3805 & Axiom M80's

[oogjen]

Hi everyone, I'm fairly new to home theater and loving it. I was hoping for some advice on a separate amp to power my Axiom M80's with the Denon 3805. Here's my dilemma: My system is set-up for 7.1, but I was kind of disappointed with the M80's when I listened to music at high volumes in 2 ch stereo mode. They just didn't go as loud or sound as clean as I had hoped for. Especially with groups like Metallica. So I tried the bi-amping thing. WOW! Huge improvement, louder and
cleaner. Now I know what all the raving about these speakers are about! But now I can't
have surround backs working with this configuration, which means only 5.1. So now I
need an amp that will do the job to get my 7.1 back. Any suggestions for an affordable
amp out there? Thanks.

 

[Mort Corey]

IIRC, the Axiom 80's are 4ohm speakers....the 3805 just doesn't have the horsepower to drive them properly. Not sure if you'd consider it affordable, but one of the Outlaw amps would probably give you the most bang for the buck. Their five channel, 200wpc, amp could handle the heaviest loads and then utilize the 3805 for the surrounds.

Mort

 

[surveyor]

You might consider the Adcom 5500 to drive the AXIOM's. It's a decent sounding amp and it's built like a tank.You can pick one up new on the
web for about $800.00.

Cheers

 

[mdrew]

Another ignorant question from an ignorant shopper. What's up with the 4 ohm vrs 8 on the Axioms.

The Axiom 80's are on my short list, but I too listen to metal like it loud. 100 amps won't drive these things. That's a bummer. I'm looking at 6 / 7 channel receivers in the 100-120 watt range. If i have to purchase a seperate amp to drive the Axioms, they're coming off my shopping list.

 

[Mort Corey]

Oh, 100 watts will drive them.....just not well like you found out. The Axiom 60 series is a more efficient 8ohm speaker that would probably sound better than the 80's using your 3805. 'Course, there's always Klipsch

Mort

 

[BuddTX]

I'm confused, please help.

I thought that LOWER Ohm (like 4 or 6) Ohm speakers cause the amplifier rating to INCREASE.

I see ratings all the time SIMILAR to this:

85 Watts per channel into 8 Oms
120 Watts per channel into 4 Ohms

I always thought that meant, that the 4 Ohm speakers would be louder than the 8 Ohms.

Obviously, I am wrong.

Please explain. Thanks.

 

[UMD_terp]

A 4 ohm load is harder to drive than an 8 ohm load since a 4 ohm load would require twice the current output from the amplifier. If the amplifier can not source the current needed to drive the lower impedance load, the power output will suffer.

The M60 is actually 2 db less efficient (typical room) than the M80. However since the M80 is a tougher load to drive (4 ohm vs 8 ohm) than the M60, a weak amplifier would not be able to drive the M80 as well as the M60. Speaker efficiency is a measure of SPL as a function of input power. A speaker that is 3dB more efficient than another will play twice as loud for a given input level from an amplifier.