Sometime this month i will buy the M80's. They will replace my well worn Polk SDA 1C's. Very good speakers, but can no longer get them fixed, as 1 driver pops, and that was a replacement from Polk (made in China) which will not handle the volume.

Now i have done some looking around for info on these, some people seem to think there "bright" Which in it self is not a deal breaker, i can always pull back on the treble control on the preamp. But that may not be true anyway.

They need to fill the same room space as the Polks would, which is an 16X28 foot basement room, with carpet on the floor and a 8 foot droped ceiling. I play anything from Bach to Rock, mostly classic rock, but with "some Metal" thrown in there. I don't need my ears to bleed from some Kiss, extreme high vocal stuff, but on the flip side If i play the 1812 i want to "FEEL" the Cannons in my gut. These speakers will be played LOUD...
I have moved to GA and have no "HI-FI" place to go to anymore, so i just want to make sure these speakers will handle this before i buy them. Not found of trying to ship stuff back, if i don't like it.
The Polks sit about 1 foot off the back wall, i hope the M80's don't need to sit any farther of the wall, as they would really stick out in the room.

I think you'll be well served by the M80s. They are certainly capable of playing very loud, they put out good bass, and they're relatively forgiving on placement.

I think you're up for a treat going from the Polks to Axiom. As for loudness, just give it power, the M80s, even though are rated 400W, have been tested at 700W continuous, not that I think that you'll need this kind of power. As for being bright, it's BS, just be aware that the M80s don't roll off the highs which makes for a more accurate representation. In a poor acoustic room (like mine), it might sound bright at very loud volume but it's not the speaker, it's a room problem.

if you want to feel and hear the cannons in "1812", then you will get it much better if you also have a subwoofer that can reproduce, at high levels, frequencies down to 20 Hz;
10-12 Hz would be even better. those will make your cannons really effective.
also good for big organs or Bosendorfer grand pianos.

you will also need a very powerful amp to reproduce those peaks without clipping or compression.

the M80s can take lots of power, check this:http://www.axiomaudio.com/research_PowerTestRoom.html

hope this helps. :-)

what bdpf says is true; "bright" as qualified by some people is caused by room reflections.
a suitable room will show those tweeters at their best, and they're smooth and very detailed and not rolled off like many; listening to a wire brush on cymbals, i can almost see and hear the different wires of the brush sliding on the cymbal.

I have pletty of Power. They will be played at concert volume...LOL
I'm sure the room Acoustic's are not great, the dropped ceiling is probably a good thing..to a point.
The treble i can back off, as long as the bass is there. They basically need to fill the room with sound, and hopefully sound better then the Polks, would be a very nice thing.

Well i'm not about to spend alot of money on the room "acoustic stuff"

The speakers kind of have to do double duty. They have to fill the room, at VERY high volume, but they also have to put out the right sound when i pull up a chair in the "sweet spot" and listen to Bach. Which i don't play at low volumes also..lol

Have you checked the audition list in the Hearing Things forum for someone nearby that would be willing to give you an audition?

It looks like the M80s without a sub will not put out the low bass that the Polks did since they had a 12" passive radiator. Heres a link to the original review of the Polks.

http://www.polksda.com/sda1creview.shtml

Bill

They are not bright!

Don't count out the m80s for low bass. Cabinet volume has a lot to do with it.

They will excel at both.

There are certain disks and songs that I love to crank it on and the M80s keep up fine to stupid loud volumes.

The owner of Axiom has M80s bolted together for dock parties (live bands) and these things put out crazy loud without and distortion or sloppiness.