Hi Slider,
Lots of good suggestions from everyone in this thread. I'm a little disturbed that no-one at Axiom sounded an alarm IF you mentioned you had a Sony AV receiver and wanted to get M80s. But that would only happen if you used our toll-free phone line to order.
Normally, we always ask any customer who orders M80s by telephone what brand of AV receiver he or she has. But if you ordered on-line then that wouldn't happen. We never recommend any AV receivers like Sony, Kenwood, lots of Onkyos and Yamahas, etc for M80s because the protection circuitry in those models often sense the 4-ohm impedance (or excessive current flow) and shut down the receiver immediately.
There are solutions: you could add a 2-channel power amp for the M80s using the Sony's pre-outs for the main channels. Or you could upgrade to an AV receiver brand with more robust amplifier section that will drive 4-ohm M80s (Denon, H/K, Outlaw Audio, NAD, B&K, Rotel).
Regards,
