Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Upgrading my mains...

All guys do, though few admit to it.

Your avatar is very apropos all of the sudden.

Actually, I still have most of Buddy Rich's LPs. My father loves Jazz and turned me on to Buddy Rich when I was young. As a young drummer I started off listening to one of the greatest.

BuddyRich, don't worry about shielded speakers; only CRT's are susceptible to magnetism; in them, the electron beam is guided by electromagnets; but NOT in plasma or lcd or whatever.

BR, welcome. The 802Ds are fine speakers, but listening to a setup which featured them may have misdirected your attention in making changes to improve your present setup. My view, after studying your components, is that, at least initially, bigger main speakers aren't the best use of your money. Specifically, it appears to me that a more up-to-date receiver and superior side surrounds(the QS8s)should have priority. The new setup should be M2 mains(with the Hsu, of course), the VP100, and QS8 side surrounds. The M3s could either be used with the 596 in another room or as back surrounds with a new 7-channel receiver in a 7.1 setup.

This is, of course, entirely different from what you've had in mind, but bigger main speakers should be some distance down your list of things to get. You should have a modern receiver with room equalization, and listening modes such as DPLII which allow you to enjoy the surround ambience trapped in 2-channel music in surround, which greatly improves listening results. Very wide dispersion side surrounds like the QSs maximize the appreciation of this.

As to a new receiver, you might consider a unit such as the Onkyo 709 factory refurb, available from Accessories4less at a very good price.

If you are serious about 2 channel (no sub) go strait to the M80. It has noticeably better base. It also has a slightly better mid-range and a little more detail in the treble.

John makes a lot of sense as well. Again, the M80s will perform much better than the M3 for strict 2 channel use.

Take Ian's advice......

Good luck with your decision!



Other than that, i don't have anything for you man... I have M60's ad am happy with them. I did add 2 8" JLB subs (had them laying around) for the setup that ian is talking about though.

M80s will provide all the bottom end you need for most music. Get the m80s, you won't be disappointed!