Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo ok. HSU VTF 3 MK2.....

i just got my new VTF3 MK2 HSU subwoofer...and i am speechless....i'm not sure what to say....i think i broke something in the foundation of my house. how in the hell does a 12" sub make this kinda power? it's sick!!! i must have another one!!! :-P hehehehe...and i need to move to a farm i think or my neighbours will linch me soon i'm sure. if you do not have one of these, i STRONGLY recommend getting one. if the axiom subs actually go this low this loud...i'd be stunned. i sure would love to see a side by side report of an axiom 350 or even 500 vs this sub. i think the 500 is a lot more money though right? anyone got charts to compare? or has done a side by each comparison? i'd love to know!!!

wow...alli can say is WOW

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wow...alli can say is WOW

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ditto

All HSU subs do an excellent job, and provide a phenomenal bang for the buck. I had an STF-2 that did a fine job. I still would like to get an EP500 (though heaven knows I don't need that much sub in a room my size), but I have profound respect for Dr.Hsu and his products.

do i run any risk of blowing this sub? the manual seems to indicate that i really can't since the bash amp and the sub are perfectly matched? i cranked it up on WAR OF THE WORLDS...and in a couple of spots it "pops" like it's clipping. should this happen? and holy crap does that movie have a TON of bass...with my other sub, i never even heard 1/2 of what is actually goin on there cause i guess it just didn't dip deep enough or go loud enough that deep. also, for settings, if i want to use my internal crossover settings in my receiver, do i set that to OUT or IN on the back of the sub? i'm a little confused about that one

That is one good thing about the Axiom DSP 500 and 600, the DSP technology won't let them blow. I think the 500 or 600 would easily give that sub a run for the money. Sutter may be able to expand as he has that model, and just ordered a 500 that will arrive on Monday. Based on the reviews from Audioholics and other websites, I think they most likely would perform better.

The VTF-3 sure is nice, isn't it ? Glad you are enjoying it.

If you hear a different sound when playing loud I would back off the volume control a bit. You can damage most subs if you abuse them too much and WOTW seems to have about the hottest bass track of any DVD so far. The good news is that WOTW may be the *only* movie you have to do that with...

By way of comparison, I *think* the VTF-3 will outperform an EP350 but an EP500 will outperform the VTF-3. Either way you have a REALLY good sub there. Enjoy !!

well, i wanted to compare to the 350 due to price range really, and ya, i absolutely LOVE it. honestly, i never thought i would not need 2 subs, but this ONE alone is way too much already. i had to turn it down a lot already to keep it civil.

That "clapping " sound you are hearing is the driver bottoming out.You will damage the sub if this continues.You need to calibrate the sub to match the rest of the system.

Actually my EP500 is suppose to ship today, I think. I wish it was arriving today though. lol

I plan to post a review comparing these two subs once the EP500 arrives and I get it hooked up and calibrated.



Sutter

Congrats on the VTF3, WOTW is a VERY demanding bass movie and as others have said probsbly the hottest one yet. Do you have an RS meter to calibrate the sub? If not I'd bet dollars to doughnuts your running the sub a lot hotter than you should. I have dual VTF3 MKII subs in my 13x24 room and they are calibrated flat and handle WOTW with no problem. Also if it's more headroom you require you can always get the turbo add on for the VTF3 in January from Hsu(I know I'll be buying one for each of my subs). The turbo will give you some where around a 5 or 6 db boost in headroom or in my case a 10 to 12db boost.


Legairre

I agree, the vtf3 is more then I need as well. I really wanted a ep500, if anything for a matching set, but I am very happy with the vtf3 to the point where I have no need to upgrade any time soon.

The only time I even heard it make any noise outside of perfect bass was when I first placed it on carpet. The thing is really heavy and will sink into carpet. The noise I heard while playing Return of the King at insane levels was actually the woofer hitting the carpet. So I put some risers under the legs, and that remedied it instantly and never happened again.

That woofer moves a lot. Flip it over and watch it someday. It's crazy. Get the MP3 files from HSU for the sub tests. It's cool to watch and feel the sub shake the house but not actually hear anything loud.

War of the worlds wasn't an issue for me. But whoever did the sounds for that movie should be fired. They are horrible. I've had a decent stereo since the late 80's and this is one of the very few movies that I was actually concerned that I would blow a tweeter quite easily. The first scene with the Tripod coming out of the ground where it starts shooting lasers at the crowd in the streets.....tweeters beware. I had my hand on the volume throughout this movie in fear another loud noise out of nowhere would happen, and it did frequently. I hate movies that have such drastic changes in volume

War of the worlds does have forward sounding scenes, but nothing that made me worry about my tweeters. The brightness you experienced may be a result of the tweeters in the M80s. I use Monitor Audio Silver s10 for fronts and they are considered bright or forward, but the M80s that I listened to at a forum members house were much brighter than the s10. I'm not saying the M80s are bad, I think they are great I'm just saying that with the mix on this movie the M80s tweeter may sound a bit bright. Also WOTW has some serious dynamic range where things go from quiet to loud very quickly.

Ummm, your confusing bright with a distorted source. I've noticed this on other speakers with this movie as well while watching the movie at a friends place.

It's not the entire movie, just those tripod guys shooting lasers in that scene, granted the rest of the movie was all over the place in volume, but that scene was what made me worry about the tweets. It's a very poor quality imho, and because it so much louder then the rest of the movie you automatically jump for the volume in fear something might happen. Then again, some people just don't even care, and let the volume stay where it is. I however love my m80's and am not risking it. Nothing would probably ever happen, but I don't feel like finding out.

Yesterday my brand spanking new VTF3 was working fine. My wife is watching the 40 year old virgin right now and I noticed there is no sound coming from the sub. Either there isn't any bass from this Steve Carell classic or my HSU has given out after one day. I'll check it out after the film, since I don't want to interrupt the movie. My son told me it was working earlier today. I double checked the connections. I have decided that if there is a problem, it's EP500 time. This could be a major bummer.

I made the mistake of watching that movie the other day. Not my cup of tea. There is NOT much bass in it. Only in a couple of places, if I remember correctly.

Jack,

It was the movie. Once the movie was over the sub sprung back to life. Disaster averted.

If by chance you ever do encounter a problem with your Hsu sub you shouldn't worry they too have very good costumer service.

I thought the movie was pretty funny. Nothing to show off a system, though.

I have read great reviews for this HSU VTF 3. As I don't have a sub, and plan to get one soon in the future, first in a 2.1 stereo setup, and then later in a Home theater, I am pretty much sold on this one. Is there something else out there I should consider? Again, it is very important for the sub to be a "musical" one, if this is the right word, and I am prepared to pay no more than for the HSU VTF 3.

If the VTF-3 maxes out your budget, then there really is no where else to look.

You won't go wrong with a VTF-3.

Has anyone tried using the "Night" feature on some Receivers to smooth out the volume levels?

Even when I was still living in my apartment and had to be considerate of my next-door neighbor, I never used the "night" function. I had no logical reason for choosing to avoid it, but it kind of seemed like the compression was robbing me of what the sound team intended -- kind of like fullscreen vs. widescreen. I just bumped the volume down a couple of notches...

The importance of a "musical subwoofer" will depnend how much you value accurate music reproduction and how low your speakers can go. If your front speakers can only go to 60Hz and you listen to 90% music, then the "musicality" of your subwoofer will be more important.

With that said, I have heard great things about the HSU subs regarding its "musicality". Though it probably isn't as "musical" as subwoofers such as the ACI Maestro (really expensive) or Rocket UFW-10 (doesn't go as deep), from what I have read, the HSU VTF-3 strikes a nice balance between cost and musical performance, without sacrificing the low end extension. These are based on the subjective impression of others, and I can post those links if you are interested.

When you said you thought you would "blow a tweeter" I naturally assumed you were referring to brightness in your system.

As for the soundtrack on WOTW the only time I ever noticed odd sounds is when the tripods blow their horn at the very beginning. Its that crackling sound everyone on AVS forum is referring to. As for the lasers in the beginning and every where else, I've watched it with the volume as high as -5 above reference and it doesn't appear to be distorted on my system at all. It actually sounds really good.

The dialog is recoded a bit low, but I just didn't find myself grabbing the remote even at -5. I really didn't find the range between loud and soft passages any different than Lord of the Rings or a lot of other action movies. I thought it sounded great.

Anyone else notice any problems with the sound on WOTW?

Yes, my Rotel/Axiom system is stereo only. Unfortunately, I still have a HTIB for home theater. As you can see below, I have M60s, but I believe, and many had suggested that it can benefit from adding a sub, which will be used later in a HT application. What makes a sub more musical than another one?

I would love those links please, or any other readings on subs for stereo.

Here is a link explaing why a subwoofer sounds musical.
Subwoofer designs and how it impacts characteristics

Here are comparison threads with the HSU:
HSU VTF-3 compared to Rocket UFW-12
HSU VTF-3 compared to ACI Maestro

But as Jack said, I don't think you can go wrong with the VTF-3, especially if you are going to use if for HT later.

Anybody has had any experience with Rel Strata, or Martin Logan subs? They come very recommended for music.

I had the opportunity to audition the Martin Logan Grotto. It was a excellent performer for music, and did relatively well for home theater applications. I believe it's flat to 25Hz, but I've never seen any FR curves published. I don't think it will go as low and powerful as the HSU VTF-3, but the Grotto deserves a listen, IMHO.

REL Q150E it is!! I had the chance to go to Magnolia at BB last night (thank God for holidays they keep it open late these days). I was surprised they were really good there, did not expect this from BB affiliate. Dedicated audio room, a decent selection of speakers and electronics. They even let me listen to different combinations for one hour, having the chance to switch things myself (nice touch-on screen selector). Anyway, to make long story short, I liked REL and got if for USD 899. I felt that it was "faster", more accurate and "tighter" than Martin-Logan's Grotto, even though the latter being deeper but kinda boomy. It also has a cool high-pass function, different than other subs' high-level pass. It makes sure than the sub gets same signal at the amplifier binding posts as the speakers, by hooking a high-level cord right there, perfect for stereo use (or at least so I think).

I hooked it up around midnight, but then I woke up my wife and she was screaming to me about waking up neighbors or something... anyway.... I have to wait until tonight after work to "play" with it. Any recommendations on setup from REL users would be really appreciated!

Glad you liked the Rel150... That is another sub that has been well regarded for music. Will Magnolia let you do an in-home trial?

One thing I've noticed is that its hard to compare subwoofers in a show room. I remember going to Tweeters to look at the Martin Logan Grotto and the Velodyne SPL1200. I thought the ML Grotto kicked the Velodyne's butt in terms of tightness and accuracy, but it turns out that they did a poor job calibrating the Velodyne. The two subwoofers were also in a different room. I heard the Velodyne again after it was properly placed and calibrated, and the differences were not as pronounced.

The Rel may be the subwoofer for you, but I just wanted to make sure that the comparisons were made under close to ideal sitations.

Magnolia don't let you a home trial, but of course you can return it in 30 days (I think you have to pay a restocking fee though).

I agree it is hard to compare them in a show room, even after one hour listening. The room was pretty good and they let me close the doors. They placed them in two opposite corners with Boston Ac. speakers in center. A deciding factor for my decision was the ability of REL to better blend with the music, I even had a hard time noticing when it was on. I am not sure how they had set them up initially. All I know is that they were connected using low-level audioquest subwoofer cables, and I was able to play with the controllers and Crossoffs of either one. As I explained before, I was looking for a "stereo" sub, even though I know that this one can do a good job in HT for me in the future.

One more note: it looks so small and has a great WAF :-) My big room may be a problem for now, but sooner or later I am moving. In a long-term plans of mine, I can still use REL in my second, stereo-only system, after buying a more powerfull and bigger sub for my HT, but of course these are long term plans ;-) I always think about separates plus bookshelves plus a nice musical, sealed sub (just like REL) for my future dedicated stereo.

Sounds like you are the man with the plan.

I think your plan is a very reasonable, and one I hope to emulate. Eventually I would like to purchase music only set up.

I just got my new VTF-3 MKII last week. A great all around performer. Does music better than I expected. I'm going to have to try out these Axiom speakers. I had a pair of Michuara 55's but sold them. They were made by Axiom, should have kept them. Alot like the M22's. Enjoy the new sub I know I am (LOL).
Later, Daman

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I'm going to have to try out these Axiom speakers.

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Congrats on a great sub.

Of course I am a believer, but, I love the neutral sound of my Axioms. You should try the new Axioms.

Merry Christmas,