Thanks all!

Hi Diamondog,

As mentioned earlier in this thread it is apparent that your Denon amp section is running out of juice before you are achieving the volume levels you desire; creating amp clipping. If you are experiencing an actual speaker part blowing, then you are nowhere near the power level you need. When your amplifier starts to run out of power it begins by revealing itself as a slight harshness. As you go up in volume from that point the harshness will get worse and eventually you will take out a component, generally the tweeter. The dynamic content of music and movies is very demanding on the amplifier. Even at moderate listening levels you need a lot of power in reserve to not experience clipping, or harshness, in these dynamic peaks. Your receiver has pre-amp outputs so you can easily add an external amplifier. I would suggest going all the way to the ADA1500-7 for your system. It has 650 watts per channel available for your M80s and lots of dynamic headroom ADA1500 . Loud and clean is a wonderful thing to experience. And you will not blow any components.

Again as mentioned earlier, be sure to change the setting for your M80s to small in your receiver. The crossover point is something you may want to experiment with but I would suggest starting at 80Hz for every channel.

Ha, I referred to myself as a maniac for suggesting an ADA1000 (3 ch), Ian suggests a ADA1500 7 ch! I like the way that man thinks

Hmmm, with the possibility of a new trade up program... 1000 to 1500... when/if I get my second EP500.... the possibilities... how to get this one by the wife...

Well, he does like to strap his M80s together in pairs and listen to them on his dock.

Diamnonddog. Just how loud to you listen? I've had my M80s cranked to way louder than I could possibly listen on a 90 wpc receiver and was nowhere near blowing anything.

Fredk,

For that live venue on my dock we were running 8 M80s with a total power of 5,200 watts. I had to put a 60 amp pony panel in the boathouse to power it all. Great party though.

The size of the space will make a big difference to the amount of power required. Every time you double the distance you are from the loudspeakers you lose 6 dB of output. It takes 4 times the power to make that 6 dB back up. As an example, if 90 watts per channel was sufficient but then you doubled the distance from the loudspeakers you would now need 360 watts per channel to get the same performance level.

OK, I can pretty much guess that the answer to this question will ultimately hurt my wallet, but I'll ask anyway.

I sit 8' away from the screen (55'') and L/R fronts are 9' away from my position. My room is largish at 16 x 22. I have M80s, VP150 and an ADA1000 3ch. If I am in the mood to watch ear candy movies at near reference volume (say -3db), would you suggest a 1000, 1200 or 1500?

Boltron,

Actually I think you are good with the ADA1000. 8' is reasonably close to your loudspeakers.

Axiom is going to offer a wife trade-up program?

Before you answer, let me spread that rumor on all the forums.....

Boltron, it shouldn't hurt your wallet unless you want to hurt it. At that distance and at 3db below reference(i.e., 102dB max peak)about 50 watts at the peak would be necessary, so you already have more than is needed.

Yeah, I just got lost in a "Yours is bigger than mine" moment with Ian and his 8 M80s and 5200 watts versus my 2 M80s and 500 watts. I think I'll be ok now though...