Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M80's VS Polk RTi A9's

I thought i had to throw this up here, as the M80's would be replacing an old set of Polk SDA's. Now neither speaker will sound like the SDA's persay..plus there 25 years old.
But the 9's are close to the M80's.

Has anybody listened to, or compared these 2 speakers, and what were your thoughts about them????
The only thing i got out of the 9's reviews, is they need alot of GOOD power to make them sound good. But thats about it as there are never to many bad comments about any speaker...LOL

I can’t comment on the Polks but IMO the closest sounding speaker you might find to the M80s locally to listen to are the Paradigm Studio 100s.

Unless the return shipping is going to be prohibitive $90 USD for a pair of M80s I suggest you order them and have a listen. No better way to test speaker than in your own room with your own equipment for 30 days. Make sure when you test them you use well mastered CDs. Good speakers make bad recordings sound bad and great recordings sound great which is why many people don’t like “detailed” speakers . . . because they have a bunch of crappy CDs.

IMO you don’t need SACDs either. I like them for multi-channel but well mastered standard CDs can sound just as good. Best place I found to get well mastered CDs is a local high end audio shop where one of the owners and I have similar tastes in speakers. It’s been worth buying from him both because I can demo them before buying and because he has great taste in music.

Believe me, I agree with you about hearing speakers..I have never before bought anything that i did not listen to. But i moved to GA and there is really no 'HIFI" place around here..so your dealing with best buy...nothing there i would even consider..LOL

But then again i've heard $3000 Martin Logan stuff...without a sub on them..were just not that great. At least to me, but i guess it depends on what your looking for.

As you say, there are good CD's and bad..I have about 500 or so..some are not so great. I pretty much know what ones are NOT the cream of the crop..LOL

Basically i need the M80's to give me concert volume...without getting muddy, give me a wide sound stage, produce real life sounding live cd's...LOL Well recorded stuff of course...LOL

I Have not bought speakers in 25 years, so all i have to compare them too is the SDA Polks, which is kind of a 1 off speaker...nothing really sounds like them presay.

"Basically i need the M80's to give me concert volume...without getting muddy, give me a wide sound stage, produce real life sounding live cd's...LOL Well recorded stuff of course...LOL"

Ummm, based on this it sounds like you have already listened to them? I'm guessing they will blow the polks away, at least the ones I remember from the old retail store days.

I'm getting deja vu again.

IMO the best speakers I have ever listened to that reproduce concert volume while still sounding crisp are the Axiom M80s and the Klipsch RF-7. When it comes to pure loudness the Klipsch beat the Axioms hands down. However, in overall performance I prefer the Axioms.

I wish I could have you over for a listen to 5.1 or 7.1 multi-channel surround sound concerts if you want to recreate concert sound in your home. Right now I’m watching Within Temptation “Black Symphony” Blu-ray and awesome concert. The most realistic concert I’ve watched/heard is Toto’s “ “Falling in Between the Live” . . . best indoor concert I’ve heard on a home system, simply as good as being there. Another of my favorite live concerts is Roger Waters “The Wall” live in Berlin. Best outdoor concert I’ve heard on my system. Both of the above sound totally real both the indoor and outdoor due to the effectiveness of the QS8 speakers. Another great multi-channel DVD I have is Jethro Tull “Live at Montrruex 2003,” again it sounds like it’s live. And no multi-channel listening would be complete without Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon” SACS, simply amazing.

No slouches are some of the 2ch SACDs I have like Boston’s “Boston” SACD, completely re-mastered. Rush “Chronicles” on DVD-A, and like them or not the Bangles “Greatest Hits” SACD. But if you like the sound of live concerts you are doing yourself a disfavour by not investing in a surround sound system.



Whatever speaker you end up trying please be patient as your ear have become accustomed to the sound of the speakers you have had. Anything new will sound different . . . maybe better maybe worse at first until you get use to hearing things that you never heard before, both good and bad.

No i have not listened to any thing...i'm wishing the M80's will do that for me.

The SDA polks i have are from 1987..to be honest probably the best speakers Polk ever made. I don't think they really make a better 2 channel stereo speaker. Just looking for the M80's to come close ..and put out more volume in a stereophile way sort of speak.

BoB/335?

Grunt..again you are on the mark..what i really wanted back in the 80's was a set of Klipsch La Scala's I could not afford them back then, can't afford them now.
I do understand about your like for the 5.1 stuff..but this is a striat stereo set up. I don't know anything about the RF-7 stuff.

If the M80's can do the volume, and still give the "right" sound
that should work for me.

Bottom line is they have to produce big sound in a stereo set up.

Don't even need to go back that far. Just look at current history.

Bob, I know you're anxious about buying M80s, but I don't think you're helping yourself (and this is coming from a MASTER overthinker) by essentially posting the same questions over and over again. Get an audition, buy some M2s to find out if you like the Axiom sound, listen to some Paradigm Studio 100s, or just buy the M80s. It's the only way you're going to be sure.

Bluejay...if your taking about a guitar....no i don't play a 335, but i have.. nice guitar. but i play a 1987 Bc Rich ST3 with EMG's, a Dean 1980 Caddy, and a G&L s-500....LOL

they will produce the sound, but you will never know unless you do an audition or get some under 30day guarantee.

Hey Bob, here's my $0.02.

I own a pair of Polk SDA SRS's (The Beasts). Here's a link if someone isn't familiar with these.

http://www.polksda.com/sdasrs.shtml

As you say, they are a bit of an odd duck, but they do sound wonderful!

So I am familiar with the Polk "SDA Sound". I have not heard the M80's, but I picked up my first Axiom speakers just over a month ago. I was building a bedroom system and ended up with the M22's and a VP150.

You will love the Axiom sound. Actually, they are not all that far off form the SDA sound. They seem to be a tad bit "brighter", but nowhere near being harsh or tiring. They are a joy to listen to.

As you know, nothing images like the SDAs, and my M22's lack low end (by design). They will never reach the SPL levels of the SDAs but they are more than enough for the bedroom. Those M80's on the other hand would do the job, depending on which SDAs you have/had. What surprised me about the M22's was the detail. I did the crossover upgrades and tweeter upgrades on my SDAs and those Axiom M22s still surprise the heck out of me.

Anyway, I'm familiar with both the Polk SDA and Axiom sound and feel confident in saying that you'll be pleased.

You can't beat the 30day return policy so why not try them out?

Cary

Nice work, Cary. Thank you for the informative post.

Bob, I agree with Ken. You can post 1000 post about comparisons between the M80s and other speakers but until you'll hear them for yourself, you'll never know the answer. I don't think the $90 return is that big of a deal just to put your mind at ease. My advice is the same as the others, buy them, try them for a month and if you don't like them after that, you'll loose $90 but at least you'll know.

Do you think Bob will return the M80s single choice
	YES
	NO
Votes accepted starting: 04/11/11 04:41 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

Dat was a good album.

Cary, thanks alot....WOW, you have the SRS's...man those are BIG...LOL Would love to hear those. Mine are the 1C's.
If you feel there a close match, that works for me. Since i have no close HiFi stores any more..not much i can do but look at reviews. being Briight or more articulate, is one thing, being harsh or tiring is another. Some cd's are just so compressed, and poorly eq'd that even on the Polks, in some passages, you want to run over and turn them down...LOL
The M80's will be played at very high volume, but any company that lists there volume testing, playing SLAYER for 100 hours strait at double the recomended watts, gets my vote...LOL

I'm really just waiting for a pair to show up on auction, to save some money. Scratches, i don't care about, sound i do.

Here you go
https://deals.axiomaudio.com/browse.php?id=336

What??? this isn't a real time listing, is it. I don't see those anyplace on the auction page.....

the m80's often come up on the site.

Sure it's a realtime listing. If you click on Products for Sale, then go to tower speakers, then pull out to M80s, there they are. The only pair right now, but I imagine there will be more soon.

WOW..OK..thats kind of strange they don't show up if you just look at the Auctions page. I presume i have to create a new login for that to be able to bid on anything. Guess i just can't call the toll free Number. Plus of course i will not have the money till next week (whatelse is new) I sold one of my guitars to pay for this, and the guy will not show up till next week with the cash.

Yup, you'll need to create a login. They don't show up on the main page, since that is only the most recently posted list.

Thanks Ken. The problem right now is i have to wait till next week, as i sold 1 of my guitars to pay for this and the guy will not show up with the cash till then. (what else is new)

While i sit hear and wait, I do have a question about power. I have an Onkyo M-504 power amp, dual mono block, hi current. At 4 ohms it's putting out an easy 250 watts per channel.

Now I "assume" with the dual 6.5 bass drivers,and the ports, using this power, i should get the bass i need for most "classic" rock...and still put out the volume level i expect.
I've had no problem pushing other speakers with this amp, but the M80's are not the same as the Polks.

I have NO interest in returning these speakers, and from what Cary has said..i don't see why i should have any reason.

But if these speakers need to be bi-amped for there best performence, as i may be lacking in watts, then i should know now before i get them. As that is an option now.

You don't need to worry about that. Bi amping really does nothing when you're talking about home audio. To do true biamping, you need to have crossovers before the amps, rather than after the amps in the speakers. And you REALLY have to know what you're doing to tune the crossovers, etc. A 250WPC amp will do just fine with the M80s.

thanks again Ken. I don't really think there should be a problem power wise. I have run this power amp with 2 sets of speakers, a set of old (large) Advents and the Polks at extreme volumes, (with a room full of drunks, dancing..LOL) and never had any problem...LOL It has the set up to do this, which most amps don't. So i don't see a problem.

Hey Grunt

The Toto; In Between The Live Concert (blu-ray) is not only the best recoreded concert I have ever heard on my system, it's also the best performed concert I have ever heard on my system. For the life of me I don't understand why this band isn't more popular in N. America. Great music that stands the test of time. In my opinion they're as good as Yes, Rush, and many more!

paul