Nice review! I would have expected a fairly dramatic difference. I dabble in PA for bands. (I bought it for my own band but I probably do more benefits) I bought what I think is a great system. There is always discussion on the PA forum about watts for the typical bar band scenerio. I believe the statement is that you need 10X the power to go twice as loud. With that in mind, many feel that smaller increases of power don't really give you much. I follow the theory that more juice is more juice. The clarity that more watts bring is always worth it to me and I preach that on the PA forum. I hate hearing a good bar band playing louder than their PA can "really" handle. Many think I went overboard. (I have 700 watts per channel for the tops and 1100 watts per channel for 18" front loaded subs) I think it sounds great.

With that theory in mind I really wish I could have more watts with my coming system. I have the Denon 2309 (which Brent said would do a terrific job with the M80's) I can only imagine the differnce that you experienced. Good luck!