I guess whether one uses the M80s with the sub or not is within the realm of the topic of this thread, so I will reluctantly take the risk of boring everyone with Alan's very informative Q/A section
here regarding the M80s:
"In the case of the M80s, they have been tested a minimum of five hours using modified pink noise at 400 watts rms from the amplifier. Furthermore, they have been tested at this level for 100 hours using highly dynamic source material. We keep the ratings conservative, i.e. the tests are actually done at 600 watts for a 400-watt maximum power rating. In fact, the M80s have been tested up to 1200 watts without any problems."
So, I was not worried that my M80s could handle a horsepower (745.699872 watts
) each with the A1400-8. Of course, I never plan to run the speakers at this level anyway, but what I noticed with the new amp is that when listening to recordings with fairly wide dynamic range at higher volumes, the sudden peaks in the source resulted in surprisingly powerful and articulate bass in the M80s that I had no idea they were capable of. At higher volumes, where the Yamaha would begin to get disturbingly loud, the A1400-8/M80 combination became decidedly satisfying and I wanted to turn up the volume knob ever more. In summary, I wonder Mojo, whether the M80s are sounding "thin" to you and needing your EP-600 because you are under-powering them, not because they are not built to handle the power and the low frequency extension (in music anyway).
John
