the Stingray was optimized for 5 ohms( I don't know why it wasnt optimized for 4 ohms...)

It probably doesn't matter much, as a speaker's impedance varies over it's range anyway....

So your amp is not campatible with 8ohm speakers, never heard of that. All AVR specs are normally rated into 8ohm, 6ohm, and 4ohm. The amp doesn't know the difference.

It will work with 8 ohms I just think it will sound better with 4 ohms...up to a point where it can't drive them any louder.

I did a quick google search on impedance matching. Of course, everything on the internet is 100% true, but I got the gist that solid state amps don't care so much but tube amps do.

So how do you like your Manley Stingray? It is on my wishlist (that or Cary SLI-80). I have never heard of anyone having problems with Stingrays and 8 ohm speakers.

I love it. I rescued some Klipsch Fortes from a garage yesterday. The Stingray is driving them and they are awesome. Treble is not great great but is ok. Bass is incredible.

Stingrays sell so inexpensively on Audiogon. I don't know what speaker configuration I am going to wind up with but some day I am going to have to stingrays driving the fronts and rears and a Mahi (monoblock) driving the center.

The Stingray opened my ears with the War of the World DVD. I have a Denon AVR and the Jeep getting thrown out of the hole sounds 100 times better on the Stingray and the Jets flying over the farmhouse followed by the battle would put the Denon into circuit protection. The Stingray has no problems. However, the Stingray can get loud, but has its limits. It would not be for everyone. Although with the Klipsch it can get crazy loud.

Driving speakers that reach easily down to 30 hz has me excited to hear the M80's. The Klipschs are lots of fun, but the blurred treble would probably bug me over time.

hi, just wanted to thank mark johnson for allowing me to audition his axiom speaker setup. he was great to deal with a such a nice guy to talk to. had a great time listening to those fantastic speakers. i will be ordering mine very soon. thanks again mark and have a great holiday season.

Eh?

Mark, is that you? what's with the new alias?

no, i auditioned his speaker setup with mark today. alias???

Lol, just having fun with Mark, Matty. Glad you liked the speakers.

oh okay, sorry. thanks

Don't forget to mention Mark's audition when you order .

Hey Matt:
You're welcome, it was nice to meet you!

Certainly, if you have any questions, there are many experts here...or, if you don't care about "level of expertise", you can always ask me!

just wanted to let you know that i am sorry to say but i ended up going with another speaker line after much auditioning. I am very happy with my choice after much auditioning. thanks again for all your help and allowing me to audition your speakers. i will await your call for the video's

You can't drop in here and say you went with another company and not tell us!!

So what did you buy? Pics?

Don't worry others have posted pics of non-Axiom products and own non-Axiom products.

True,
I don't think anyone here has an "Axiom or Nuthin" attitude. We would be interested in what you chose and hearing your review of how it sounds.

Well, I did it again. I spent my M80 money on something else.

Shame on you!!

Some people's priorities, eh?

It is really quite embarrasing. But I just had to have a new camera.

As long as the money went to a new toy I think we can forgive you.

Which camera did you get?

I bought a Mamiya 7ii which is a rangefinder camera that shoots really big 6x7 centimeter frames of film. It can produce stunning images. I bought it for the sole reason of photographing M80s in high gloss orange.

Looking foward to seeing those pics!!

hi, no worries. i went with PSB Image line. Bought a pair of T6 towers and a C5 center in dark cherry and a pair of S5 surrounds in black.

they rock for music and are an absolute treat for my HT room. i am very happy with my choice. dont know how to add pics on this forum??

Congrats, Matt. PSB makes some fine speakers and has a similar philosophy as the folks at Axiom.

Many here considered PSB's before going with Axiom, PSB makes some mighty fine speakers and glad to hear you like them as much as we like our Axiom's.

i guess i was the reverse as i considered axion before going with PSB. here is a link to the speakers i bought.

http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Image-Series

mine are dark cherry and the surrounds are black. i think they are very well built and sound fantastic. its funny cause i was soooo close to ordering a setup from axiom, i like there surrounds so much i may order a set of Q8's for my rear back channels still. i am using my older cambridge soundworks S300 right now.

thanks again and take care all.

I am going to take a guess and say they sound an awful lot like the M60s, which IMO, are very similar in sound as many retail speakers. Those PSb's in Cherry look great, enjoy them to the fullest you can.

I wouldn't use the QS8s as rear channels unless you sit right under them. The QS8s excel as side surrounds and really spread the sound out, so much so that many do not think going to 7.1 is required.

I live 25 miles south of Boston. (I'll bet we're talking different "south's"). Have M60's if you think that'll be of use to you. Call one of the goodguys @ Axiom to ask re: M80/60 comp's. They're also Vassallo, so you can see the cabinetry.

Crapola! I gotta start looking at the dates of these postings! Some areas have newest postings at top of page and some are don't.
Lampshade, hope you heard what we all know.

Hi BobKay,
I have not checked this board in quite awhile. I am sorry I did not reply to you sooner. I will send you a PM.

I have followed this form and am impressed of the lack of hostility towards someone auditioning "our" speakers and choosing another. It shows class and hopefully we can forward this topic to that idiot over at the other forum, (forgive me as I am lacking the memory for details) the one that banned a few of the members here for posting. Anyways Matty I'm glad you like your choice and they are great looking speakers.

Beautiful and exciting.

That is my review of the M60s. I would like to thank BobKay for being so generous with his home, his time, his system and his knowledge of music. He is a music lover. I had a great time.