Ravi,
I might well ask what are you doing on Christmas day posting questions about amplifers, Totems, Dynaudios and the like?
You know how these festive occasions go: I've checked out new gifts, consumed too much food, been brought up to date on relatives, and the boards are always a diversion.. .
More dynamic headroom is always worthwhile, and the elusive "effortless" quality you heard in other auditions might well be attributable to those systems being driven by much larger cleaner amplifiers.
Of course, I can't help but comment on the psychological expectation any of us have when we audition new speakers or equipment. We expect to hear something different, and it's very easy to convince ourselves that we are hearing something different or "effortless", especially if we know the price or brand names of the products being auditioned. Totem and Dynaudio speakers are generally well designed and much more expensive than Axioms, so the expectation is there. . .
It would be interesting to put the M80s and the Totems or Dynaudios you heard in the same room driven by the same amplifier, and use a switcher labeled A and B and then see if you could easily distinguish between the two sets (it would be great to conceal them behind an acoustically transparent curtain) and see if one pair seemed more effortless than the other.
My Boxing Day comments. . .
Regards,
