Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater New guy--m60s vs. m80s (again)

Ok, I just signed on to the forums. I'm trying to decide which speakers to get for my apartment. Now, I read the last m60 vs m80 thread, but I am a newbie to this whole HT/ hi-fi stereo thing. I want to know which tower will serve me better. I don't want to make this too long of a post, so I'll be as brief as I can...

Music lover here, my dad took care of my education with good music and vinyl. Never had money enough to get into this whole hi-fi world until now. Did a lot of reading online, audioholics.com, etc. Did some listening as well (never Axioms though). Still a newb and unsure.

Uses for system--both music and HT, some parties. I listen, and love, every genre of music with the exception of opera. I'll listen to classical, hip-hop (on occasion), classic rock, country, electronic, metal, jazz. You name it. However, I'll say that a huge part of my listening is rock and metal oriented (Maiden, Metallica, AC/DC, GNR etc). I'm a riff-o-holic. I'm a guitarist, what can I say .

Apartment--This is tricky. It's a loft with the TV/stereo upstairs. Open. Approx. measurements--Loft is 22 ft wide, 8-ish high, 12-ish long. 2100 cubic ft. The back wall is actually a balcony half wall overlooking the kitchen/living room area. Downstairs is 22 ft wide, 25 feet high, about 15-16 long. 7900 cubic ft. Hardwood floor, side wall is painted cinderblock, rafter wood beam ceiling, glass front window wall. Not too much carpet/padding. Rommate's room is directly under the loft area, behind the living rm. The Axiom Wizard says m60's are enough for a large room and a rock listener/action film fan. I'm unsure since the combined space is so large.

So here it is, I need the experienced people to help me out. I will also be using the systems for parties on occasion (I'm a young guy), so I want to know if either tower will be likely to struggle trying to drive the party downstairs. I also want to know if there is a noticeable difference in sound quality between the two (different clarity, transparency, soundscape size, general behavior). I'm also trying to decide between the EP500 and EP600 for the space.

Side view of apartment:
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|______| <--loft/tv
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|______|________| <--glass front wall

The 1st tick mark on the bottom is the wall separating the roomie's bedroom from the kitchen/living room.

Thanks in advance, all you vets.

Hey there Gand, you forgot Dokken!!!!

Not sure I'm a vet, but I'll try.

I've owned both m60's and m80's and ep500's and ep600's. My recroom/ht area is about 8,000 cubic ft with 9ft ceilings. Both the 60's and 80's did a great job filling that space. For the small money difference I would say go with 80's, that way you will never "wonder" what could have been.

You don't mention your budget, but to save some money you could order from the Factory Outlet and save 10% if your not in a huge hurry.

In the Axiom plant, they have areas where m80's are mounted up on the walls playing for the workers.

Performance wise, they do have some similarities. They both have great bass, with the 80's have a little more punch by design and larger enclosure. The addition of and extra midrange and tweeter also give to a little more detail and clarity.

I owned the 60's for two years and told myself I would never need another speaker, and most likely I would have been fine. However, "upgradeitis" got me and I have 80's currently. They are awesome, as is all of Axiom's lineup.

I would say for that large space, and for having parties, go with the 80's. The 60's can play very loud and handle lots of power, but the 80's are insane how much power they can handle. You won't have a receiver or amp that is to much for these babies, I'll guarantee it...

The ep500 and ep600 are also very similar in performance. The 600 will go a bit lower and make your leg hair stand up a little more than the 500, but they are close. Keep in mind, a lot of music does not hit the real lowwwww bass, but if you do have some music that will wake up the sub, either one of these will be nice, with the edge going to the 600 monster.

Yeah, Dokken rocks too. Thanks for the response. I'm a young guy in grad school, with some extra cash saved up. So, I guess budget is what I can rationalize . I could actually get either one right now. I'm trying to avoid needless upgrade-itis, but I really don't know what my space needs power wise. One of my roommates just moved out and took his sound system with him, so I'm going through musical withdrawal symptoms. That's put me into the serious shopping mode. I do like my music loud. Not all the time (or even most of the time), but I want to be able to crank it if I need to or want to rock the house. You know, if my girlfriend leaves and my mom hates me, and even my dog doesn't care for me much...

I do plan to be watching movies on this though--mostly action and sci-fi. And, quite frankly, I wish I had more experience to know how much power I need and what speakers I need. Also, the neighbors next door are addicted to loud, crappy rap; they also have enough power to make my apartment buzz, except that the bass is crappy because I can hear the distortion and buzz from next door. I'm not a bassaholic, but looking at the EP 500/600, I was just taken by the mean looks of the 600. And it will ensure that I can hear MY music above my neighbors craptastic gangsta rap. Finally, I suppose I must admit to wanting to give them some of their own medicine. But I'm trying not to give in to senseless egoism.

I'm probably going to start with a stereo/sub system and build from there. Maybe I should have posted this in the Stereo forum. Anyway, I hope to hear some other people's opinions as well.

This is a very simple problem. You NEED M80s with an EP600. You will never look back and your neighbors will be shaken out of their living space . Later on when you have some more money, buy the QS8s for surround.

The Epic80-600 system changed my life. It's that simple.