Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Need some Amp Advice for the M80TI

Yes, as I suggested before, leave it at 8 ohms. The 6 ohm setting reduces the maximum voltage, and therefore the current and power available(Ohm's Law teaches us that current equals voltage divided by resistance;power equals voltage times current). It should only be used as a last resort(despite what the manual says)if it keeps shutting down.

Dudditz,

Apart from the dreaded "6-ohm switch" that JohnK has advised you on (leave the Yamaha at the 8-ohm setting), you should consider the total volume of your room and your taste for very loud playback levels, which the M80s are capable of when powered by large separate power amps. If your room is of average size (2100 cu ft.) to somewhat larger, the Yamaha will have ample power output to achieve loud, clean playback.

But if you have a large room (4,000 to 8,000 cu ft) and you like really loud playback (95 dB SPL and up), you are right to consider the Crown for the M80s. Several of my colleagues with M80s enjoy what I call "deafening" listening levels of rock n roll in large rooms, and they use either monoblocks with 250 watts per channel or something like the Outlaw multichannel power amp.

My own M80s in a typical 2,100 cu ft room are nicely powered by my modest H/K receivers's 80 watts per channel. I seldom run my system peaking at greater than 96 dB SPL at my listening location (subjectively that level is termed "very loud").

Always look at the total room volume, furnishings, listening distance and personal preferences with playback levels.

Regards,

In reply to:

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You would connect the rcas from the amplifer to the preouts of your receiver. I was still able to use my features on my receiver.

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Can one use the 2 unused amps from the receiver for another 'location', say rear surrounds (7.1)? …Assuming I have an ext. decoder.

Thanks for all the responses. I do enjoy cranking the music quite loud. The room that the system will be in is around 3000 cf. The only reason I was concerned regarding the yammie is that one of my friends has a 1400 yammie and it shuts down after extensive loud playing on his 4ohm speakers. If this is the case with my 1500 I wanted to be prepared to order a new amp. The Crown is a great price however it sounds like it requires some manual control when you are using it. I have been reading that you want it turned all the way up when listening to loud levels and when you turn off your system you should turn it down, via dials since there is no remote to reduce the audio thump produced in the speakers from turning it off. Also that fact that it does not have a remote and from what I can tell it does not auto senses your signal so you need to manually turn it on and off. I guess this is not a big deal however it would be nice to have this automated. From my reading the outlaw mono block 200s will turn on and off by signal detection and do not require you to have to manually adjust any volumes. Am I wrong on the Crown when referring to the way it operates with the manual dials? Any other good 2 channels or mono block amps that are in this price range. I really like the price of the crown however I do like the signal detection and no manual dials of the higher priced outlaw blocks. The price of the crowns are as low as 280 – 330 where a pair of the outlaws will run a bit over 600 after shipping.

Hello Alan,

I was surprised to see you post "the Yamaha will have ample power", and the "leave the ohm switch at 8". (I THOUGHT I got the power thing).
I remember being lucky and getting you, back when I phoned Axiom for information about which speaker was best for my situation...M60s, OR M80s. TO ME (back then) the M80s with their two tweeters and two mid's...needed some additional explanation.

At that time, when I mentioned my Yamaha RX-V3300, 130WX6, you said the 4-6-8 switch was not going to help, that I would "loose too much power" trying to push the M80s.

I am SO glad I took your advice, and bought the M60s..they are PERFECT for my needs. (I don't play music too loud these days).

But.....I still am a little confused about the M80's power requirements....even though I've read the many posts about this subject, maybe now would be a good time for THE definitive M80 post. (my apologies if I've missed it somewhere). I do see many other posts about this, so possibly, I'm not the only one.

Thank you,

LT

I never got audio thump with my crown. I had the crown set to halfway and let my receiver do the rest by adsjusting the level. Two drawbacks to the crown. One being the fan noise which in my case I will have to modify the fans which is pretty easy and 2 the fact that you have to manually turn them off. There is a specific power supply that costs 20 bux which you can use to control the amp. Check this out:
http://www.bitsltd.net/smartstrip/home2.htm

Why wouldn't you have put the levels all the way up on the Crown? That would have made the amp run with less effort.........no?

You can but I prefer not to have my gains high on my amp unless I have to. I prefer to have my gains controlled by the receiver. I've tried having the gains all the way up and I had no problems.

I am going to give the yammie a try with the M80s. If this does not seem up to par I will look for a power amp to run them. I just received this email from Yamaha.

Hello Dudditz:
In response to your emaiL: Yes, all Yamaha AV receivers are stable
down to, but not below 4 ohms. We recommend that you use only speakers
with a minimum of 4 ohms. Also, please make sure that the impedance
selector switch is set to the correct position recommended by the
owner's manual. If you have any further questions regarding Yamaha
components, contact our customer service department by dialing (800)
292-2982 Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for further
assistance. Thanks for your email!