On 4/22 I received my Axiom Factory Direct order. I ordered:
2- M80's Black Oak
2 - QS8s Black Oak
1 - VP150 Black Oak
2 - FMS QS Stands Black

Only one box was beat pretty bad. After close inspection of all equipment, everything arrived flawless except 1 M80. It had received a nice dent on the side that was consistent with one of the holes in the box. Maybe they used a hook to grab the box No big deal though.

Why have I taken so long to comment? Here's why.
I have a brand new Yamaha RX-V1800 that I hooked up to the 2 M80's and VP150 expecting musical bliss. What I found was a very harsh flat sounding sound stage. I tweaked my system for hours trying to make it work. All I could think of was the few comments I had read regarding how "bright" sounding the Axioms were, but I also remember the comments about people saying how full the sound stage was. Even though many people said the Yamaha would be fine something was telling me the Yamaha was the weak link here. So I decided to make another purchase based on overwhelming reviews and results people were getting using the Emotiva XPA-5. I also called Brent at Axiom and explained how disappointed I was with the Yamaha Axiom combination. He assured me the XPA-5 would be the difference.

Last night my XPA-5 arrived, hooked up my M80's and VP150, turned it on and was stunned! It's like I have different speakers in the room. They are warm, full and the bass is amazing. Also, listening at low levels is incredible.

I have not hooked up my surrounds yet, but will get to it soon

The advice that I have received here has been extremely helpful and I am now a happy camper. I am so relieved I made the right decision purchasing that amp, it has made all the difference, not to mention it's starting to get a bit expensive:)

Thanks Guys!

Good for you! I have noticed with the Axioms, my weakest link is some of my CDs. MP3s are mostly unplayable at this point unless I rip them myself at the best settings.

Brent and the gang have been extremely helpful to me as well. I broke a spike moving my speakers into final position, and I asked Brent if I could have 1 replacement.... I got 2! I chose to buy Axioms mostly for their renowned customer support as well as the support from this group. I have not been disappointed.

Welcome to the flock zz!

Glad to hear that they are working for you and good instincts on switching to the Emotiva.

Thanks for sharing this as it’s just the type of thing that is helpful to other potential Axiomites. Also I’m personally interested in hearing more about the XPA-5. I’ve been thinking about trying out some Emotiva products for some time so I would love to hear more about how you think the Axioms sound with them.

Keep posting!

Dean

did you have them send you a new m80? I would.

It's just a cosmetic thing that is off to the left of the speaker. Just as long as the speaker(s) are fine, I'm fine. If it was really major I would have asked for a claim.

I'm very suspicious that Axiom just gave me new speakers. I saw no flaws whatsoever, other then the flaw that FedEx created.

I do believe though that Axiom should consider a better container design for the heavier items such as the M80

All I can compare at this point is my Yamaha RX-V1800 and the Emotiva XPA-5. I was very reserved and critical when I hooked up my XPA-5. All my reservations and skepticism went out the window after listening to a few different tracks powered by the XPA-5. Like I said in my previous post, it's like I have a different speaker

I can't help but wonder how many people in the past have not sufficiently powered their Axioms and became disappointed and gave up.

Glad everything worked out and you are enjoying your speakers.
I do find it a bit odd that the Yamaha was unable to drive the speakers well enough, possibly a fault in the receiver or is it that Yamaha products have a problem with Axioms.

This is just more proof that not all Yamaha's are capable of driving the M80's which is why Axiom does not recommend Yamaha products for use with the M80s. But yes, I am also a little surprised.

They make a great combo!!

I also have m80's, qs8's, and vp150 hooked up to my xpa5 and mmc1. The sound is unbelievable!!... try running just the m80's with your reciever set to large and sub turned off. The xpa5 will make them sing.

Let me try to explain a little better.

The Yamaha can drive the M80's. It's the way that the Yamaha drives the speakers that's in question. As another post in another forum put it, the receiver he was using seemed to blend all the instruments together creating a muddled effect. Using the amp clearly defines and separates the instruments and vocals. In addition when the Yamaha was cranked up the sound becomes increasingly flat and distorts a little bit. The receiver was very hot as well. When I ran the XPA-5 at higher volumes the sound was consistent at all levels.

I am by no means an expert in any of this, but this qoute from another forum seems to make sense to me:

"However, the advantage that the separates enjoy comes from everything being, well, separate. By separating the power amp from the pre-amp, you get less noise, better bass, and a more dynamic sound - punchier is the term that is generally used. The pre-amp is able to work better because it doesn't have to share the power supply and chassis, etc. with the noise producing transformers and such that are found in power amps.

This also gives the designers more room to work with, the circuits can be spread out a bit more, thus helping to reduce noise even further."

The above quote seems consistent to what I experienced.

I don't believe I have that particular feature on my receiver. All of the other pre-set configurations on it though now sound different(for the better)

Sorry maybe I just Phrased it wrong. They claim around 200wpc acd. If you set your receiver to stereo(left&right)They claim around 400 wpc. So if you go into your receivers speaker settings and select "large" for the mains, then set the sub pre out to "off" the reciever will send all the signal to the 80's
Or if you want to still hear the sub you could leave it on and lower the mains crossover down to around 40hz

I have been keeping an eye on the XPA-5, and the future UMC-2 (I think) processor with decoding of all the new audio codecs. I may have to jump on this combo later this year after my M80s arrive

But won't you be in California by then? How I am I supposed to make down there for a listen? DO it now!

This to me, still sounds like a good reason to not recommend Yamaha for M80's as I do not experience anything like that with either of my Denons.

Jason,

Have you ever used an external amp with your M80s? If not, then I guess ignorance is bliss eh? :P

I agree. At least not by itelf

I'm really happy though it worked out this way for me. It has help me understand one of the reasons why people purchase separates as opposed to having a "all-In-One" solution receiver. Perhaps if I chose the M60's with the 8 ohm rating the Yamaha would have sounding more appealing to me. All I know, for me, this has put me on a new path of using separates here on out.

zzyzx, just out of curiosity about your sig., it's the name of a road and I believe a small town in San Bernardiono County. I remember the zzyzx road offramp from road trips to Vegas, any relation?

As others have said, I'm glad it worked out for you.

I wonder whats happening with the electronics to give you the sound you had with the RXV1800?

Exactly!

You go thtat right, after the subs I have to stop for awhile or I won't have a house to share with my wife, although I would hope I could drop by to visit the kids.

And where are your M80s and Emotiva's? Sadly I know you will have the seperates long before me, at least I beat you to the M80s.

I can relate to this thread.I purchased a pair of m60s in Nov,which I enjoy very much,but when I bought them I also bought a Yamaha RX-797 made just for stereo listening,but when I listen to my M60s I have to turn the treble all the way up to hear any crisp highs.when the Yamaha is in the neutral postion it really muffles the m60s.I am just curious is it a common problem with Yamaha products?

Chris, what you report will undoubtedly startle some readers. Both the Axiom speakers and the Yamaha receivers are allegedly "bright" and overemphasize the highs(both claims are nonsense), so in combination the highs would really be overbearing. It's difficult from your description to analyze what the problem in the setup would be, but neither the Axioms nor the Yamaha are in any way deficient in highs if they're operating as designed. Are you certain that the connecting links on the M60 terminals are tight so that the tweeters are actually operating? In the past this was the cause a couple times of "muffled" M60s.

I will check the connections today thanks JohnK

As Pink Floyd woul say tight a a tourniquet.Which is fine, I still love my M60s I still hear things with these speakers that i have never heard before with my old music.Thanks anyways Johnk.

I have never experienced that issue with my Yammie and I have run 2 different sets of M60's, M3's and 2 VP150's in stereo mode.

Kinda OT, but would an Emotiva LPA-1 be sufficient to run M80s?

I too am currently running M80s with a Yamaha receiver, but am looking to upgrade to a new receiver (with preamp outputs) soon.

My front runners are the Onkyo 705 and the Yamaha V663. I plan on purchasing a separate amp to run the speakers and the LPA-1 looks to be the best amp in my price range.

A number of people are running Emotiva's products with Axiom and they appear to be a good match. The 663 looks to be a great deal.

I had a similar experience with a Yamaha AVR. I forget the model number, but it cost $299 in 2004. For $50 more I got an HK AVR 245 and the sound improvement was easily noticeable. In addition, the HK doesn't clip when I run additional stereo speakers in other zones through a speaker selector. The Yamaha couldn't handle that.

Interestingly, I gave the Yamaha to a friend who replaced a Sony receiver in an all Sony system ($1000 total price for all components and speakers purchased about 1990) and it made the Sony speakers sound dramatically better. The difference was much greater than the difference we had noticed between the HK and Yamaha. It sounded so good in fact that my friend got over his envy of my system and quit shopping for a home theater system.

My RPA-1 shut down for the second time running my M80s this weekend at a party, mind you I did have it fairly loud but I still don't think it should have shut down. The volume on my Denon was around -5.

My 2 cents regarding Axioms and Emotiva gear. I have M60s, VP150 & QS8s hooked up to an XPA-5 and LMC-1. I did have an LPA-1 amp but sold it when I bought the 5. I think it is a fantastic fit. I've had many receivers but have always preferred separates. Went with Emotiva because of the reviews here and elsewhere and because of the price point and value. People have had some issues but that happens with any product. I have not had any issues with either the LPA or the XPA. It's powerful, sounds great, has great separation (processor or amp?? or both??), great bass, mids and highs all around. My ears give before the amp or speakers give out. Many great products out there and it is all about personal preferences, depending on what those preferences are. Bottom line, I recommend mating Axioms with Emotiva (AxEmo-new animal) and I am quite happy with my setup. Waiting on the XPA-2 or the RPA-2 to arrive so I can get some M80s..

Thank you for your input on that, cgolf. I am also looking into getting the xpa-5 because I listen to movies at somewhat high volumes, and I like my HK alot, but it seems to strain just a little bit on explosive passages. With all of the good things I've heard about emotiva's xpa-5, I'm thinking about purchasing it!

I think you'll be very happy with their gear especially with the same type 30 day in house trial as Axiom has. I know some people have had shut down issues using Emo amps with the 80s but their equipment is designed to run 4 ohm speaker systems so I don't know what the problems were. You certainly get a great bang for the buck with both companies!!

I love my Emo gear and have the same to say as has already been said about it's sound. Don't have axioms yet. Quarter ends in 10 days! Should be able to fix that.

Jeb