Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate Thread
Page 2 of 2 1 2
Re: Just bought the M-80's!
rcb #396572 08/28/13 06:24 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 6,015
axiomite
Offline
axiomite
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 6,015
Sob! I can't wait until I can buy a bigger house, so I'll have room for some....

Re: Just bought the M-80's!
rcb #396754 09/01/13 04:46 AM
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 9
R
rcb Offline OP
regular
OP Offline
regular
R
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 9
Just an update.. I got the speakers yesterday morning, and have been playing them almost nonstop. The tube amp proved to not have close to enough power -- it sounded sweet, but just couldn't do the job. I connected the old receiver from my college days, and it performed shockingly well! This thing is.. don't laugh.. a TEAC AG-680 that I bought in 2000 for a couple hundred bucks. It was always pretty decent, but I am still in disbelief at how well it drives the M80s. It's actually good enough that I can put off buying / building another amp for a little while.

Even though I have heard them before (and connected to better equipment than I have)... WOW!! Every single thing about my stereo is night-and-day better than before. Even the subwoofer (a Polk PSW505) sounds dramatically better, because the Axioms can get low enough to meet it at a frequency where it belongs.

My impression of the M80s is crystal clarity and effortless dynamic range. I know that sounds like the kind of generic line you would see in quotes on some speaker company's website, but it's how the sound comes across to me. I can hear everything in the music as if it were playing by itself, even when the whole audio spectrum is filled with much louder signals. Drum solos are amazing. I've seen a lot of people describe them as "bright", which would seem to imply that they favor the high end, but I really didn't get that impression at all -- if I had to use one word to describe the sound, it would be "clean".

On the downside, defects and distortion in recordings are agonizingly obvious. The M80s are NOT forgiving of poor quality recordings. At all. Some music just doesn't sound that great when you can hear all the details. Some records have intermodulation / harmonics and even clipping in them (that I never noticed before). That sounds downright horrible. More forgivable are old recordings -- mostly stuff from the 60s for me -- that are full of tape noise and missing part of the low and high end. These don't sound "bad", but it doesn't help to play a bunch of near-perfect sounding tracks before listening to them...

Re: Just bought the M-80's!
rcb #396756 09/01/13 03:05 PM
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 286
local
Offline
local
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 286
I totally agree about the speakers being VERY revealing of poor quality source material! Once you hear how excellent they can sound with good source material it's tough to listen to anything else. Personally I find I'm even reluctant to listen to otherwise good recordings with background tape hiss - although since I upgraded from the M80s to the LFRs they may be making this noise even more obvious. (Sort if an omnidiectional tape hiss!)

Re: Just bought the M-80's!
rcb #396758 09/01/13 04:12 PM
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,291
J
connoisseur
Offline
connoisseur
J
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,291
when i hear tape hiss on a music track, it's like a snowfall in my mind; it fills the room and beyond, but does not bother me.

Re: Just bought the M-80's!
J. B. #396767 09/01/13 08:37 PM
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 7,786
axiomite
Offline
axiomite
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 7,786
Originally Posted By: J. B.
when i hear tape hiss on a music track, it's like a snowfall in my mind; it fills the room and beyond, but does not bother me.

Ahhh, the good old days. I miss all that tape hiss and static popping...


Fred

-------
Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
Re: Just bought the M-80's!
rcb #396773 09/02/13 01:37 AM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654
shareholder in the making
Offline
shareholder in the making
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654
Russ, glad to hear how much you're enjoying the music through your M80s. Yes, very accurate speakers such as the Axioms reveal the blemishes in some recordings as well as the beauty in well-recorded discs. I've tried to suggest here(e.g., in the "Stunning Recordings" thread)great music, well-performed, that sounds terrific on my Axioms.

Incidentally, no need for "disbelief" as to how well the AG-680 drives the M80s. They're average to slightly above average in sensitivity and don't have any special amplification needs. Assuming that the AG-680 is still in good operating condition, its 100 watt per channel rating is plenty for providing safe(to your hearing) sound levels. Newer units with more up-to-date features are available, of course, but simply from the standpoint of transparent amplification, what you have is fine.


-----------------------------------

Enjoy the music, not the equipment.


Re: Just bought the M-80's!
rcb #396874 09/05/13 01:39 AM
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,236
connoisseur
Offline
connoisseur
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,236
I sometimes drive my 80s with 40 watt of tube power effortlessly.


M3 and
M80
Re: Just bought the M-80's!
rcb #396946 09/08/13 04:07 AM
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 9
R
rcb Offline OP
regular
OP Offline
regular
R
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 9
You know your speakers are doing their job, when you start mistaking sound effects in music for actual sounds in the room!

Lampshade -- my tube amp is only good for about 10 watts (average RMS, while playing music). It does sound great with these speakers, but can't really do it for that particular room. I will definitely find a home for it though.

On another note, enjoying music in the car or at the computer has gotten harder!

Re: Just bought the M-80's!
rcb #397057 09/12/13 05:56 AM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,488
connoisseur
Offline
connoisseur
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,488
Congratulations on your purchase, I had previously owned the M80, both the Ti and v2 for several years and it is an excellent speaker. You will get many happy years to come out of them. I had driven them with several different amplifiers, including a tube amp that I believe was rated for 35wpc which did a remarkably good job of driving them. It has been my experience that they really do not start to shine until you turn them up and feed them some wattage though smile

Re: Just bought the M-80's!
SirQuack #397066 09/12/13 04:33 PM
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 77
G
GTZ Offline
old hand
Offline
old hand
G
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 77
Originally Posted By: SirQuack
best bang for the buck in audio


X2. Had mine for 3 years and really enjoy them.

Last edited by GTZ; 09/12/13 04:35 PM.

M80's, VP150, QS8's (all V3) Epic Sentinel Sub
Powered by Pioneer Elite
Page 2 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  alan, Amie, Andrew, axiomadmin, Brent, Debbie, Ian, Jc 

Link Copied to Clipboard

Need Help Graphic

Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics24,940
Posts442,457
Members15,616
Most Online2,082
Jan 22nd, 2020
Top Posters
Ken.C 18,044
pmbuko 16,441
SirQuack 13,840
CV 12,077
MarkSJohnson 11,458
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 145 guests, and 4 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newsletter Signup
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.4