I hear that there is a list, I haven't been able to find anything though. I know from my short time browsing the forum that the Denon 3808 is the receiver of choice, is there anything else?

Nad, H/K, some Yamaha's, Emotiva, really pretty much anyone will work just depends on the useage, Yamaha and Onkyo may not work well for long periods of sustained loud play. The Denon 3808 has proven to be a solid performer, I just recently spent 2hrs with 95-98 db average and no issues.

I seem to remember sovkiller has issues with a Yamaha RX-V1800.''

I don't need one, but the 3808 is up there on my wish list. My Denon 3806 works perfectly. I just want the onscreen GUI. Yah, I can be a nerd at times.

Emotiva is iffy.

I think that people forgot about Outlaw. If you already have a receiver or want another receiver with better features than the Denon 3808 then you can just buy a couple of Outlaw monoblocks to power the m80's. The Onkyo 875 has a much better video scaler than the Denon 3808 and is about $500 cheaper. The Onkyo can be found for about $1000 and the Denon for about $1500. You could buy two Outlaw monoblocks to power the m80's with the Onkyo and be at about the same price as the Denon with a better video scaler. I bet you would have more dynamic headroom with the Onkyo+Outlaw option that I mentioned here as well.

- Nick

With H/K

Is it only the highend receivers?

The new 354/355 is a pretty attractive price point in comparison to the 3808. Has anyone use the M80s with the 347?

Sirquack, I thought Emotiva was all go for any speakers from what I have heard. Care to give a little more detail? I was thinking about Emotiva for a possible add-on amplifier and/or complete separate setup, but if it's a worry I would rather not have to.

The Denon 3808 is widely documented on this and other forums as being available for <$1100.

anthony11,

You have to be careful though since most of those at prices <$1100 are not from Denon authorized dealers and will carry no warranty with them. Example, I just used pricegrabber with the Denon 3808 and I can find one from shopdigitalcorp.com for $1069. I google searched "shopdigitalcorp Denon authorized" and it appears that it isn't. I even tryed several other ones and they were not Denon authorized. It seems that you can't get one from a Denon authorized dealer until you get up to around $1500 like from crutchfield or J&R for example. Unless I missed one.

You can however, get the Onkyo 875 for about $1000 from a Onkyo authorized dealer. You can get it at amazon for that price. Notice the price at amazon for the Denon is about $1500.

- Nick

Call 6th Ave. (listed on Denon's site as an authorized "A" stock dealer). I did and bought a 3808CI for $1048. It has performed superbly with the 6 ohm W22's (with VP150, QS8, EP500). On screen GUI, although not perfect, allows you to access all the features pretty easily.

danomatic,

So you have to call them to get that price? They have it listed as $1599 on their website.

- Nick

My brother in law just purched the 3808 from 6th Ave. last month. He called in and got the receiver for 1099. shipped, he just mentioned that he read about the deal on AVS.

Yup.. gotta be by phone. Mention AVS forums and you're golden.

I highly recommend the Outlaw 990 pre/pro. I have paired that with the Outlaw 7500 amp and the sound from my M80's is outstanding. Definitely a bit more than the Denon, but it comes with plenty of horsepower! 990/7500 combo is currently 2,348 (5 X 200 watts) and the 990/7700 is 2,798 (7 X 200 watts).

Scott

Outlaw seriously needs to update their preamp. They still have DVI connections and you can't take advantage of the new audio formats unless your blu ray player can process them and pass them via analog audio outputs. It can't even accept pcm over hdmi. I bet more people would go with an Outlaw preamp if it was updated. I can't image just adding those small features to their existing product would even cost that much money.

- Nick

The issues that Nick identified stopped me from buying Outlaw (especially lack of HDMI).

Hi TylerDCA,

I'm not familiar with H/K's latest models, but over the years all the H/K AV receivers, like the Denons, have been able to drive the 4-ohm M80s without problems of current limiting or overheating or shutting down. That includes the entry-level models. That's also true of the Sherwood Newcastle receivers, which we sell at Axiom. Like H/K, the Sherwoods have robust amplifiers that have no trouble driving the 4-ohm M80s.

The Outlaw amplifiers are also fine with the M80s so long as you don't try powering five M80s simultaneously at extremely high playback volume, as one Axiom owner did. Emotiva has had some issues with M80s, as Sir Quack pointed out. For extremely high SPLs in big rooms, I recommend Axiom's own A1400-8, which never gives up.

There is a review of a new-ish Pioneer 94 (?) at Audioholics that shows excellent performance with 4-ohm loads, but we don't have enough customer feedback at Axiom for me to unreservedly recommend the Pioneer. Previous Pioneers have had issues with 4-ohm loads, except for one model that used MOSFET output devices. That model is no longer available.

Regards,

Alan

As the owner of the Outlaw 990 and, *sigh*, a separate 4-in, 1-out HDMI switcher - don't ask how much I paid for that thing - I wholeheartedly agree with you.

From what I can gather, the 990 is due for a refresh this year. When I tooled around the Outlaw web site a few days ago, I saw that they've already discontinued the receiver model (1070) that is analogous to the 990 preamp. I'm hoping that this is a good sign that the release of something new is imminent ... *crosses fingers*

The word on the streets is that Outlaw has a 990 pre/pro replacement in the works with HDMI and the latest audio formats due out later this year. I bought the 990 a few months ago knowing that the upgrade was coming. They dropped the price on the 990 and had a good combo w/ the amp and free shipping. Plus, I have a $200 credit toward the purchase of the new pre/pro if I want to upgrade when it comes out.

Sweet. I'll have to look into getting some credit comehow.

I wonder if Ambassador Ajax knows anything about the 990 replacement?

I'll turn on the Jack signal.

*click*

If you are looking for a Separate Amp the Emotiva XPA amps are Excellent. I think that one or two people had problems driving m80's with Emotivas old smaller amp The LPA-1. I can tell you from first had experience that the XPA-5 will power 2 m80's a vp150 and two qs8's amazingly! The bass that the m80's produce with the XPA-5 in stereo is incredible. In fact my wife keeps saying with bass like that why do we need a better sub?
With a price of $799(xpa-5) you can't find a better deal anywhere. I also have the Emotiva MMC-1 pre\pro which is a great processor. Plus if you purchaced a 1st gen. Emotiva processor you get a 40% discount on all future Emotiva processors
Here is a list of the other XPA amps
XPA-5: 200w x 5(8 ohms) - $799 (in stock)


XPA-3: 200w x 3(8 ohms) - $649 (shipping late June, 2008)
This amp is perfect for beefing up a system relying on a multi channel receiver. Add some power and depth to your front speakers, and experience home theater like never before. Also easily combined with a 2 or 5 channel amp.

XPA-2: 250w x 2(8 ohms) - $799 (shipping late June, 2008)
Designed to either work in tandem with other amps as part of a drop-dead 5.1 or 7.1 system, or as a 2 channel, power hungry music listener's dream. Bridgeable into a very powerful monoblock.

XPA-1: 500w x 1(8 ohms)/1,000w x 1(4 ohms) - $899 (shipping August, 2008)