Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater The PS12-ISB is here....well almost

As I would expect, UPS came to my house today with the sub and nobody was home. I contacted them and the driver will be returning to the center at around 6:45 tonight. Road Trip!!!!

If all goes well, I'll be shaking the house around 9:30 tonight. It's been about one year since I got the Axioms setup (and yes they are still great), I guess I can wait a little longer to finally complete the 5.1 system.

John - that's pathetic. You 're an adult. Thank God I never chased around to UPS like that to pick up HT stuff!!! And FedEx. And DHL. Well, OK - but only three times. Six. All right dammit -8 times!

Let us know how it works. Wear a cup. .

My first impression.....that is one big sub!!!! Having the base plate (and not spikes) made it easy to slide it into the front corner and position it.

I couldn't wait to hear them, so I skipped the calibration step and went right to the listening step. I set the sub's output to about 1/3, set the front speakers to small and loaded U-571 into the DVD player......WOW!!!

My daughter could feel it in her room, upstairs, on the other side of the house. I never owned a sub before so I was surprised when the floor shook during the depth charge scene.

I am sure I will have many questions specifically around choosing large vs small fronts. Is there that much of a difference in 5.1? If I set them to small and play a CD in 2 CH stereo, do I lose some bass?

Time to calibrate...

Thats awesome John have fun and wear protection.

*slides into the room*

Alright you, listen and listen good, because I'm only going to say this once (because I don't want to type it out more):

TIPS FOR SETTING UP AN SVS:

1. Unpack it
2. Stick it where you want it (hopefully some thought has gone into this)
3. Plug it all in
4. Turn it on uncalibrated, cry. Well I dunno about you, but when I turned my PB2-Plus (PB12-Plus/2) on, I actually hurt my kidney
5. Calibrate, I have a Denon 3805, so I set the volume to 1/3 and just ran Auto Setup and was done (trust me, it's MUCH better)
6. Test out various source ouputs (Stereo, DD, DTS, etc) to see where you like it. My receiver calibrated the sub at +2.5 DB for everything by default. That setting is fine for 5ch stereo, and 2ch stereo, but for DD it's WAY to much, so it's -7.0 DB for that
7. Set the rest of your speakers to small, unless they're big full range speakers (which they aren't, because you said you have Axiom's). No you won't loose any bass, trust me, the SVS will fill it all in
8. Set your Crossover Frequency to 80hz.
9. Sit back,and enjoy
10. Oh crap, I forgot this... When setting up your SVS, *DO* email them and ask for suggestions. I.E. just because it comes with two port plugs in, doesn't mean you need it. I have one in, and Subsonic Filter at 25hz setting, so asking is always nice. Sure they give defaults in the manual, just don't use it stock like that, not good for it.

If you have any more questions, give a shout! Hope this helps and enjoy your new sub!

-D

Jon,

Congrats - sounds just like my first impression to my SVS sub! Conventional direction is to set all speakers to small. Look at the manual that came with the sub and you receiever manual. If still confused, call SVS.

Also, I'm not sure how low this thing goes, but if there is flexibility, try to tune it tdown to 20hz. There is quite a bit that goes on between 20-25. Enjoy.

It goes quite low, there's a frequency chart on SVS's site, have a look at that.

As for tuning, don't just guess. I.e. that subsonic switch shouldn't be played with absentmindedly. Example 20 hz has one port plugged, 25 hz is all ports open, etc....

I have mine at 20Hz, with one port plug in. It does make quite a difference when it's setup right.

- D

OK, let me start out by saying "I am a sub idiot!" I am so GD confused. I thought setting up the other 5 speakers, AVR, etc was a pain.

My problem is I truly don't understand the world of subs (except the kind you eat).

Here is what I have done so far:

1) I ran the Denon test tones and then the Sound & Vision DVD to calibrate the speakers. The SPL gave me different readings from when I did this when I got the Axioms. Also, the readings between the Denon and the DVD were not all the same. I would have expected both tone sources to tell me about the same thing.

2) I ran the Sound&Vision DVD to calibrate the sub. The subs settings before I ran the DVD were:

Crossover- disabled
Volume/Gain - about 1/3
Phase - 0

The sub calibration, I believe compared the left front to the sub. The SPL reading of the sub was about 4 dB higher, although the sub sounded like it was less than the left front. The DVD said that was normal. Well than how the hell do I set it? Is is personal preference?

The sub phase is the next issue. My wife and I switched back and forth changing the phase between 0 and 180. Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference.

The crossover setting wasn't any better. The description on the DVD was confusing at best. I wound up listening
and saying OK.

3) I did this for DD, can you do it for 2 CH stereo, 5 CH stereo? I don't think the Denon gives test tones for these. Should these settings be the same as the DD settings?

HELP!!!!!

I just read Daphoid's earlier response. Thanks. I still want to understand why I am doing these things.

To me the setup of a sub seems very subjective.

Take a deep breath grasshopper. This gets simple quickly. Hopefully, you have the sub in an internal corner of the room. You didn't really mention what or if the problem is, so let's try this.

Look at the SVS and receiver manuals again. You should have one cable plugged into the proper spot on the back of the receiver. Having the crossover disabled on the SVS is correct - you will manage that from your receiver.

In the receiver menu, set your speakers to small. Enable the sub and set the crossover to 80. The receiver manual will likely have a bit more detail if there are choices to make in the setings. Based on your questuions, it sounds like you need to spend a bit more time with your receiver manual. Calibrating the speakers isn't a "2CH stereo / 5CH stereo" issue - you are trying to have them move the same amount of air pressure so the audio is balanced. Then they play everything in a balanced/blended mode.

Now, forget the Denon test tones - just use the ones on the DVD. You want to have a consistent base line and one set of test tones is all you need.

Next calibrate ALL of the speakers and the sub in the same session using the tones from the DVD. All you are trying to do is to get everything to give you the same reading on your SPL meter. You may want to turn the sub up just a touch and then start the whole process to calibrate.

I never did understand the phase control. [smjle] As you said, it never seemed to do anything. Hopefully someone will chime in on this piece. Oh - and don't worry about your wife and the phase knob. My wife has been out of phase for our entire marriage.