I just received my Axioms (M80; QS8; VP150) today. I eagerly set everything up and started playing Lord of War on DVD. First, the sound volume (at the same level as I usually listen; nothing too loud) was kinda low. I increased the volume (again not too loud) and after 30 secs or so, a message asking me to "power off" came up on my receiver (it is a Sony DA5ES). I did not hear any clipping per se. I set the impedance to 4 ohms since the M80s are rated as such. Then I tried at 8 ohms - same thing happened. I checked all the speaker wires and they seem fine. Any ideas what is going on? Any solution? Thanks.

I know most of the people that drive m80's with no problem use Denon's, HK's, or seperates from Rotel, Outlaw, etc...

My guess is your receiver has an issue with the 4ohm 80's. However, it is interesting because normally a receiver won't go into a protection mode until it heats up a bit. You usually don't want to adjust your setting on the receiver to 4ohm.

Maybe some others will jump in here, but my guess is the receiver, but that is a guess....good luck

Randy

Slider, welcome. The first thing is to suspect the wiring, especially when this happens at moderate volume and after a short period of time. When you say that you "checked" the wires, did you actually disconnect and very carefully reconnect the wires even if they looked okay? If not, I'd suggest trying it. You should if at all possible use the 8 ohm impedance setting, so that the maximum power that the receiver is capable of isn't reduced by the voltage-lowering 4 ohm setting. If there's still a problem you can also try running the speakers one at a time to see if a particular one seems to be involved.

I know that Sony seems to have a bad rep for handing the 80s, but I did run four 80s, VP150, and a pair of the QS8s, on the old Sony DE935. It handled it without problems till I changed out to seperates, but this was not as a very high sound level, nothing like I'm running with the Halos of course.
The DA5ES shows 110 watts at 8ohm, so at normal levels it should hadle a pair of 80s and your other Axioms. As Randy mentioned, leave the setting on the Sony at the 8ohms, check the speaker wire connections, especially on the Sony unit for any wire that maybe in contact with the chasis.
You should be able to power the Axioms even with the Sony.

Even the slightest stray wire can shut down the best AVR.

Slider, once you have completely ruled out the wiring, is there any way to swap your 80's with a set of 8 ohm mains with a buddy for a day or so? This will address whether the Sony is choking on that 4ohm load or not. Also, in the almost imposible case that there is something wrong with one of the 80's, it will show up with the other receiver.

In the past, it has also been mentioned here that the tolerances between thermistors/thermodiscs vary wildly. You may get one receiver that shuts down pre-maturely, and another one of the exact same model that does not.

If you have a simple multi-meter or ohm meter, I would check the speaker cable by disconnecting at both ends and making sure that you don't have a short or something else going on. With the cables disconnected at both ends, you should read open or infinity on your meter.

Just another thing to check.

Hi and welcome, i was going to suggest cooling but 30 seconds is pretty quick to overheat.

How did the wires check out?

I think Slider has Slide on outa here.....

Hey Slider, if you come back, how is the ventilation situation around your Sony? My Denon requires 4" of breath room around the case.

Hi Slider,

Lots of good suggestions from everyone in this thread. I'm a little disturbed that no-one at Axiom sounded an alarm IF you mentioned you had a Sony AV receiver and wanted to get M80s. But that would only happen if you used our toll-free phone line to order.

Normally, we always ask any customer who orders M80s by telephone what brand of AV receiver he or she has. But if you ordered on-line then that wouldn't happen. We never recommend any AV receivers like Sony, Kenwood, lots of Onkyos and Yamahas, etc for M80s because the protection circuitry in those models often sense the 4-ohm impedance (or excessive current flow) and shut down the receiver immediately.

There are solutions: you could add a 2-channel power amp for the M80s using the Sony's pre-outs for the main channels. Or you could upgrade to an AV receiver brand with more robust amplifier section that will drive 4-ohm M80s (Denon, H/K, Outlaw Audio, NAD, B&K, Rotel).

Regards,

First, Thanks everyone for taking the time to
make suggestions. I was kinda busy setting up the system and testing it. In any case, many of you suggested that I check the wires. And... (drum roll).... you were correct. One of the speaker wires was a little loose and once I fixed it everything is working flawlessly. I am running the AVR on 4 ohms. It is getting no warmer than it did before.

The speakers sound awesome - although I feel I need to tweak the settings on my DA5ES to get the sound I will like.


Thank you all again.

Cheers

That's great news. Enjoy !!

If you have other speakers in your setup that are 6 or 8 ohms, I would not recommend you running in 4ohm mode.

Glad everything worked out. I would keep the reciever at 8ohms, from everythingf I have read you don't want switch your reciever to 4ohms.

Slider, glad to hear that you solved the problem. As was said, when a shutdown happens, especially if 4 ohm speakers are involved, although the tendency is to blame the receiver and/or the speakers, a little piece of wire is often the actual culprit.

As was also said, you should at least try using the 8 ohm setting, despite what the manual suggests. At the 4 ohm setting the maximum voltage available at the rails in the power supply section is reduced and because of Ohm's Law the maximum current and power available are likewise reduced. The 4 ohm setting should only be used as a last resort if the receiver would shut down at the 8 ohm setting.