Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners pioneer hpm 100 vs m80

I still have my hpm 100s powered by kenwood kr4070 receiver, 40wpc, from 1978.
I've listened to all the speakers BB has had over the past 2 years and nothing screamed buy me.
I did buy a Klipsch kg series HT set up some years ago, but can't compare with my Hpm100 for music.
I keep reading the reviews of the m80 and wonder if these could be the answer.
Has anyone compared the hpm100 with the m80?
I can't help but think there is a reasonably priced speaker that can compare to my 30+yr old set.
Perhaps not hearing the others side by side with mine is leaving me in the dark. Or perhaps my 30+ yr units still sound that good? Help!

Welcome fish!

The only thing you can really do is take advantage of Axioms 30 day trial and compare them side by side. You could always see if a fellow axiomite close to you would have you over for an audition as well.

The only issue with that is you would be listening to "their setup" "their room". A true comparison would be to have the M80's side by side to "your" HPM 100's and "your system".

I too waited 20 years before I upgraded my vintage Boston Acoustics A100 bass reflex speakers to the M80's. I will tell you it was a HUGE difference for me. I'm totally content with the M80's for sure. Over a year later, the M80's still surprise me.

Your pioneer HPM 100's are for sure very nice speakers, they don't make them like that anymore and actually you may be in for a tough time adjusting to "any" modern day speaker. Only you can be the judge, but for me, I can't believe I waited so long to upgrade.

Fair warning thou...once you get the M80's, be prepared to go into a spending spree for the rest of Axiom's speaker lineup...

Dana

I'm thinking ol' Wid had a pair of the HPM speakers? He'll chime in here momentarily.

I had the vintage Pioneers (mid to late 1970's) with the lights across the mids, and 15" woofers ... great speakers (CR series maybe?) but no comparison to the Axioms I now own.

It's the damn Pioneer SX-1050 receiver I sold in a garage sell for almost nothing several years ago that I'm kicking myself in the ass nowadays.

I saw an entire vintage Pioneer system at the local Habitat for Humanity here, going for $200 complete. What do these hpm speakers look like? the system I saw had some pretty big woofers with the mids off to one side, cabinet was quite wide(a-la '70's) maybe 16-18" wide by about 3ft tall, not all that deep. Didn't see what the receiver was.

I do not want to insult your speakers but I think design has progressed. I think you will be amazed at the Axioms. I have never heard your speakers but I think speakers of that era you are listening to the box. Axioms you will be listening to the music.

Yezzuh, Mr. Lampshade, audio things sure have progressed ... but, a state of the art late 70s system can be hard to top.

For example, Kenwood KA9100 amplifier driving a pair of Dahlquist DQM905s bettered a pair of M50s in the same system.

The HPM 100s were,are, a very nice 70s vintage speakers. I had the HPM 150 (1500) back in the mid to late 70s. Now it's hard to say whether they could match the Axiom M80s, I doubt it though, but in the day they were some very competitive speakers. Some of the better Japanese speakers of the day.

Back about 15-20 years ago or more there was what seemed like a significant design change in speakers. especially floor standers, in which they went from the large woofers and wide cabinets to what we see today in speakers that have cabinets that are relatively tall, narrow and deep,and not much wider than the drivers themselves. Apparently, it was determined through measurements that a significant amount of "diffraction" was occurring and sound was being lost along the width of these wider boxes, especially with sound from the tweeter, thus, considerable inaccuracy in what the listener was hearing.

Comparatively speaking, in most of today's models, you don't see drivers much bigger than 6 and a half inches, yet they still get as much or more bass than these older designs with the giant woofers. It seems more scientific fine tuning has been done between the cabinets and drivers to get the superior efficiency in sound. Ian could certainly give a much better description than me of design philosophy and the changes that have occurred over the years.

Probably not the best example, but I have an old set of speakers from Radio Shack with 12 inch woofers and giant cabinets, yet, in all sound categories, they don't even come close to my M80s.

I believe the reasoning behind multiple smaller drivers over one large driver is due to efficiency. The smaller drivers are easier to control and move than one large driver; this is why subwoofers have 500W or more for that one 12" or larger cone. Multiple smaller drivers work the same as one driver, in that you can add their sizes together and they achieve the same surface area of that one large driver thus achieving the same low frequency playback.

Thanks for the input.
I've been having trouble getting on and staying on this site for the past few days.
The more I think about it, the more I lean towards trying these.

What do you think of using my Kr4070 40wpc to drive the m80s?
Not sure 4-8 ohm?

thanks
John