Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners One very important question! Denon 3808 and M80s

Can the Denon 3808 drive the m80s at high volume for a long time... 5 or 6 hours? I'm hosting a party tomorrow and need to know. Don't want any mishaps.

If not, is there any way I can use my onkyo 605 to push one while the 3808 pushes the other?

Help me out here Axiomites!

oh if it is possible to push the speakers with 2 different receivers (which I doubt would be a good idea even if I could) and I need to do that... how do I go about it.

Do not use two receivers. Your 3808 has plenty of power to drive the M80s.

Majik:
As long as the Denon is in a well ventilated area you should be alright . If it's inside a cabinet w/ poor ventilation, take it out and place it on the floor or at the top of the cabinet ... you get the idea. If it start to get very hot to the touch, put a fan directly to it and it should be ok.

Thanks! I feel more at ease now. I think I'll put a fan to it just in case. you know, prevention being better than cure and all that...

Relax, the Denon will be fine, turn it up

Unless the party is in a gymnasium, it'll play loud enough to make your guests ears bleed if you want it to. You should probably set the max volume at a +5 or so in case a drunken guest gets the urge to crank it. I did that to mine after my damn remote stuck on me once. Darn near scared five years off my life…

ummm no you can't use 2 receivers. Also, even if the Denon did shot down, which would be very unlikely your going to push it to those levels without pissing people off, all you would have to do is turn it back on, and maybe turn it down a few dB's.

I have a 1909. Does it have ability to set a max volume? How is that done or what section in menus/manual might I find directions.
tks

I would be pissed if someone shot my Denon.

Dave, I would think a look through your own manual would let you know if a max volume setting is available or not, don't be so lazy

Page 35 of the manual, you can set the max to 0.

Jay,
It would take me 30 mins. to FIND my manual. I THINK it is buried somewhere under these printouts of Axiom, Paragigm, Klipsch speakers (oh, I forgot SpeakerCract ceiling speakers before Alan gave me a 'come to Jesu' talk ;o)! It does not help, that each day I feel the need to print out more Axiom specs. Dooooon't ask why...

OK I found the manual. Oh crap! My dog ate page 35. Would you be so kind as to walk me thru it? Yea, I have a PDF version, but I hate to deny you your opportunity to help a guy out. (in southern belle accent...) "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers." (bats eye lashes). ;o)

I got it, Thanks. After having been away from the Denon manual for a few weeks, my Denon to English translator was not as good.
Now I can sit on my remote without worries. :o)

Sorry, flirting gets you no where, with me any way.

To be honest I wasn't expecting to find anything in the manual about setting a max volume, I figured it was something they would leave for the higher end models.


I am thinking you might be able to buy a set of Axioms off Bob soon.

Asuming that Bob actually bought some......

Dave, try beer next time. Or, ask JonnyK. He's enjoys spending time reading tech manuals.

Can't say I haven't thought the same.

Bob may be a little thin skinned, and he definately stepped on some toes, but that does not make him the devil incarnate.

Never said he was. I would even be willing to help him if he would except it but he hasn't been to open to suggestions so far.

I have never doubted Bob. IMO he is even a bit too honest at times. Fanboys!

Actually Doc I own more Hsu products than I do Axioms. We also have B&W, AV123, American Acoustics and Cerwin Vega speakers in the house. I am not a fanboy of any particular brand.

I must admit to ya though I am rather fond of my Rotel pieces. That should make me a Rotel fanboy

I was surprised at my BIG LOL on the BoB comment!

Jay, hey I was not flirting. It's just that in my stretch to say something amusing, I (inaproprietly ;o) ignored the gender crossing thing. No worries, I am not (completely) devastated by your scathing rejection. (off to a friendlier thread now... ;o)

Damn! This site needs a sarcastic emoticon. Didn't mean it literally (I am a fanboy myself ). I was just trying to make a funny out of the fanboy comment from a previous thread. Fail!!

Not really, I gave ya back the same smiley, no insult intended. But I do like the Rotel pieces

Dave, I did intend my remark to be sarcastic as well, no worries.

I've always wanted to be a fan boy. Do I get a tee-shirt? Is there a secret hand shake that goes along with it?

If you are a Bose fanboy, you get one of those caps with a propeller on top and one of these novelties

The fan-boy t-shirt is inside your M80. I can't wait to get my M60's. Inside the 60's is a ticket to go on the next shuttle flight. But I hear it IS a very nice t-shirt.

There is no ticket inside the M80. When you listen to them though, it opens a portal to the far reaches of space....where time and music become "One" and you feel 'The Force'....::play Enya-like music with a little bit of Floyd mixed in, here::...do you un-da-stand now, Grass-hoppa?

oooooooh, Enya goooooood... must haaaaaaaaave M80'sssssss...

Adam has very generously offered to let me hear his M60's in Oakland in on Thursday. Woo hooo. I wll have to bring my Enya CD to see if I have a spiritual experience with the M60's too.

I can't describe why, but I have this subliminal urge to hear some M80's too... very interesting.

I have no idea what the Enya CD is mixed like quality wise, it's probably very good, but thought I would mention that along with your favs, bring along some CDs that you know to be very well produced. M60s or M80s are so accurate that they will really make obvious the flaws in a poorly recorded CD. This can trick you into thinking they are at fault instead of just being the perfectionists that they are. Alternatively quality recordings will bring out the true amazement factor that these speakers are capable of.

Search this board for suggestions that are too your liking but here are some old standards that I use for demoing my speakers as they are also fairly recognizable by most people.

These are listed so often, my non-conformist side hesitates to write them but all the same, you can't go wrong with them.

-- Pink Floyd, "Dark Side of the Moon" (remastered, but original is exceptional as well.)

-- Dire Straights, "Brothers in Arms" (remastered, but original is exceptional as well.)

-- Holst's "The Planets" by Mehta and the LA Philharmonic (many parts of these pieces will be recognizable even to the non-classical fan for their use in many movies.)

Dianna Krall's DVD, "Live in Paris" is great as the female voice is a great tool for evaluating speakers, (although some might say her voice is too deep for this exercise) but lots of clear jazz instruments to evaluate here too.

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds' DVD, "Live at Radio City", is a must to hear guitar strings like they are truly in your living room.

That's just a few that will blow you away in a demo but bring stuff you are accustomed to listening too as well.

Thanks for the list. I love Dire Straights, thought I'd have that CD, but don't. Good excuse to buy the remastered Brothers in Arms!

Don't have the others you mentioned. I do have CD's of Eric Clapton's un-Plugged and Eric Johnson's Ah Via Musicom. The latter has some awesome guitar work. I do not know how the production quality of either is though.

Murph,

Thanks for the suggestions. I picked up Brothers In Arms remastered CD and a BD of Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds Live at RC. Watching/listening to D.M. now. Sounds nice. On the way home I was rocking to Mark Knopfler. I love that CD. The first two songs, So Far Away and Money for nothing will be great demo songs.

I got them at Best Buy, so poked my nose into their Magnolia listening room. They had Klipsch floor standing Icon WF-35's. They were somewhat similar set up as M60's except 3 5 1/4" drivers and only one crossover?? (per BB spec sheet at 2.5kHz).

It was not a very good room, but what I heard DM @ RC, sounded too pronounced on the highs. I now know how highs can be annoying as some have described. I understand Klipsch, due to hornss emphasize highs more than most speakers. It's been three weeks since I heard the Paradigm line up. I remember them being amazing (OK pleasing to my sound preference ;o). I guess the M60's just need to sound amazing to me without emphasizing highs more than my preference. It will be hard to remember where in the Paradigm line up, which increasing did an awesome job of filling the sound stage surprisingly mo' betta' with each jump up (Studio 20, 40, 60, 100).

I am looking forward to swinging by Adam's Thursday evening to hear his M60's. My color samples should arrive late this week from Axiom, so I should be able to make a speaker and color choice soon. Still would like to hear the M80's to see what all the "fan boys" are goin' on about too. As Foghorn Leghorn would say: "That's a joke... I say, that's a joke, son." <g>

"You gotta reach for them high ones"

This 'Fan Boy' says the M60s should suddenly open up at higher volumes, that open/airy sound is what the M80s achieve with low volumes. Listen for it during the demo, if you are able to crank them up. The 60s sound quite nice with low volume, then you reach a certain volume level and the soundstage opens up and the details really start to become more noticeable, this would be the sound that the M80s achieve at lower volume levels; at least that was what I found during my comparison, beyond that they are very similar.

Sounds like you are set. Eric Clapton unplugged is definitely a good quality recording. Be sure to take that one too. Adam will be cursing me for suggesting so many samples. Actually, I'm sure he will love to give you an extensive tour de sound.

Jay, can you expand on your descriptions. I understand you are describing your perception/opinion and that no one, even M80 owners, need be upset with your perception. I am not sure I understand your meaning with:
1) (M60's) "suddenly open up at higher volume." Does this mean the highs become more pronounced with M60's with high volume?

2) "60s sound quite nice with low volume" Does this mean that at med to low volume, lows, mids, highs are more even on M60's?

3) "(M60's) reach a certain volume level and the sound stage opens up and the details really start to become more noticeable."
Would you expand on what you mean by 'details' ?

4)So, do you feel the M80's exhibit more highs (detail??) through out the volume range and M60's 'highs' do not start coming on until higher dB levels? 75db? 85dB? 95db?**

**I just bought a Radio Shack digital sound meter. Now I can finally connect dB levels to my actual listening levels. :o)
For me, it seems that:
75dB- a normal level that my wife would prefer, but because I have some degree of hearing loss, I can miss some dialogue at 75dB. (this may change when I get my new Axiom center & fronts).
85dB- is a level I like better, but wife less so.
95dB- is VERY loud, even for me.

Jay, thanks for giving me something specific to be aware of when I demo the M60'.

Yea, I'll bring a variety of samplings AND my sleeping bag. You just can't rush these things! I should bring some bagels for breakfast to show my appreciation. LOL

Adam just sent a PM and said he was glad to have an excuse to turn the volume know up a bit more. :o) I told him to blame it on 'that guy' (me)! Adam was a great host. He had chips and dip and I brought the Canadian beer, aye. (Moosehead) Reminds me of rick Moranis and Bob Thomas as Bob and Doug McKenzie in Strange Brew. I loved those accents. Hey, you hoser! Back off you knob!

Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. I couldn't let that go.

WAS? I missed the thread somewhere where you posted your thoughts... or haven't you posted yet?

Perhaps after the seventh or eighth moosehead, he forgot why he was there.

Who are you people. Get off my lawn and stop drinking my beer, you hosers!

I forget where I posted my thoughts on the M60's but here are my personal thoughts. But first, I really appreciate Adam opening up his house to me and being a super host.

Now, my only frame of reference for recently hearing quality speakers, was a good 5 weeks before at my local Paradigm dealer. I heard all their Studio Series A/B/C/D/E'ed. ;o)
20's all the way up through the 100's were very good. As I moved my way up the series, each step impressed me at how the sound field grew and deepened. The 100's were amazing. I wanted to hear them demo'ed on a 1909, but the owner had already had all the speakers I had requested to hear hooked to a 2808 or 3808.

I do not know why, but when I heard the M60's (stereo music), I was surprised that I was not that wowed. Just now thinking back, it seemed like the couch was closer to the fronts and screen (maybe 7' or so?) than at my place 12'. In the big open room at the HT showroom, I might have been 16'back. I am just realizing that may have been the challenge. I do not know what effect hearing the Paradigms in a larger environment with higher end amp would have.

I feel bad about saying anything negative because Adam was awesome to let me come hear his M60's and a great host. I do not have the vocabulary to make a detailed description of what did not sound right, other than to say that I did not hear the wide full sound stage with just the 60's in stereo. But when he put on the war movie, it sounded very good. So good, after realizing I had been watching for maybe 15-20 mins., that I could easily sit and enjoy he whole movie! I had to pull myself away, so I could Adam get back to his stuff. I did not want to overstay my welcome. Now if it was Mark, Randy, Soundofmind, Jay or Dean who I go back many days with :o), no problem waiting to be booted out. Of course if was Tom, I'd of had to bring a case of good beer and helped him finish it off!

At this point, I have just ordered both the 60's and 80's and will return one of the pairs. I will have a larger environment here at home, but I don't think the 1909 has any edge over Adams AVR and is just a hair less powered than his 100watt.

As I said before, Huge thanks and appreciation to Adam for opening his home to a me. He was a great host!


Bummer to need to wait 4 wks (+1 shpg). Christmas cannot come too soon.
PS. Oops! The Bob & Doug Mckenzie names made me call Dave..> Bob. I'm soory, aye. (What a nob, Jay for not letting it pass thooough! What are yoou from the states, aye. Figures...)

His squirrel likely would have been there as well. You'd have to watch your nuts.




From the squirrel too.


::running away.... (nothing else, just running away)::

Mark,
Thanks for the warning on visiting Tom's. Beer PLUS squirrel nuts (to protect own), check!

Tom,
I hope such a renowned squirrel as yours is chipped to prevent loss. That way if he chooses to spend a week at the local micro brewery, they can at least know where to tell the cab to go when they cut him off. The acorn does not fall far from the tree, aye!