Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Subwoofer and other advice

The Ultra-13 is a fine high output linear subwoofer and I have spent two long sessions comparing it to several other subs including JL113, Paradigm servov2, Velodyne DD-18 and EP600. My only concern with recommending it stems from the amp. While not everyone has experienced a problem with it the owner of the Ultra-13 has now had two new 750W Indigo Bash amps sent as replacements because of shutdown problems and amp clipping in certain demanding soundtracks.

To make a long story short the driver and enclosure would have been better served with a 1000w amp which would have minimized clipping and problems with impedance mismatching between the amp and driver. With the insufficient 750W powered amp and all the reports of shutdowns I can't recommend that sub. When it works though it sounds pretty good though port chuffing can be bothersome.

SVS was trying to make a price point and they compromised on what you can't see, the amplifier. I hope you do not experience any shutdowns. The problem seems to occur in 10hz tune so if you run it in 15hz or 20hz tune you should be OK.

Yeah but the comment about the eD monster being more challenging to dial in came to me from someone a lot more experienced and wiser about audio than the noob who advised you about toe-in .

Well I can sort of predict how it will go. Me and the eD will be looking for a new home .

I don't see how the eD sub would be any more difficut to dial in then a pair of subs colocated.

Rick, I think that DSP-based subs that have sharp roll-offs are naturally easier to dial in. And from what I've witnessed so far, they also blend better. Our ears however seem to like a "hump" between 100Hz and 200Hz for that "snappy"/"punchy" sound...or at least mine do. And that's where the trade-off is. How do you preserve the snap and yet permit the sub to blend? Now apparently the eD sub has plenty of snap and it is claimed that it does indeed weave the bass in between the rest of the music but apparently it takes a lot of tweaking to reach this state of Nirvana.

When the sub is crossed over @ 60 or 80HZ there would be no worries with the sub in the 100 to 200HZ range anyway. You very well might have a point on the steep roll off. What is the slope on the Axiom subs?

On the 500 & 600, 60dB/octave. By 110Hz, the drop is 10dB and by 150Hz, the drop is 30dB.

When I set my Sony sub's xover to by-pass (170Hz), I get a nice thump and slam. But when I set it to 80Hz, the thump and slam goes away. So it must have quite the hump somewhere north of 100Hz. The big problem with it (besides SPL) is a total lack of blending and transparency.

See, that says to me that the sound you're looking for should be coming from your M80s, not from the sub, unless you set your receiver crossover to something absurdly high.

Sorry Ken. I don't follow.

The point I was trying to make is that the thump and slam is above 100Hz. The Sony sub is able to reproduce it because it has a hump...and probably a big one at that.

The problem with my room is comb filtering at 110, 135, 160 and 190 Hz. That hump on my Sony is apparently helping with a few of those dips.

Well after thinking it all through and racking my brain I finally came up with what I was going to do.

Luckily I live only a couple hours from Axiom and I end up driving by almost every 2 months due to my in laws living up north. This gives me the opportunity to save on shipping back and picking up direct. It's nice to save money but even better to go to the factory and see everyone. Unfortunately it was close to closing time on Friday and I couldn't spend much time or look around. Also Amie wasn't there

At any rate here's what I decided..


OLD SET UP


ALL GONE


WHOA, THEY'RE BACK...BUT WHAT ARE THEY?


LETS OPEN THEM UP!....







OH MY, IS THAT HIGH GLOSS CHERRY? I WANT MORE!!



LETS SEE THE NEW SET UP





The first time I saw the High Gloss Cherry I drooled and was upset that I didn't have it. The second time it came back I was just bitter and thought long and hard about how to get it without losing my shirt. When it came back I didn't care and I was ready to beg borrow or steal a set.

Let's just say I couldn't be happier and love the look of the speakers, I swear that they even sound better since they're sooo pretty!