Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Agony

Axiom tests the M80s at northwards of 700watts if I recall, and Ian ran 8 x M80s with 4 A-1400's (live band)at the recent Axiom get together.

Tom! you'll be the first to know if I buy an amp(s)....I trust I'll be the first to know when you buy some hardwood flooring?

::: snicker :::

::runs away procrastinating::

Commenting on this point again, the "gain" control doesn't control gain, even when as in this case it's labeled as such. Audio amplifiers have fixed gain(the gain on a balanced input should be 6dB lower to compensate for the doubled voltage, i.e., 6dB more, on a balanced preamp and cable setup), typically about 25-30dB, which increases the voltage coming in from the preamp stage of the receiver a bit less than 30 times. What the control knob does is to change the portion of the incoming voltage which is let through to be amplified from nearly zero to nearly 100%. This is a variable resistor more correctly labeled a "level" or "volume" control.

There generally isn't a good reason not to set this control all the way up so that the maximum amount of the incoming voltage can be used. The amount of the incoming voltage, and the overall sound level being used, would then be controlled by the level control on the receiver. This would especially be the case where the amplifier level control apparently has a design problem at some lower setting.

My wife wants me to take the M80 shipping cartons to the dump. I guess this is her way of saying that the speakers are good enough to stay.

How long do you guys hang on to your cardboard mega-boxes?

I still have speaker and audio component boxes from the early 80's!!

Personally I'd try to hold on to them to protect your speakers in case of a move in the future. At the very least, break the taped seams on the boxes, fold them up and put them somewhere out of the way.

I have an attic full of boxes for all my equipment. I only get rid of them when a piece is sold or otherwise.... But I'm fortunate to have a big, walk up attic so it's not inconvenient.

How do you like the squeezebox touch? Can it do anything that an ipod touch can't? I assume you can control it with the squeezebox duet controller, is there also an ipod/ipad app for it?

My M80 boxes went into recycling the day after I received them I do still have my box for the Denon 3808, just depends on the size and storage requirements. The M80 boxes were too long to fit into the storage room I kept this stuff in.

The Squeezebox Touch is not a portable device -- it runs off a power supply plugged into the mains. It has RCA analog outs, as well as coax and optical digital outs. It can play up to 24-bit 96 kHz files and support many file formats, most notably FLAC. It can play the files from an external or internal server. External servers can run on PCs, NAS boxes, custom-built boxes, etc. The internal server requires that you connect a USB drive or insert an SD flash card. It can also stream Internet Radio and supports last.fm and Pandora, plus a lot of other geeky stuff via more plug-ins than you can shake a stick at.

It comes with its own remote which does not have a display like the Duet controller. Instead you rely on the Touch's display for visual feedback. The display is also touch controllable (hence the name) but that requires that you go up to it and poke it with your finger.

I have an Android phone with an app called SqueezeCommander that brings the Squeezebox display (with enhancements) to my phone and allows me to control it from there. Very nice and by far the best way to use the Squeezebox. There is a similar app for the iPhone/Pod/Pad called iPeng, I believe.

I chose this path because I do not like Apple products. However, a good friend of mine is an Apple fanboy and he does much the same kind of thing with iTunes on his Mac and iPhone, and an AirPort Express connected to his receiver.