Ok throw away the math books, the theories, the equations and the alogorythms that all prove 1 watt = 1 watt and that a separate amp isn't worth the metal it's made out of... unicorns and pixie dust are for real!!!
This is just my 1st impression mind you, and from what I understand this will be more of a long term test more than anything. But I simply had to jump on here & spill my first impressions out there for everyone because I'm so excited right now I don't know what else to do!!!
The Fedex man pulled into my drive way bright and early around 8:30 this morning. He says, "this thing whatever it is, it's a freaking monster"!!!
"No problem, just give it to me, I'll carry it in", I tell him. He hands it off to me and I immediately regret my decision to turn down help to carry it inside. Note to self, 'when a man who makes his living moving box's around says "this thing is a monster", take him at his word'!!!
Ok so after almost killing myself lugging this beast into my living room I open it up and take a look at her... she's a stunner! Don't go by the pictures of these beauties online, they don't do them justice. They are very finely crafted jems. Just by looking at it one would easily estimate the cost to be a grand or two. There's no way you would guess I brought this this home for less than $650 dollars, what a wolf in sheeps clothing!
Unfortunately I did not make the shelf underneath my tv long enough to fit this lovely piece of electonics. Its only 16 inches deep, and this thing is 18 inches long... AND HEAVY!!! Oh my God it easily out weighs my Denon that has amps inside it that run up to 9 separate channels. That was my 1st clue that she must have the goods under all this metal. So I set her up hidden away in my HT closet, I will have to find a better place to put her, she simply can't be kept from my sight. Before I do the actual connections I 1st listen to 'Aint no Sunshine' by DMX to get a feel of how well the Dennon pushes the bass through the M80's. Then I connect my front three speakers to the Emotiva and play the same song. Now keep in mind it took me a good 4 or 5 minutes changing the connects, so my mind could be playing tricks on me, but when I first hit play it sounded like I'd turned the volume up 4 or 5 ticks! And that wasn't the only thing I noticed. The music suddenly seemed much more separated. I felt like I could hear the highs and mids much clearer and cleaner. God its hard to put this into words that can make the same impact as what I experienced. I want to learn a different language so I can find different words to discribe it. You hear all these phrases like, "separation", "dynamic", "crystal clear" and "better separation" over and over in reviews so much that they become meaningless. But here I am trying to get across what I've just experienced and they are the same words that come to mind... I feel like a broken record,
One thing that truely surprised me were the QS8's. They seemed to be playing much louder than I ever remember them playing before. Could this be because they are the only two speakers hooked up to my Denon now, so it can finally push them with enough power to make them sing? They sounded beautiful! But the difference in them was no where near as pronounced as my front three speakers. As fantastic as the M80's were sounding, I have to mention the VP150, I don't think I've ever really noticed it before while playing music. But today, today that badboy was belting out notes like nobody's business... that little rascal is brilliant when fed plenty of power let me tell you! I took the grill of and laughed my ass of watching the middle three speakers moving in and out with so much force it was like I'd hooked up a nitrous system to them! Oh why oh why have. Waited so long to do this???
But back to the M80's. Listen I could not have been any more impressed with these towers than I have been the last 2 months... until now. The XPS-3 woke these Axioms up like twin turbo's wake an otherwise humble 6 cyclinder engine up in a Nissan 350Z. The bass they produce, while impressive before, goes beyond all logic once I get the level to around zero on the Denon (I'm trying to take this a bit slow. Don't want to go too far too fast on their first day). Just to make sure it was the M80's putting out all these low frequencies I turned the EP800 off for a while. And just as I thought, they were indeed shaking the walls all by themselves! This is simply something you have to hear to believe, all the reviews I've ever read about the way separates drive speakers... all of them combined could never have prepared me for actually experiencing it in my own living room. Yes I've heard separates perform before, and yes I loved them. But I never heard those same systems play without the amps running them, so I couldn't have known the actual difference they make! After getting to know my Axioms being run by a very respectable receiver, I am blown away by how much better the Emotiva runs the show. Its like getting to know an old friend all over again, and appreciating it even more.
Do you want to wake your M80's up like never before? Do yourself a favor, put the math books down and try hooking up a 200 or 300 watt amp to them and sit back and see why they are rated at 400 watts instead of 30. This may all be a figment of my imagination. I may just be projecting my expectations on this amp because I want to hear a difference. But let me tell you, my imagination has never sounded this great in my life!
I still have plenty of a/b comparing to do. I haven't really gotten to test different songs, or movies out with the Emotiva yet. But rest assured, I can't wait to do so!
