All right, I have done some listening to the Behringer.
Unfortunately I do not yet have everything set up to place the Behringer in the room behind the TV, so I have it on the component shelf for now. This means that I can hear the fan, and it is a distraction until I crank up the volume a bit.
Anyway, my first step was to set the gain dials. The Behringer goes up to 32 dB of gain, and I think it could blow the M80s at that level. I went up to 28 before getting nervous, then dialed it back to 26. I hope my babies didn't get hurt, because they sure shook the house for a couple of seconds!
This is far from an A:B comparison since I did not level-match and it takes time to move the speaker cables. There is no easily discernible difference between the Pioneer and the Behringer, but at higher volumes the upper mid-range sounded better and the lower ranges sounded tighter with the Behringer. At these volumes the Pioneer is close to max (plus it is only rated down to 6 ohms) while the Behringer is barely ticking over, so my guess is the Pioneer was starting to lose control.
My room is big and still somewhat bare, and I know it is causing some harshness. Interestingly, the Behringer seemed to sound less harsh. So far the Behringer is looking good, except for the fan noise. Not bad for $250.
