Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners anyone have this setup?

Hey so, I am looking at buying a set of axioms for a HT setup. I'm looking at the m60s, qs8s, and vp150 (I have the sub covered already). From everything I've read, I think I will be quite happy with them, and I won't feel like I need to upgrade for a good many years (if then?) My question is: I have a kenwood reciever (don't know the # off the top of my head) but it puts out 100W/channel and is rated at 8 ohms. I'm worried about the qs8s and vp150 rated at 6 ohms, and about running into problems underpowering them since they're rated at 250 W and up. Can anyone tell me if they have a similar setup, and what problems if any they have encountered? The reciever doesn't have preouts for anything but a sub, so hooking up a seperate amp is not a possibility. (And I'm pushing my price limit as it is.)

You should be fine with that Kenwood. Let us know what you think when the speakers arrive. I've got the same, and couldn't love them more.

I have a similar setup (m60's, vp150, etc) driven by a low-end Kenwood (5 x 100 watts). I don't yet have a sub. I just received my axioms this past weekend and had some problems with 'clipping'. At one point the receiver shut itself completely off after I had increased the volume. I asked Axiom tech support about this, and here's the reply:

"I'm delighted you like you M60s and VP150.

Keep in mind that the so-called "100 watts per channel" rating of your low-end Kenwood is measured with one channel driven and the other five channels at 1/8th power output. I know, it's very misleading, but the standards for power output ratings were seriously diluted to enable receiver manufacturers to build 5.1 channel receivers and sell them cheap. Most of these models only deliver 30 or 40 watts per channel when all five channels are driven simultaneously.

You are simply driving the Kenwood into clipping because the M60s are capable of very clean deep bass output and demand more power than you Kenwood will supply and because you are not using a sub. Bass demands most of the power from a receiver, and because you are not using a subwoofer with its own built-in amplifier, your Kenwood has to work too hard, so its protection circuitry shuts it down.

It should be okay when you add a sub and set all the front speakers to "Small". Then the Kenwood won't have to work as hard.

You could also consider upgrading to a more powerful receiver with a better power supply: I recommend Harman/Kardon, Denon, and the new NAD models. I'm using an H/K 525, which will even drive our 4-ohm M80s. The newer model is the H/K630 or the 7200 (the latter is massive)."


Axiom also assured me that my 8 ohm receiver wouldn't have a problem with their 4 ohm products. I am going to add the sub next, which I am sure will help, and also looking at Denon recievers (1804 is catching my eye). Hopefully you will be fine with your sub already in place.

I think govols repost is good service here.

I have the Denon 1804 and consider it a solid performer and very good value. It has the feature set I wanted and drives my M60's and QS8's cleanly to levels beyond my desire. I have been astounded how clean and loud the M60's are. The Denon replaced a Yamaha integrated amp that had Dolby Surround but not Dolby Digital. It still serves me well in another room.

Thanks folks... I am most concerned I guess about the 400W rating on the vp150 and qs8s. I will let you know how it all sounds in a few days when I get everything set up. Ultimately I'll get a new amp and move my current system into another room. I may have some questions about set-up stuck in that post somewhere, although I've read a lot of good stuff on the subject already from other posts. govols post here was quite helpful, more specific to what I was asking than in his post in "home theater."

I too have the same set up. The Kenwood is a VR-6050 100W X 5 and it to will shut down ones in awhile. Like ½ way threw the bombing seine in Pearl Harbor. But I had it turned up –8db. So I had to late it cool down a bit before it came back on.

I thought I would include a pic of my set up.But have not found out how to do that yet.:(