Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Noob question.. M60 or 80 and what AVR??

Greetings all... (and sorry for the long post)

My V150 is due any day, and I really excited. First Axiom purchase. But I have two nagging questions in my grand plan to upgrade all of my HT equipment... :

- M60's or M80's?
- and then what AVR would you recommend?

Setup: (some of this is from an old post, so I apologize in advance)

My room is:

18L X 14W X 10H ... with the primary listeners at 13.5 feet nominal. The 18L is a slightly deceiving as the back end of the room transforms into my Kitchen which is another 18l X 14w x 10h cube.

I’m currently equipped with Cerwin Vegas (At-8's in front, VS-5 center, PS12 sub, and some stupid Bose cubes left by former owners as surround.

My amp is an old Sony 5.1 amp (st810 with and older Sony DVD player) mated to a brand new Panasonic 58" Plasma TV.

The bulk of our audio listening is movies, but we do enjoy rocking out to 60’s – current Rock. For movies, the current setup is marginal, but lacking highs and the voice track is poor. For music, it just sucks (plenty of base, but no mid to high… On max volume it is just ok. I’m using my friends Infinity tower setup as a baseline for highs and clean sound.)

I’ll probably buy the fronts and surround in one purchase, leaving the AVR and sub for the last. However, I have no clue (after reading most of the posts in the Forun) as to what AVR to buy, and to make matters worse, based upon the M80’s 4 ohm vs. Sony on Onkyo issues, I am confused as to what AVR to buy.

So a side question becomes, I think,… what do I do as fronts, which dictates the AVR? With M60’s I don’t think I can go wrong, but the M80’s (which I like .. since MOJO likes ) seem to be the one element that requires thought….beyond my technology.

My budget for the AVR is $1500. My primary goal is to be able to knock the socks off of wife, my friends and me. So my Internet research led me to the Denon line and the Yammy line. Aslo, I don't what to upgrade in the near future.

In the end, does anyone have a preference or recommendation for brand/model of AVR considering my setup and goals? And based on the AVR, what makes sense, the 60’s or 80's?

Thanks in advance, and I apologize in advance if I left anything out…..

With that much money, I'd be looking at separates, or one of the seriously high end Denons.

I would recommend the M60 it will amaze you for its smoothness and keep that older music under control. You may find the M80 too bright, harsh, whatever you want to call it for rock. I didn't really notice much difference between my M22/M60 combo and just the M60s on their own during movies, much more noticeable with cd's.

The M60s also ease the need for immediate AVR funding and you could then research them more or save up a little more for those seperates.

M80s, M80s , M80s. Nothing else will do

I love the M80s for rock, on the few occasions I've had to really crank them. O' course, the M50s are quite adept, too.

I really shouldn't use the phrase "quite adept" when I'm talking about rock, huh?

What if I'm talking about Rush? Is it ok then?

Hummm... I should have said that "Rush" is my favorite R&R band... followed closely by "Pink Floyd." meh


Senseless side trip ... I saw Rush 5 times in concert in the 70's and till this day they are the best band I have seen live. And the reason I gave up the Bass guitar when I was in a band...

The Floyd and Rush sound awesome on my 80's, and used to sound awesome on my previous 60's.

So it sounds like the M80's maybe are the choice.... so far. With that said, what AVR makes sense? Denon 3808 or the Yammy Yamaha RX-V3800 ???

Personal preference is Denon for no particular reason, other than a few less DSPs that I feel I am not paying extra for.

Have you place that order yet for M80s?

Have you checked to see if there is anyone in Georgia on the audition threads?