Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M80 & Anthem A2 amp opinions needed..

Hi All,

It's been 2 years since I bought my Epic80*500 and at the time I bought it my baby girl was borned and a boy (10 months now) came along also. Therefore, I was not able to enjoy this system to the volume that I normally like, which is loud. My Epic80 running on Denon 4306 receiver in 3400cubic feet family room is causing audible distortion at -10db volume on 5 channels (speakers set to small crossed at 80hz). I listen to club/dance music and I don't just want to hear the music I want to feel it! And this receiver alone is not cutting it for me right now. I think it's time to get a stereo amp to help out the receiver.

I am in process of buying Anthem A2 amp from Audiogon for $800 and was wondering if anyone have experiences or opinions with M80 and Anthem A2 amp. Thanks in advance.

I'm thinking you will be fine. However, I prefer going with mono block amps for m80's versus a stereo amp sharing the same toroid and power supply. You'll find out as soon as you start cranking it up, if the amp shuts down or clips.

Hello Bongchoka,

I would agree with you. Everyone has different preferences about volume levels and given your room size, it does not surprise me that the Denon is running out of juice at very high levels.

Several of my Axiom colleagues like music at what to me are extremely loud levels, but given the amplifier power, the M80s are able to supply those levels. One of my colleagues managed to shut down two of five Denon monoblock amplifiers, each one producing 350 watts into 4 ohms. I had to leave the house!

Anthem builds good amplifiers. Make sure you get enough power. An alternative would be Axiom's A1400-8, which has huge output and would not cause distortion.

Regards,

Thanks for the comments Alan (also Sirquack), but $4k for an amp is out of my budget at the moment. However, I do have in mind that if one A2 is not enough, then down the road I will pick up another used A2 so that I can bi-amp each one of them as a mono block to the M80.

Hey, I wondering why couldn't Axiom makes some 200/300watt (8/4ohm) mono amp for around $500-600 each. I would definitely be a customer to that. Seems to me that the current Axiom amp cost about $500 per channel assuming the labor is free :-)

I would also consider Odyssey Monoblocks, I have Khartago Extremes driving my 80's to sonic bliss.

At some point Axiom will most likely come out with a 1 or 2 channel version of their big brother.