Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Polk SDA 1C VS M80 V3

I have an old set of Polk SDA 1C's, very good speakers, but to make a long story short, It's time to upgrade. This is a stereo system only.

I'm looking at the M80V3 to replace them. I listen to mostly classic rock, blues, and classical. Let me say i do listen at concert volumes to put it mildly. They would be sitting in a room about 15x27. The speakers would be about 8-9 feet apart. The ceiling is a dropped type with standard acoutical 2x4 tiles, carpet on the floor.

The equipment to run this is an Onkyo M-504 Dual mono block, Jolida 100A and an Adcom pre. I don't always sit in the "sweet" spot and could be any place in the room, as there is a bar at the end of the room.
My question would be, can the M80 put out enough "sound" to fill the room, and can they handle the volume rquired, without adding extra speakers to the mix.
Thanks for any input on this
Bob

Yes the M80s will fill your room and then some, our room (14x25) is about the same size as yours and I've never felt like the M80 were never up to the task. You'll have have more speaker than your ears will probably allow for any length of time.

Welcome!

The M80's can go way beyond your needs, if you don't go deaf first. Welcome by the way. Most likely you don't have anough power to drive them anyway.

Thanks for the welcome. I've been a musicain for 30 years, playing Marshall 1/2 stacks on stage, so if i'm not deaf yet, probably will not happen..LOL
The Onkyo M-504 is a high current dual mono block that puts out about 170wtts per at 8 ohms..at 4, more like 250. Never had a problem driving any speaker before. Are the M80's power hogs?

No, they're efficient/sensitive.

Welcome to the forums!

I will say that when I quickly read your subject line, I thought this thread was someone searching for Polka SACDs.

I would not say they are power hogs, actually they are very efficient and can play very loud using little power, rated at 95dB inroom 1watt/meter. I don't exactly remember the specs, but I think Axiom has tested them before in the lab pumping wattage hungry music at 700+ watts continously with peaks exceeding 1K watts for 24-48+ hours.

here's a document that might help with some questions about power relationship in amp/spkrs:
http://www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/amp_info/how_much_power.htm

My other question would be , how big of a "soundstage" do these present. The Polks SDA's are very good at that, present a very open type soundstage. It's always nice to sit at the "sweet" spot to pick up every little thing. But if your at the other end of the room. Will the m80's present you with an open, type "spacial" feeling. for lack of better words..

The M80s have a fantastic soundstage and imaging.

HA! Just looked up the Polks. Now no one gets to say that no other speaker from a reputable manufacturer used dual tweeters.

Hi bobt,

You'll find the M80s will present a very wide and deep soundstage (if the source material is well recorded); in addition, the M80s will be much more transparent and musically accurate than the old Polks.

Are those Polks of yours one of the models that used the cross-cancellation circuitry to expand the soundstage? That effect could be quite compelling or bizarre, but it only worked well if you were precisely in the sweet spot between the two speaker. The effect collapsed if you were anywhwere off-axis or even turned your head at an angle.

And, as others have noted, the M80s will cleanly handle many hundreds of watts per channel and deliver SPLs that are extremely loud, if desired.

Regards,
Alan