Hi All,
I recently received a pair of M80 v3s. The goal is to set up a decent audio-only system. I temporarily have them hooked up to an old rx-v530 Yamaha AV receiver I had lying around. My source is a netbook/laptop loaded full of mp3s and flac files, connected to the receiver via a SuperPro DAC 707.
For most tracks the setup sounds amazing, but for a few the sound is a bit bright/harsh.
I'm thinking I would benefit from a new amplifier setup--was hoping to keep the price tag under $1000. This probably means I'm looking at an integrated, solid state unit, but I'm not sure.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

Do you want to buy new, or do you mind buying pre-owned.... (Used if you will )

Welcome, Sky!

My personal feelings are that a new receiver is not going to change things much. Admittedly, others feel different.

Axiom speakers are very "revealing" in that they sound wonderful with great recordings. But you'll know when you have a poor recording as well. Are you sure that's not the case with those few tracks?

Also, have you played around with speaker positioning? Is the room "bright" or is there some sound dampening available in there?

Welcome skyzorg. Keep in mind that the Axiom speakers are very transparent and will not play friendly with poorly recorded material (garbage in = garbage out). When I 1st got my Axioms I quickly learned that one of favourite blues artists makes terrible quality recordings. I primarily listen to that artist now on my mp3 player or car and not in my HT Axiom setup. All that to say changing your amp will likely not make the harsh recordings sound better.

For you receiver options you'll have quite a selection with a budget of $1000. Do you only want stereo or are you looking for 5 or 7 channels of amplification?

Edit: Mark - quit planting your thoughts in my head!!!

Cheers,

Skyorg, read this thread, see if it sound familiar to what you are experiencing..

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=368844&page=1

Modern receivers will ALL sound different because they all employ variants on speaker/room equalization. If there is something that could help you with a harsh recording (other than using another recording) would be in the settings in programs such as YPAO, Audyssey which can make adjustments to the speakers etc. These features can be found in all curent receivers.

If you have some songs that are created at a lower bitrate, they can sound like crap, basically garbage in is garbage out when it comes to properly designed speakers.

Wow, thanks guys!
Well, I guess it's good to hear that my setup may be OK as is, and throwing money at the problem is not necessarily the answer. Having read through replies and re-listening thru a cross section of my collection, it does seem like the main culprit is the sound quality of a few files. Not sure if its the original recording, or the file encoding, or what: but of the 5-10% of tracks that sound a bit harsh, if anything it's the ones with the HIGHER bitrates.

But, just in case there is anyone with hardware-purchasing-related solutions to the problem (eg., 'warmer' sounding rigs?), to answer a couple questions: @dakkon sure, new or pre-owned is fine, doesn't matter, and @cb919 I'm looking at 2 channel only.

If i were you, i would buy this then...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/KRELL-KAV-300r-I...4#ht_500wt_1363


This is the same model being sold on audiogon..
http://app.audiogon.com/listings/krell-kav-300r-integrated-amplifier-receiver--2


Believe it or not, i have had pretty good luck buying audio stuff off of ebay, i bought one of my Krell amps off of ebay and got a STEAL on it... it was pretty much in perfect condition... People on audigon either know what their stuff is worth, or are more willing to wait to get a higher price. I think that the Krell unit on ebay right now is going to be the best value for your dollar if you can get it for under a grand.

Sky, welcome. Yes, the situation you described isn't unusual, but you had the wrong target. If most of the source material sounds fine, then obviously the amplifier and speakers are doing their job well. The problem is with some poorly-recorded source material which good equipment reveals clearly.

A new amplifier can't solve the problem(you might want one for different reasons, but that's beside the point). Using the treble tone control can help, or the different treble curves that some processing, such as Audyssey, has available. A "warm" sounding amplifier would be either incompetently designed or defective; an amplifier should have no "sound".

HAHAH, John.. You should have heard the response i got when i was buying a preamp for my turn table.. The guy on the phone said well, brand X has a very warm sound... So i asked him "would you quantify warm please"... to which he stumbled for a minute or so and finally came up with... Well, brand X is a better built product that uses better components....