Matt - I was skeptical that the LFR-1100 would be a step up from the M100's. I have never liked a bi-polar main speaker, dating back to the 1998-2002 era when I had several different Def Tech Bipolars including the BP-2000 and BP-3000 speakers.
The LFR-1100 is actually available as a complete system, with an option to add a 4 channel ADA-1000 into the same chassis as the DSP for an extra $750.
Basically, it's now a $5000 speaker pair (USD) that is DSP and self powered.
The option for the powered DSP is very new and for most of us that have bought the LFR's in the past, this was never given as an option. Sadly Axiom doesn't do a very good job of giving any descriptions of some of the products that they sell. There are multiple DSP options that come with the LFR (before there was 3) and as there are also no manuals for the units, you are left to guess.
I take it from what I can see, the DSP option you are talking about is a marry between the bottom end DSP1 and some form of an ADA1000 amp. So there is no balanced connectors for the unit, and from the bad photo you do get, it looks like you need to connect it up via a pair of speaker wires, or maybe there is an RCA there too.
I am currently using an Anthem MCA5ii as my amp to power the LFR1100 and the fifth channel to run my VP180.
My question was more direct. You can buy many grades of amplifiers today. Some people swear blind that their $10k+ amp brings their speakers to life, where others say that the built in amp on their receiver does a spectacular job. Yes there are some speakers that are very hard to drive and the difference in a good high current amp is like night and day between muddy and crisp sound.
I don't have the money in my back pocket to experiment and try buying several of these high end amplifiers nor do I have any method to blind test them with myself to see if there is any improvement over the $1000 amp that I currently have. That doesn't mean that I am not curious to know if it is even worth looking into getting a better or more powerful amp for myself some day in the future. I guess that only option I have is to lug my amp up to Axiom and see if they would be interested to demo me the LFR's with their ADA1250 or 1500 with an LFR1100 speaker against my Anthem MCA amp to see if I can hear a difference, or at least enough of one to justify the cost of their amp.
