Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners What components for an M3 stereo system?

Why don't you just get a newer used stereo receiver and a CD player? CD players cost like $20 these days.

Exactly. Axiom used to sell an entry-level Sherwood Newcastle RX-770 stereo receiver (also had a phono preamp section) that was an excellent unit, 100 watts per channel, 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with harmonic distortion of 0.1 %.

It would drive the 4-ohm M80s to very loud clean playback levels in the Axiom listening room without overheating or shutting down. It sold for around $300 or so. It's no longer in the Sherwood line, but it and another stereo model, the R-773, were excellent units. H/K also had some excellent integrated amplifiers with robust amp sections.

Alan

Well, here's one possibility.

I forgot about the Sherwood line, there's the Sherwood RX-773 for $339.

The Sherwood CDC-690T CD Changer for $149.

Total: $448 + shipping.

Didn't you want silver components?

From the picures I saw of these, they were silver (the front plates, anyway). But, I'd call the seller to verify first.

I definitely like the look of the old Marantz stuff but it's hard to find old ones in good condition. I've tried on Audiogon. The nice thing about the older units is that it definitely has a PHONO input. I always like the look of the old Sansuis too, though I can't vouch for the sound.

Sansui. Now there's a name I haven't hear in a long, long time.

Price above I said $448 + shipping. I can't change it, but the correct price is $488 + shipping.

An Onkyo solution for silver boxes with SACD. There may be cheaper options, but I just ran out of time to look.

Onkyo C S5VL SACD player for around $350 to $600.

Onkyo TX-8255S stereo receiver for around $520.

Brian, as you've probably discovered, finding a combo receiver/player is tough and silver(at least in the U.S., it's much more popular in Europe and Asia)is too. Maybe the closest unit to what you were looking for which is available at a reasonable price is this . There'd be about 3dB less maximum output(and yes, amplification is just loudness; there ain't no more)than that Marantz unit, say mid 90s of dBs on peaks rather than high 90s.

If you look beyond the combo, you can find more(but still relatively limited)in silver by googling a topic such as "silver Onkyo receivers".

I was looking at that one, and wondering if the distortion of this unit might be as bad, or worse, than the Marantz unit. It's still a possibility. I was also looking at one of the cheaper Onkyo sacd players, but reviews said the drive mechanism was audible. Quick scan didn't turn it up, but it was only $109 dollars.