Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Good receiver for M3's?

I was wondering what would be a good sound combination A/V receiver for the M3's. I'm interested primarily in 2 channel sound with CD's and the odd time playing a Blu-ray concert vid from a PS3. I know to take full advantage of Blu-ray hi-def capabilities you need at least 5.1 channel, but I may just stick with the two bookshelves and add maybe a sub.

About fifteen years ago I had a Yamaha receiver with the Paradigm Titan bookshelves and a sub and the sound was remarkable. I tried the M3's recently with a Sony STRDG720, but was unimpressed so I sent it back. I blamed it on the receiver. My budget is about $300-$500, and I lean towards Yamaha. Any ideas?

I would highly doubt the receiver has anything to do with your disliking the M3's unless you had some DSP's or other settings involved.

If you were unimpressed by the M3's(Do you have them? Can you send them back?) then try the M22's, much more detail than then the M3's and a tad better bass extension. The M22s with a good sub makes for a great combination.

Otherwise, if you are stuck with the M3s you could go ahead and get any Yamaha of your choice or Denon or Onkyo or H/K or.... Pick one with the features and price you like.

Yeah, I'm not into the idea of shipping them back having to pay the shipping cost. I mean the speakers sound fairly decent to begin with, it's just I'm used to a little "brighter" sound and these little guys push out a lot of bass. I've heard some receivers are "warmer" sounding while others are "brighter" with a Denon being the former and a Yamaha being the latter.

I was thinking of skipping buying one of the big box A/V receivers and going with a 2 channel amp from Rotel or NAD but they can be a bit pricey. Do you think the price difference would be realized in a discernible sound improvement?

Here is a nice 2 channel reciever that won't break the bank.

The M3s do have a slight bass hump at aroung 100Hz giving them a bigger 'bass sound'.

From your description above, you would be much happier with the M22. Changing out the speakers is going to have a much bigger impact than changing out the receiver.

In the bigger picture, is it worth an additional $50 (return shipping cost) to get the sound you want.

Is there anybody in your area with a pair of M22s that you could audition?

Amazon and 6th ave electronics are selling the Yamaha RX-V2700 reciever for $800 at the moment. It's a generation old I guess but used to retail at $1700. I just picked one up and used 6th ave's 12 months no interest credit plan.

I have M22's and a 10" yamaha sub. The reciever sounds great.
I replaced a Yamaha RX-V461 that cost me $350 a while back. That one sounded great as well, for its price it was fantastic. The rx-v2700 is worth the extra money though.

If he were to trade up within the trial period then the shipping back is paid by Axiom.

AVR's don't "sound" different, they amplify the sound, they are not bright or warm.

I'm not one prone to sending things back. When I buy something I usually put my stamp on it and that's it. I've read somewhere that they NEED to be broken in for a length period of time before some of the mids become more pronounced. This sounds promising as I only listened to them for about an hour. Also, I was playing them in a much larger area than where I plan to enjoy them.

I think I'll probably get some low-mid range Yamaha for them. Also, I was wondering, what difference does a "high current" receiver provide over a "low current" receiver? Would a high current receiver make a difference? Most of the low-mid range Yamaha's are low current, as was the Sony receiver I tried initially.

Yeah. I was going to include that sentiment in my post. Some people claim one receiver promotes more of a treble sound over a bass sound or vice versa compared to another receiver, but I read my people discounting these claims. So, essentially would you say there is no difference in sound quality between a Yamaha or Denon at the same price point?