Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater What amp do you drive your M80's with?s

I'm trying to make up my mind on a 5.1 setup. I had been looking at M60's/Q8's/VP150/350 sub for my 15.5x20' basement theater. I would drive that system with a Onkyo NR1007 (maybe 3007). But looking at just a little more money for the M80's has me thinking. It seems some people think the Onkyo would not be a good choice for 4 ohm speakers. The manual says it can, but says not to do it for long times at loud volumes.

My dad had a patched up system with several different speakers, and I'm quite sure he never really set the amp up right, but every time a movie got loud (explosions, etc) the protection circuitry on the amp would kick in and kill the sound. I don't want that.

I can stick with the current setup, I think it would be plenty for my room, but there's always the upgrade itch too, and maybe a little more up front would go a long way, or maybe not.

What do you guys think?

With those latest models by Onkyo, you most likely will have no problems driving the m80's. I've always owned Denon, so maybe some of the Onkyo owners will chime in...

I will be purchasing the Onkyo TX-NR807 receiver and I have written assurances from the reseller that it will drive 4ohm with no issues at all at reference levels for extended period of times. I told him I needed the receiver to play loud for more than 3 hours continuous without breaking a sweat.. he told me this receiver is fully capable of meeting my requirements.

I hope the same can be said about the 805 which I will be trying with the M80's. If it does trip the protection circuitry, I will then look at adding an amp.

Onkyo's are good amps and you will have the option of adding an outboard amp as those models have preamp outputs, so no problems with buying either amp regardless of potential 4ohm problems.

The 805 is a tank. One of the best model they ever made at that price range. The 806 was .. not so good.. somewhat regarded as a "flop" by those who owned both models. The 807 is like the 805 only newer and more power.

I'm looking forward to setting up the 807 with the Epic 80 - 500 system for my cousin in mid November.. I will take pictures as we build of course

15x20 is not that big a room. I expect any of those Onkyo's will work fine. I drove my M80s to very loud levels with a 90wpc budget Sherwood receiver [until it got fried by ligtning] and had no trouble getting to loud levels.

Don't the Onkyo's have a bad rap of running hot? If they do,
wouldn't the M80 push it a little harder ?

I can't see them running any hotter than an H/K, I've had both and never had a problem with either whenever you darn near couldn't put your hand on top of the receiver. The H/K I now have runs hotter while on and not playing than does our Rotel RB-1080 after running several hours.

I've never owned an Onkyo before but they were one of the brands I researched along with H/K and Denon when I was looking for an AVR. The Onkyo heat thing is pretty common on the 'net and concerned me somewhat, so it ended up being between the H/K and the Denon, which I settled on in the end(2809).