Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners SPL Help

Hey Michael,

Per Axiom's pamphlet that comes with the subs, they recommend setting it midway of the 9o'clock position to start. So on the 500 and 600, that is pretty low, around 6-7 o'clock position. Keep in mind your still getting the full 500 or 600 watts of power no matter what you have the setting on. Alan mentioned at one point to put the receiver level on 0dB for the sub, and then adjust the volume knob on the sub up/down until you get 75dB's or whatever you calibrate to...Also, the trim level normally should be used on "flat" for larger rooms and for flatter resonse, but you may want to experiment with half and full if your getting to "MUCH" bass, these may help tame that...:)

I run my EP500 at the half trim setting. My room is only 11 x 19, and my entire HT is in one half of that. Cozy.

My sub is difficult to get to so when I calibrated it I left the volume where it was at, I'm guessing around the 9 o'clock position. I ran the test tones through the receiver with the receiver at odb. and the sub set to flat. Getting the sub to 70db using the db control on the receiver was about as high as I went before the house really started shaking.
There was a significant difference between the Denon's autosetup and using the sound meter. I don't know what db the Denon calculates at, but I had to lower the db levels on all my speakers about 4.0 and raise the sub about from -5.0 to +7.0 to get all the speakers at 75db and the sub at 70db, it's almost like I'm hearing the EP500 for the first time.
I think I'll get a calibration disc and try again to see if there is much difference.
I did run the tones through the THX optimizer on the Cars DVD and found that when running the tones after my calibration, it was the first time I had heard the subs test tone in that particular test.
Now I need to watch all my movies again with these settings.

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Getting the sub to 70db using the db control on the receiver was about as high as I went before the house really started shaking.

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Funny thing is a lot of people including myself like to run the sub "a little hot" which means bumping it up a couple of db's.

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Now I need to watch all my movies again with these settings.

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People comment on listening to their CD's/DVD's all over again once getting the Axioms...the same should be said about getting a system properly calibrated.

Michael, I'm confused...your saying you can't reach the knobs?

If you have the sub at 9 o'clock I would think your Sub level setting in the Denon would be like -10 dB's to compensate for having the sub gain so high to achieve 75dB's approx. on the meter, +5 seems way to high. If I even put it on 8 o'clock my denon is on like -5dB's to achieve 75dB's from the main position.

My subs behind my mains and TV in a corner on the left side of the room, I have to move the right main then navigate through all the wires, lean the sub up forward away from the wall so I can see where the volume is set on the sub, using a flashlight because the lighting doesn't shine well in that corner and the line on the volume knob is difficult to see, I guess you get my point
But I understand what you are saying because it seemed to me like something was off, as I was turning the db's up on the receiver for the sub it seemed like the tone was getting much louder without the SPL making great gains and the needle starting bouncing alot. So tonight I'm going to get back there and recalibrate starting with the volume on the sub at the 8 o'clock position and see what happens.

I calibrated again with basically the same results, I'm literally shaking the house down and really cranking up the sub db's just to get to 70 db's on the meter, even at only 70db's showing on the meter the effects are way to much.
I know subs are non directional, but could the placement in the corner, or the fact that our HT is on the second floor be affecting the LFE effects or response of the meter.
I'll always adjust to what my ears like best, but it seems odd that I can't seem to get an accurate reading because I don't think it's possible for me to crank the sub up as much as I have without being able to get to 75 db.

Are you using the Manual Test tones in the Receiver menu's? Maybe your meter is messed up. I like to verify my Denon's 2805 auto setup by going into the Speaker section and manually cycle through each speaker with the spl meter in the main seat position to get all speakers to 75dB's. With both my ep500 and now ep600 I have the volume level about 7 o'clock and the receiver's sub level on 0dB. If I raise the sub volume, I have to lower the receiver to stay at 75dB, and vice versa.

How big is your room? What do you have the trim level set on, flat, half, etc...? A corner position WILL give you the most over all bass and excite most room locations, however, sometimes it can result in to much boooooooom.

One more note. My room is like 30ft x 31ft, with the HT area over in one corner area. Last night I ran the receiver test tones manually, so I could cycle through each speaker one by one at my own pace. When I got to the sub, I adjusted it at 75dB's also from the main location seat. Now the needle will fluctuate a little, but if you keep it on Slow and C-weighting to pick up the low freq's, you'll be fine.

Then out of curiosity, I walked around the room and watched the meter to see how it would act in different locations. For the most part it stayed pretty true in the 75dB's area. I was amazed that when I walked over to the opposite corners, even the farthest corner over by the bar area, it was dead nutz on 75dB's. I thought that was pretty cool.

My room is around 20ft by 50ft open to another room that's close to the same size, the trim level is set to flat the sub is set at the 7 o'clock position, my setups at an angle in the left corner of the room and I think that's resulting in much of the boom. The meter is having no problem getting my speakers to 75db. I'm using the test tones on the 3805 and that automatically sets the receiver at 0db.
I tried what you did in walking with the meter and I got some pretty varied results, from my listening position and moving back almost thirty feet the SPL level stayed at about 65db (That's about as high as I could stand to crank it up)as I moved towards the left wall the db's started going up, when I got within 2 feet of the sub in the left corner the db's jumped to 80.
I'm starting to think my sub location is most likely the problem. Since the sub is in the corner in the left and the entire right side of the room is open that may be affecting the sound. I'm wondering if maybe some bass traps might help out. I did move the sub away from the side and back walls a few inches and that seemed to help, but I've still got the sub set at 7 o'clock and 3.5 db on my receiver to get to 65db in my listening spot.