Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo M80 vs M60 and sub woofer

I am doing some research before I buy a new home theater system. I was looking at buying the M80 or the M60 floor speakers and epic 5.1 system. I was looking to buy an A/V receiver - Yamaha RX-V2600 or Denon 3805 that pushes 120 watt per channel. Would it benefit to have the M80 that can handle 400 watts or would I need a power amp? Would 120 watts be loud enough with the M60s? The sub woofer 350 or 500 -- is it worth the price difference?

Some Yamaha receivers have had trouble driving the 4 ohm load of M80 speakers. I think the 2600 is OK but hopefully others will chime in.

For any given receiver and power rating the M80s will give you more sound than the 60s, due to slightly higher sensitivity and the 4-ohm design usually pulling a bit more power from the amp than you would get at 8 ohms. You definitely don't *need* more power to drive M80s, it's just that if you have a big room or want high SPLs the M80s will handle more power better than the 60s.

Most people run M60s very happily with less than 120W/chan, although receiver power ratings are kind of a "hint" at best these days. The Denon 380x is very popular with M60s and will also drive M80s, so no worries there.

General consensus seems to be that the EP350 is a good sub and typical for that size and power but the EP500 is a monster by comparison, ie the difference is significant. Main differences are (a) the 500 extends noticeably deeper into the low bass (sub 20 Hz) and (b) the 500 can play typical movie content at higher levels without distress.

JET777 Welcome.
The first question would be is how large is your room. The Denon will drive the M80's without problem and drive the 60's or 80's to very loud levels. The M80's will go louder than the M60's with or without an amp.
Imo, having owned both the EP350 and the EP500 the EP500 far outclasses the EP350 and is more than worth the price difference.

The room is 15x15 with vaulted ceiling. Thanks for your guys help.

The bass on the 60's and 80's is very similar. My room is double your size at 30ft x 31ft x 9ft and my 60's go loud enough for me with my Denon 2805. They are rated to handle a 250watt receiver, so they are no slouch. Don't get all worried about wattage, there is really not much difference between an 80watt/ch AVR versus a 100watt/ch. I would think the 60's would blow your mind in a 15' x 15' room.

I've owned a 350 and a 500. The 500 is in a league of its own, but the 350 is no slouch. I used the 350 in my large room and it did fine. Yes the 500 moves my house off of its foundation, but its worth it.

The RX-v2600 would have no problems with 4-ohm speakers at all. It would drive those easily.

Any suggestions on a power amp for the M80s? I think I am going to go with separates, probably Denon 2803 or Yamaha 2600; 2 channel power amp to power the M80s, and get the EP500 - you guys talked me into it. Thanks for the help

The Outlaws seem to be pretty popular around here, and I beleive like Axiom you get a 30 day trial.

Here's a sweeeet amp I'd highly recommend. If you're going the separates route, seriously look into buying your amp used. Many good amps are built like tanks and will easily last for a good decade or two. I've owned an Odyssey Stratos myself and can vouch for it's quality. I've also owned a few Rotel products and loved them as well. The Rotel RB-1080 is one of their more popular two-channel models.

Anybody heard of Parsound Halo A21 - that looks decent... Rotel looks awesome too, what is the $ ratio for spending on amps vs. speaker, I mean does it make sense to spend $3g on speaker and $3g on A/V receiver and power amp? Maybe I should step it down to Outlaw???