Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions EP350 Auto-On and the BFD

Now that I have adjusted my sub out from the receiver up substantially (pun intended) I decided to give the auto-on feature another go.

I leave my Behringer feedback destroyer on and this seems to keep the sub on at all times, even when the receiver is turned off. If I turn the BFD off, the sub turns off a couple of minutes later.

Has anyone else tried this combination successfully?

sorry fred, no bfd at the plex, I leave the auto on/off feature enabled on my 350's, and they wake up once detecting a signal, helps with the electric bill as well.

I have an auto on/off problem, but not the one you describe.

they make pills for that problem.

That's a problem I don't have.

Very helpful, thanks. I may have to put a call in to the audio experts tomorrow.

Without the BFD, does the auto on/off work properly? Unless the BFD is sending a constant (loud) subsonic signal (or one way above the crossover point), I can't see it not operating.

I will try taking the BFD out of the loop completely tomorrow to see what happens.

Yeah, the only way I could see this happening is if your BFD is outputting a subsonic hum to keep the sub alive. If it is, it might only be doing it when it isn't being fed a signal...i.e., when the receiver or pre-pro feeding it is off.

Worth checking out, though!

Did I need that visual? NO.

OK, I did some playing and it seems I am just impatient. The auto-on works just fine with the BFD, it just takes longer than I thought to turn off.

When your sub turns automatically on at lower volumes (just enough volume to pop it on), does it work properly? Mine just puts out a quiet, static noise several octaves above what it should be playing until I crank the volume enough to get it to pop over.

I'll have to try it at lower volumes tomorrow (working nights right now) and see what happens. Since its just me in the apartment, I don't usually need to worry about how loud I am.

Have you ever paid attention to how long after you power down the receiver the sub powers down? I think its around 10 minutes for me.

Something like that. Well, mine's on a trigger now, but I still use the auto on/off.

All this auto on/off talk finally made me go to ALL the trouble of switching my 3 subs from 'always on' to 'auto'. (had set there since Audyssey runs long ago, to be SURE they were in the loop ;o)
I take lazy to an art form!
(my work for the day is done)

I can't wait to get a real sub with a trigger (and a real pre/pro to trigger it). I use the signal sensing now, and during some films without intense music or explosions sometimes the sub goes into stand-by. Then, when something finally does blow up, I don't get the front edge of the boom. Just a little click of a relay.

The EP350's auto on/off is remarkably fast.

Ken. I did a little more testing today and my sub plays normally even when switched on at very low levels. I was surprised at how low a volume it switched on at. I really could'nt hear the sub though I could feel working it if I put my hand directly on it.

I am quite happy with this feature now that I have a strong enough signal from the receiver to trigger it.

Chris, try boosting the signal strength from your receiver and reducing the gain/volume on your sub. The first time I tried to use this feature, it would not work for me at all because the level from the receiver was to low.

I have my receiver's sub output at +0 dB. I guess I could push it higher, and cut the sub. Really though, most of the time it isn't a problem, just a few movies/TV shows that get extremely quiet for a long period of time.

I'll have an EP500 in a couple months anyway.