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A small review of the M80s
#78669 01/23/05 06:59 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
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spiroh Offline OP
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I decided to go with the M80s after hearing wid's set. I came away very impressed with the 80s and ordered them the following week. The service was very fast. The Axioms shipped out the same day that I ordered them. First I would like to say that Axioms customer service is 2nd to none. One of the 80s that arrived were scratched, and had prints on the speakers. They sent me a replacement and a return label for the damaged 80. They sent me a follow up email to ask me if everything was ok. Axiom has great customer service and that in itself means a lot to me.
When my Axioms arrived I still had my complete Sony system which consisted of a Sony STR-DE945 as my receiver. I didnt know much about receivers 2.5 years when I purchased the sony but it is supposed to run in 4ohm. I don't think so. I couldnt even play the Axioms at a decent level without the receiver going into protect mode. I spoke with Alan the week before and he really liked the H/K and Denon receivers, so since I needed a new receiver I started doing some research of my own. I ended up going with a H/K AVR 635. I purchased it from onecall for a great price and shipping was fast. At the same time I was reading the thread below:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=418666&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

The members on that thread are using Pro amps to drive their speakers. I did not know if the H/K power would be enough so I decided to go with a Crown 402A which is talked about in that thread. That came in a couple of days later after the H/K.
When I first connected my Axioms to the H/Ks and started to listen to my Axioms I was a bit dissapointed. There was one thing that was bothering me. I felt at the time that the vocals seemed distanced. I was listening to Pink Floyd: Darkside of the Moon. So I started changing CDs and noticed some of them sounded really excellent and others the vocals still seemed a little distanced. I made sure I wasnt using the receiver in any weird mode and I wasnt. Just yesterday I started playing with speaker placement and now Pink Floyd sounds exactly how it should. Before I even heard the M80s I imagined them to osund a certain way and I was right on the money. Very detailed highs. This is exactly what I wanted in my speakers. I am not a fan of dull speakers and like the forward sound that the M80s provide. It's amazing. I can hear things in the background while watching sports that I could never hear with my Klipsch quintets. Sometimes that amazing detail can be the axioms own undoing. If you listen to a poorly recorded CD you can hear some sibilance, which I think you would get on any good speakers that are revealing. I dont plan on listening to poorly recorded media anyways so that isnt a problem for me. Imaging IMO is excellent on these speakers. I swear I would change the speakers to stereo mode and I would have to get up to see if the center channel is actually off or not. They image so well. It feels like the voice is right in front of you in a live concert. I love that feeling. I was really impressed with the bass by those 2 6.5s. I have a 14x21' room and the bass is good enough. It's not any kind of earth shattering bass but enough to make me happy. I will be purchasing a sub to go lower but I came away impressed with the bass the m80s produce.
So finally the Crown came in. This is the amp I was waiting for impatiently. I really wanted to compare this pro amp to my H/Ks power. I had to order male XLR to make RCA cables to get it to work which cost $20. After listening to the same music over and over and switching the two IMO I could not hear any difference between the two of them. I think that is a good thing for me. The H/K is probably giving the M80s ~ 150w per side. The Crown was giving the M80s ~ 400w per side. The M80s are a pretty efficient sub so IMO I could not hear the difference between the two. As far as sound quality is concerned I could not hear the difference. The first time I hooked up the crowns I was getting extra noise and hissing. I moved the rca wires away from the other wires and no hissing or buzzing at all. If I had speakers that were not very efficient and needed a lot of power I would have kept the Crown on the speakers. I really could not tell a difference between the two. I did notice I was able to stress the Axioms more with the crown amp but I could not see any reason why somebody would have the speakers that loud. Ear blistering. I will be keeping the crown amp and will be purchasing a passive cylinder sub to use with. One extra tying about the Crown which is very important is it comes with two fans on the back that happen to be VERY loud. Theres no way I would leave the crown amp in my room without modifying the amp. People in the thread have been adding a 100ohm resister inline with the fans to slow them down. Some people replaced them with other fans that can be easily found. The issue isnt a problem to me because it can be easily fixed. I doubt the amp would be stressed at 4ohm anyways(they can go down to 2ohm stable) with the slower fans. For the amount of money I spent for a powerful amp it's well worth it IMO. I would def try the Crown amp for those of you that need the extra power. I cam away really impressed with them.
Needless to say I'm very happy with my purchase of the M80s and will be looking at a cylinder sub and Axiom center channel to complete my system.


Re: A small review of the M80s
#78670 01/23/05 08:02 PM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 6,833
W
Wid Offline
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Spiroh,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiance with your M80s.I'm glad to see that you resolved your problems with the voice situation.It's good to have another satisfied Axiom customer.Good review by the way .


Rick


"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." Sigmund Freud

Re: A small review of the M80s
#78671 01/23/05 08:07 PM
Joined: Feb 2004
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Thank you for taking the time to give us your thoughts and experience with the M80's. It's nice to hear that you're happy with them.


M80's VP150 QS8's Earthquake SuperNova MKV-15
Integra DTR-7.4 Outlaw 755 Outlaw M200's Outlaw ICBM
Re: A small review of the M80s
#78672 01/23/05 08:09 PM
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 791
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I swear that I wasn't coping your test . Great minds think alike....


M80's VP150 QS8's Earthquake SuperNova MKV-15
Integra DTR-7.4 Outlaw 755 Outlaw M200's Outlaw ICBM
Re: A small review of the M80s
#78673 01/24/05 06:13 PM
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 273
local
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Another option would be return the Crown amp and get a powered subwoofer. This is especially so if the fan noise from the Crown amp is objectionable.

The M80s have good bass but especially for home theater, a robust sub makes a difference. Axiom's EP500 would be great for your room. There are competing products from Hsu and SVS.


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