Hi all, I recently took delivery of the Epic 80 5.1 home theater w/ EP600 subwoofer. If you want, feel free to read the
long version of my story here. If not, skip to the words "SHORT VERSION" below.
Like many, the majority of my cartons arrived having taken significant damage due to mishandling with gashes and punctures abound. Luckily I could not find any cosmetic damage due to Axiom's well thought out packing strategy. DHL!%#!&*
Anyway, before ordering my speakers I talked to Brent at Axiom and told him I recently purchased an Onkyo 805. I also told him about the space I need to fill, which is 3,000 cubic feet directly in my listening area that has three walls with the entire right side wall opening to another 3,500 cubic feet, then secondarily opening to another 3,000 cubic feet.... in short, a lot of area. Basically, I live in side-to-side (or California) split home with the listening room on the lower level. The 805's setup screen has a speaker impedance setting of either 4 or 6 ohms. I'd done some reading here and at AVS, and Brent said I should be okay running the 805 provided I set Speaker Impedance to 4 ohms. I received my speakers the other day and have been playing around with placement ever since. During this time, I've been playing the system over 100db at length to get a feel for how things sounded in the secondary and tertiary rooms. I was listening to a Natalie Merchant CD this morning and began hearing some crackling/static distortion from my left M80. While isolating the tweeter causing the static, the same thing began happening with one (or both) tweeters in the other M80, then also a hint of it from my VP150 center.
I shut the whole system down and called Axiom. I spoke with J.C.(sp?) and told him the issues at hand. He said straight away that the 805 isn't going to be a good fit for the M80's and my cubic footage due to lack of power. He stated that switching the Speaker Impedance setting to 4 ohms cuts amp power to keep it from overheating, thereby compounding the power issue. He recommended that I look at a good quality 2 channel amp to run the M80's. I also noted that my speaker runs are in-wall 16 gauge runs, and he recommended I switch to the shortest run possible @ 12 gauge. J.C. was very kind and said to let Axiom know how many tweeters are damaged so they can send replacements. I am a bit confused about the conflicting recommendations from different Axiom folks about all the variables in my setup, but regardless I am very thankful for the top notch service in that they are offering to replace damaged drivers without batting an eye.
{are you still with me?}
My highest priority is to not damage my equipment as I intend to keep it for at least 8 years like I did my last home theatre. I can replace my 16 gauge in-wall runs with direct runs @ 12 gauge at virtually no cost. This, however still leaves me with the power issue, which is undoubtedly the biggest factor here. If that means using the 805 solely as a preamp, then so be it. J.C. said that, with the VP150 and my two QS8's being 6ohm, the 805 should be okay running those provided I set the Speaker Impedance setting back to 6 ohms. I do like to run my system at high volume for house parties and whatnot, so I don't want to ultimately underpower any other channels, and as I said I believe I may have already damaged my VP150.
SHORT VERSIONI have damaged the tweeters in my M80's, and possibly my VP150, while driving them at high volume using an Onkyo 805 receiver. Axiom is kind enough to replace any damaged tweeters, though at a minimum I will most likely need to run the M80's with a separate amplifier. I am debating whether to do so for the VP150 and two QS8's as well. I ultimately have ~8,000 cu/ft of area that I want to fill with sound, and the last thing I want to do is risk underpowering the speakers as I intend to stay with this home theatre gear for years to come. I've read other threads here and know various users run the gamut with amplifiers and the price range they've paid i.e. Outlaw, Rotel, Odyssey, Emotiva, etc.
What are your thoughts people? Stereo amp only? 5 channel integrated? Monoblocks all the way round? Another combo? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
