Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions My poor EP500! Is it dead?

Dakkon, I'm sure you calibrated it correctly right, your not a newbie?

Alex, I believe what Jean-Claude is referring to is the fact that on the old amp the volume control "opened up" very quickly and maybe a setting about 1/4th up was plenty. On the newer amps the control(which is a variable resistor)lets in voltage much more gradually and a much higher setting is needed for the same output. The maximum output is said to be essentially the same, but a higher setting is used for a given volume level. Hopefully this is the reason for the problem that you're experiencing.

talked to Brent about 15 minutes after your post J.C., he explained that the gain on the new amp is a logarithmic algorithm, where the gain on the version 1 amp was a cubed function. I have the gain at the 1 oclock position so i will adjust up a bit. I am using the XLR input, after telling Brent this i asked if the gain circuitry is the same, I am pretty sure it was not the same on the V1 amps, he is going to see if the gains are the same for the XLR and RCA inputs.

Hahaha, i had this reply typed and didn't submit it.

SirQuack, your right im not a Newby.. I was use to the old amp... The new amps logarithm for the gain threw me off, the old amp you set to the 9 oclock position and adjusted everything off of that, the new one is 1 oclock, i didn't know that.. Tomorrow i will adjust the gain on the 600 slightly more to the 2 oclock postion, as at the 1 oclock position i think your getting close to the vertical slope in the function.


John, after talking to Brent, he had the exact same initial impression that i did, he wasn't aware of the change in the gain logarithm upon initially getting his V2 amp either. I will adjust the gain on the amp tomorrow and report back... Right now the gain on the processor for the amp is +7, this is exactly where Brent's was when he first got his amp as well, when he adjusted the gain on the amp to the 2 oclock position he was able to turn the gain on his processor down to 0, i hope to do the same.

Alex, actually the "gain" isn't what's being adjusted by these settings. Audio amplifiers have a fixed gain, typically in the 25-30dB range. This gain is often set 6dB lower on a balanced XLR input to compensate for the double voltage that's coming in on that input(a doubling of voltage is a 6dB increase)so that the volume is the same on either input at a given level setting. The level controls on the receiver/processor and sub are variable resistors which adjust the amount of voltage being let out/let in to be subjected to the fixed gain of the amplifier.

Whenever I introduce a new speaker or sub into the mix, you always want to recalibrate everything to the same SPL. Even my old EP500 and EP600 were different, and they were the old design.

ca-li-braaate. Calibrate? What's that?

I've just done it totally by ear in my new place, since I don't have the Qs up yet, and it's a pain in the butt to do it manually, esp with 3 toddlers.

Start the process, except for the final step. Load the kids into the car. Run back and let it rip. Run back to the car and go out for ice cream. Come back home and it's done.

Process? HA! I don't have any auto-calibration to speak of. I do it all by hand, the old fashioned way, with a DVD.

But yeah, I did notice the same volume knob difference with my new EP350 amp.

Oh. I though you had either Audyssey or MCACC, or whatever.