Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater What receiver to power my new Axioms

the setup that i got was the best bang for the buck, the marantz mm9000 was the lowest distortion amp that i could find anywhere. something like (<.03% THD, 20 Hz - 20 kHz) i don’t think ANY receiver can have that clarity with that much power... and you can get one of these amps on ebay or else where for around 600$ now... new they retailed for 3,000$ i think?


If you are thinking marantz, check this place out, this is where I bought my stuff, and they are a certified licensed dealer, even says so on the marantz website..

http://www.accessories4less.com/


they have really good deals on marantz products…cool guy to, mike is the owner I belive.

hope this helps.. im the same as you, spend 2-4 weeks, before i buy somthing... then another 2 weeks afterwords..

First JH, welcome. You'll really enjoy your Epic 60 setup, especially with that 500 sub. In my view you're giving the receiver decision far more attention(and probably money)than it deserves. Unless your listening is going to be at extreme volumes in a huge room(in which case you should be thinking M80),as indicated in Alan's article the receivers in the 80-100 watt area are plenty. There're several excellent quality ones available for less than you're thinking about which would completely suit your needs and a decision between them is hardly a crucial matter. A few in alphabetical order would be the Denon 3805/2805, HK 635, Onkyo 702 and Yamaha 2500. Relax, you can't go wrong.

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Thanks again BrenR you are a great help. Can you critique other models as well?

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You're pretty golden with anything you want to buy... I just like to help cut through the BS on the "tech" documents. Know how many people buy receivers (or printers, or scanners, or cameras...) based on the model number? "You have a Nikon F60? I have an F85 - that's like 30% more F!"

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Or better yet if you were in my situation with my budget what receiver would you purchase?

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What I would buy (or anyone else here) may not be what you want. Hard to say, but it's true - it's just feature sets that distinguish receivers up in that range... try the remote, the menus, etc... see if you like it. Since you asked directly, if it was me, I'd buy the Denon 3805 (or whatever else they've got cooking in the way of a new model) I like the feature set (and I'm a Yamaha owner.)

Bren R.

The place I purchased my NAD from sold Marantz as well. They stated that Marantz is not near the same quality. I didn't listen to it but they didn't even try to sell it to me. They said it was in running with the Denon.

As Bren had stated, everyone has done their own research and chose their systems with different personal requirements.

I liked the NAD, Harman Kardon and Rotel for their honest wattage rating driving all seven channels. High current does that. The others such as Denon 2805 are popular but you will not get as stated 110 watts per channel with all channels running. That may be fine if you don't expect to be cranking it up that loud. I heard lots about the fact there is not much difference between 50 watts per channel and 100 watts per channel.
I didn't want to run out of juice and made the extra choice of buying an Anthem MCA3 amp to run my front and center channels seperately and use the other seven receiver channels to run my surrounds and a set of Monitor Audio S8's upstairs in the living room as a second zone.

The other reason I bought the NAD T773 receiver was the reports on easy to operate remote functions compared to many other receivers. It seems to be a popular complaint with recievers. The remotes offer so many functions and options nowadays that they are a challenge to master. I have had mine for 2 weeks and the whole family is capable of running through all options pretty much.

The only complaint I had which really isn't all that big is the fact I can hear a hum from the speakers when nothing is playing. I have to concentrate to hear it and be within 6 or so feet. Honestly I only hear it when I shut everything off and move myself to the right spot and tell the household to be quiet I'm trying to hear the hum.

It is really a non player.

If you have the money Rotel seems to have the votes but then again it will cost you, as seperates will as well.

Try this site for NAD T773. It's a great review.

WWW.avrev.com/equip/nadt773/index.html

Good luck,
Troy

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The only complaint I had which really isn't all that big is the fact I can hear a hum from the speakers when nothing is playing.

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You're in the south end, right? Maybe some weekend when we both have time I could pop over and give a quick runthrough and try to figure out if there's a good cause for that.

Bren R.

Bring Chesseroo with you too.

Troy

Indeed Bren.
"DRAG" me along, kicking and screaming.
Maybe i will bring the M60s and we could do a head to head with the M80s, or for that matter, the EP350 vs the EP600. That is fair no?

M80 vs M60 vs M3s
EP500 vs EP350 vs STF-2

Looks like we'll have to rent a van.

Bren R.

I did a head to head with the 60s and 80s. Both great speakers.

I heard the M80s casually when i was at the factory. They certainly did not sound different in overall character than the M60s so really an A/B test would be required to discern the subtle differences. I think the change to the sound of the M3 would be interesting though.

As for the subs, well, i've been down that road before with Klipsch and SVS. It is not quite as fun a thing to test A/B. Turning off all other speakers and switching b/w sub sounds can get quite boring. Trying to equalize the subs for SPL when they are vastly different in shape doesn't seem to do much either. Picking out the SVS tall tube vs the cube EP350 was amazingly easy.