Axiom M80 with Emotiva XPA-3 Amp

[nitin_mehra20]

Hi All,

I recently had a chat with the Axiom specialist and he sugested that with an Emotiva XPA-3 amp I should just go with M60 cause the amp does not have enough juice to drive the speakers at 4 ohms and customers have reported a lot of failed amps

Does anyone else own an Emotiva Axiom combo and have they faced similar issues?

I am considering buying a pair of Paradigm Studio 100v4 or a pair of Synchrony Twos and be done with it

or

Get more bang for my buck and get Axioms so that I can get

Towers M80
Center VP150 Center
Subwoofer EP350

For 200 bucks more.

Do chime in...

 

[CraigV]

According to the Emotiva web site, it’s putting out 300 watts per into a 4 ohm load. According to the Axiom web site, the speakers are rated between 10-400 watts. True, each cabinet houses 6 drivers (too many in my opinion) but I see no reason why the XPA-3 wouldn’t do a fine job driving the speakers.

On the other hand, the M60’s have a reasonable driver compliment, will be even more easily driven by the amp, and save you some money.

 

[nitin_mehra20]

According to the Emotiva web site, it’s putting out 300 watts per into a 4 ohm load. According to the Axiom web site, the speakers are rated between 10-400 watts. True, each cabinet houses 6 drivers (too many in my opinion) but I see no reason why the XPA-3 wouldn’t do a fine job driving the speakers.

On the other hand, the M60’s have a reasonable driver compliment, will be even more easily driven by the amp, and save you some money.

The Axiom guy recommended that I go with the M60s instead. But I am just trying to be future proof

As in when I move into my own house, I could use the extra power

But will the AMP fail i such a scenario?

 

[CraigV]

The Axiom guy recommended that I go with the M60s instead. But I am just trying to be future proof

As in when I move into my own house, I could use the extra power

But will the AMP fail i such a scenario?

Not likely, but you might want to contact Emotiva. You may want to have the specs on hand, but I’m guessing they’ll tell you the amp & speaker combo will work fine. Maybe you should tell Axiom you have a 300wpc amp but don’t mention a brand name, and see if that makes a difference

If you don’t mind my asking, is there a reason why you want a speaker with all those drivers?

 

[nitin_mehra20]

Not likely, but you might want to contact Emotiva. You may want to have the specs on hand, but I’m guessing they’ll tell you the amp & speaker combo will work fine. Maybe you should tell Axiom you have a 300wpc amp but don’t mention a brand name, and see if that makes a difference

If you don’t mind my asking, is there a reason why you want a speaker with all those drivers?

Hmm... Might as well talk to Emotiva about it also. But in case of an AMP failure will Emotiva be willing to fix the same?

Regarding your second question, this may sound silly but I am just trying to pick the best they have on offer based on my budget.

My total budget for fronts was around 1600 which i can stretch to 2K if I get a pair of really good speakers (I was thinking Studio 100s)

Since I am getting the Axiom M80s for way below that price I just thought that I should go for them.

Also i beleive that Axiom M80s are more of a direct comparison to Studio 100s or would you say that the M60s form a more direct comparison capability wise?

 

[CraigV]

You should audition both speakers, and instead of listening for their similarities, listen for their differences, and choose the ones you like best. Just because a speaker is a company's “top of the line” or “flagship” doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to be to your liking. My KEF IQ7 speakers were not the top of their line at the time, but I am quite happy with them.

 

[nitin_mehra20]

You should audition both speakers, and instead of listening for their similarities, listen for their differences, and choose the ones you like best. Just because a speaker is a company's “top of the line” or “flagship” doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to be to your liking. My KEF IQ7 speakers were not the top of their line at the time, but I am quite happy with them.

I agree!! But I would need to order Axioms in order to make a decision and pay shipping if I do plan to return it.

So there is no place where I can go and compare Axioms against one another or against Paradigms as such.

 

[Highbar]

I think you are putting too much emphasis on how many drivers the speakers have. A well designed speaker is a well designed speaker no matter how many drivers there are. My x-ls's have a tweeter and a mid-woofer while my Monitor 11's have a tweeter, a mid and 3 woofers. Both sound great to me, the only difference is that I run the x-ls's with a sub and the 11's without. As a matter of fact the only reason I got the 11's was because of the incredible deal I got on them, I was going to the 9's.

I think the M60's will be great though I've never heard them. Speakers are more about what you hear than what you see. I would go for them and save the money over the 80's. You might want to head over to the Axiom forums and see if anyone is in your area and would let you listen to them.

As for the amp, I'm pretty sure that it will have enough power to drive either speaker.

 

[agarwalro]

The Axiom guy recommended that I go with the M60s instead. But I am just trying to be future proof

As in when I move into my own house, I could use the extra power

But will the AMP fail i such a scenario?

I had the M60's in a 20x30ft room + open floor plan to kitchen setup running off an AVR. They were in 2.1 mode with cross over at 60Hz.

I did not feel the need for more power, even when I had the volume cranked after a few beers .

 

[Josuah]

What you need is the impedance/phase graph of the M80s, to ask Emotiva if the XPA-3 would have any problems at a given peak volume. If the XPA-3 fails, it's likely to just kick in the protection circuit and be fine after power cycling.

Nothing to do with watts or power handling, etc.