I haven't been able to get photographs of the EPZero dual-cone subwoofer but I was given some renderings today, so I thought I'd post them for your viewing pleasure.

Without the grille:



And with the grille



Notice the easily accessible volume knob on the top, so even if you tuck the sub under your desk you can adjust output.

nifty
where was this setup 5 years ago when i bought my spouse the Altec Lansing 4.1 system for about $500!!??

Can't wait!

I like that! Can we please see its behind?

I sense the need to use ex-EP400 ports...

Hey, those aren't the same woofers as the speaker range any more. Unless the speakers are getting the long-rumored punchbowl look.

If the dustcap is going away, I may consider "upgrading" my drivers in the 80s.

I would love those drivers in the speaker lineup...it looks very sharp IMHO...

I'm not sure, I like the contrast in the colors...

Axiom could offer stick-on dust caps.

like little pasties....

They look a little too much like that other internet speaker company, although Axioms would be all aluminum/silver instead of the white which would set them apart. actually, the contrast is setting them apart now as so many other companies have gone to that no cone design.

I was about to say that they shouldn't be white, they should be aluminum.

I fully agree, but my MS paint didn't have an aluminum color sorry.

Cool, there's an article on Engadget.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/21/axiom...oomph/#comments

I want those little things!

As a side note, quality of language does not seem to be the primary concern of that site's forum!

Nor is quality of brain cells. As usual with extremely popular tech sites, there's a whole lot of morons.

I didn't know what "isobarically loaded dual-cone subwoofer" entailed, so it was Wikipedia to rescue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isobaric

"isobaric speakers have a loudspeaker design where two drive units are mounted in tandem"

NOW YOU KNOW

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for a better description and a picture.

Very interesting. Now I know what I bought!

So how's the ol' Impact going?

Er... are you refering to Montreal's soccer team?

The Impact was the name for the EP0 that I won the naming contest with. Presumably, it didn't really work out.

Oh! OK! The EP0 is still backorder. We should receive it within 2 weeks. You got me there for a minute! "Audiobyte EPZero Subwoofer - renderings" and "Montreal Impact" did not compute!

Pics! Pics!

Sorry for the delay - the sub just got back from CES. Here's the official EPZero, slightly dinged (and Alan isn't saying why!) but otherwise happy. They will be shipping in three days!

Looks cool! Triangle port is a bit peculiar. It can become a great conversation piece at dinner parties!

Eeeeeee!


That is all.

Is it still the isobaric design?

Also, what's going to be the recommended placement for this subwoofer? On the desk or under the desk or what?

Under the desk, obviously. How else can you use it as an ottoman?

By having your feet on the desk?

The design is still isobaric, yes, and the MZeros produce the mid-bass frequencies so we recommend placing it under the desk (although CV makes a compelling argument . . .).

Hi Ken and all,

Yes, but just to correct a possible misunderstanding, the front "driver" is actually a passive radiator pressurized into movement by the cone of the active driver inside the enclosure. But until I get up to the factory to peer inside, I don't know what the inner active driver looks like.

The passive radiator's cone and the active driver's cone move back and forth in tandem, in phase, and together function as a natural mechanical crossover. It's a really clever bit of design outlined to me over a nice glass of Chardonnet (that isn't how the EPZero got dinged) by Ian at the Mirage suite where we demo'd the Audiobytes and the EPZero sub.

I'll explain more about how the mechanical crossover works with the active and passive drivers either in the newsletter or here, sooner rather than later.

Regards,

Eeenteresting...

I'd love to see a take apart of one of these things, since I'm not planning on doing it to my own.

If they send me one, I promise to run it through my bandsaw. Honest, I won't just keep it for for own footrest needs.

You crack me up.

I need some help on my screenplay. Maybe we could team up and be the next Coen brothers, or Tarantino/Rodriguez. Win-win.

Are you actually writing a screenplay, or is it kind of like my novel, which mainly exists in my head?

Screenplay? What? Where?

Hey look - a chicken!

I think I mean to say, "in my head".

OMG Hilarious! I ran over a chicken this morning who dove out from behind a snow bank! What timing!

I get to be in your screenplay now.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To give Murph Post Traumatic Stress Disorder!

The Chickens! They are after me man! They are everywhere. OMG they are in my soup!!!!

Ha ha. Is being paranoid about chickens like being scared of fear?

Yes! The politics/governance of the scared can get very interesting. For example, did you know that amongst the scared, if you are scared of the yellow-bellied chicken, then they make you their king.

Then They Shou Bow Before Me......

All hail good Sir Mark!

Nevaaar! Freeedom! (and just a little bit of sadomasochism)

What was this thread about again, I forget?

Low frequency sound conduction through chicken flesh?

While surfing the net?

I'm that subject was probably touched upon at one point.

Any update on shipping? I need bass!

Coming soon! I saw the first one come off the line yesterday . . .

Just got my golden email from Noreen.
My EP Zero should be here soon.

Bart
VP150/M60/QS8/AX1.5/AudioBytes/EP Zero
SVS PB10
HK DPR-2005
Bryston 3B for mains
Infocus IN72

Yes! Are you within the "24h" zone for Purator and Axiom? Should get mine tomorrow. Unfortunately, I probably won't be there when it arrives, but will pick up later!

Soon, soon, my precious...

Eric wants his precious...

And I shall have it! Master shall never enter Mordor with it! Master has been nice to me. but I draw the line here!

T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor.......

It's here! Got in 45 seconds before Purolator showed up.
It's cold. Should I waiting until it is room temperature or is it OK?

Here's a picture of MINE....
It's a lot bigger than I thought, but still small than most computer subs.

Lucky Canadians... grumble grumble...

Are you waiting for a package using DHL?

I don't know if I'm waiting for a package at all, yet. I suspect that my wife may simply not be telling me that she got the golden email. The alternative is that my sub is somewhere down the list of orders, since I'm sure that there were a bunch of pre-orders in before my wife's.

Not that I should be complaining at all!

I, too, am still bassless.

EDIT: Well, as you can see from sig, just bassless in the office...

Yeah, bassless accusations!
Another 10 minutes to reheat a bit and I'll fire it up (already connected!).

10 minutes are up :-) After waiting a month and a half I am dying to hear what they sound like...even if it is coming from a third party! Hopefully mine arrive this week.

~ JA

Oh yeah... Oh yeah, baby!

Pretty, pretty good. It really does the trick to close the loop and fill in the gaps. The Audiobytes by themselves have plently mid-bass, but now it is perfect (at least for music). Deep non-booming bass. Just what the doctor ordered (not medic8r and his dextroamphetamine sulfate, of course!).

I won't have time today, but tomorrow I'll experiment with the EP0 on the floor (it is on my desk, behind my screen right now).

I'm listening right now to Kodaly's solo cello sonata and the desk vibrates with the deep bows. But not a "bad vibration", the one coming naturally from low frequencies. A bit like the M80s alone (without EP500).

Quite satisfied with the result so far. Definitely worth at least 175$.

BTW, for those interested, the grills are NOT magnetic and are using the same attachments than the large speakers.

Once again, these guys have delivered more than promised! Kudos!

I suspected as much with the grill. I'm not sure if the magnets would work as well with larger grills--such as the tower speakers.

Oh! Just tried Pink Floyd's "Time", Led Zepplin's "Black Dog" and Scorpions' "Still loving you" half with the sub, half without. I think the rock-lovers will be thrilled. It just completes so well the sound. The missing lower harmonics are back and making the sound much more natural.

Cool dude!

I'm going to do some testing using the SMS display to check how well it blends with the audiobytes. It is supposed to be flat to 35hz but I suspect it will roll a bit higher on my desk. Nice to hear it sounds great with rock which is mainly 40hz and above. What about orchestral pieces?

As for orchestra, I tried (only one movement of each) Shostakotich's 1st cello concerto, Vivaldi's "Winter" concerto, Beethoven's 9th symp., Brahms 4th. The all sound more "present" than before. Some timpani passages are quite good.

I also listened to the whole 14 minutes of Theraps, a solo for double-bass by Xenakis. It is my show piece for the EP500. The EP0 renders it beautifully.

I just finished listening to the "T-Rex scene" from Jurassik Park. Pretty scary.

I really think they have struck a perfect fit for the Audiobytes (both in performance and price range).

Excellent! I find I'm listening to music all the time with the Audiobytes when I'm working at my home computer. I've been using an old sealed Yamaha sw80 sub under the desk with them which sounds OK for now. I would like to put the EPzero on the same plane as the speakers.

I have an external hard drive with one terebyte of tunes (around 7,000 CDs) which I have been playing through itunes. My next step is to get a squeezebox or another solution which will allow me lossless access and connect wirelessly from my stereo room.

My EP0 is on the desk. I might try it "downstairs" in the weekend. Sounds perfect where it is right now.

I have a Soundbridge to stream my (only 400Gb) lossless music to the sound system. The upcoming Squeezebox with the LCD display on the remote is quite tempting! It really looks great.

Additionnal: for those who were worried that the sub would eat up the 55W. My results are the following:

Piano solo: -1db with the sub on.
Cello: = with the sub on
Double bass: +1db with the sub on.

Conclusion: no adverse impact because of the passive sub.

I have my eye on the Squeezebox Duet as well. A friend of mine has it on order so I will see how it performs first. The one concern I've heard about it over the older version is whether the SQ is as good. Logitech has made some changes including power supply and replacing the terrific BurrBrown PCM1748E DAC in the Squeezebox v3 with the Wolfson® 24-bit WM8501. It may not make a difference but the forums are complaining about it. In any event that display on the remote is a great solution.

I was at a friends on sunday who had a music server using a small Mac with display into a Benchmark DAC 1.0. A bit more cumbersome and expensive solution than the Squeezebox but it sounded really good. We A/B/C blind to a Squeezebox Transporter. Not much difference until we connected the USB input into the Benchmark then it sounded fuller, more extended with deeper bass than the Transporter.

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?HardwareComparison

Funny thing, electronics. My sudden increased interest in the Squeezebox had been motivated by the rapid decay of my Soundbrige. It was getting worse day by day. Some strange electic noises could even be heard when on pause (on stop was ok, on pause bad ).

To finally have an answer, yesterday I took out some CDs and compared them with the output from the Soundbrige. Quite a difference and only a few days ago, there was none! To give it a last try, I took it out from the entertainment unit (where it was sitting on top of the vividly-hot HD-Cable box) and put it on my right M80. Hem... Works BEAUTIFULLY again. Tried 4 CDs (15 mins each) and I could not tell the Soundbride (playing lossless ripping) and the actual CD played by my Oppo. It was either heat of electromagnetic field coming out of that darn Scientific Atlantic (or something like that) box.

So, apparently I am no longer on the market for a streamer... Part of me says "pfff, after all these expenses, I'm glad not to have to fork another 400-500$". Part of me cries "I really want that cool remote with the LCD screen".

Actually, I am happy because at some point I wanted to have a second streamer for my bedroom! But that comes out of a different budget, so I'm OK!

Well I can say I have been more than pleased with my SB3!

I'm pretty sure to get the new SqueezeBox Duet eventually! Just not now as I am recovering from A1400 purchase (member of the A1400 Anonymous support group).

Question: do you have to use their media server or can you use iTunes directly?

I've reduced my purchase decision to a Transporter plus the Duet remote or the Duet receiver/remote combo plus an outboard DAC. Still undecided.

Meanwhile back to the EP0. I like the way it blends with the Audiobytes but wish it had a variable gain control instead of the boost switch for when a tune needs some help down low. Still, for the price its tough to complain. Its the right size on my desk and looks very cool along with the rest of the Audiobyte system. I tried different placement on the desk and it didn't seem to make much differenc to sound. It really is a great solution compared to my old tinny computer speaker sound.

Depending on your sound card, you should be able to change the gain on your PC. They all have some advance utility with equalizers and stuff.

Some players (iTunes, for example) allows you to change the settings per song.

Yes that's true, I could just leave the equalizer bars open. Because the sub is within arms length, I prefer just leaning over and adjusting with a variable dial rather than a switch setting.

The big volume knob looking thing on the front isn't a volume knob?

It's a 3-position BOOST setting.

Their server SW. It can be linked to iTunes so iTunes still manages your library though.

So it's like the Firefly server that can be used with Soundbridge. Thanks for the info.

You can download the server SW for free from their site (full version, not shareware, etc) as well as a SW based front end for your computer. Why not dl it and try it integrated with your iTunes?

I use their SW based front end on my work computer. Allows me to access all of my music where ever I have an internet connection.

Apologies if this was covered elsewhere, but does anyone know if Axiom plans to expand their PC speaker line to include mini center and rear channels too? (for us PC gamers with surround sound?)

Ian at some point had the following comments on Audiobytes (extract).
"It is also our plan to bring out a number of other products in this family. Obviously a 5.1 version of this system is a must but we are also looking at an optional amp with over double the power and a stand alone version of the amp itself. A carrying case is being worked on right now so the Audiobyte system can be made portable for presentations and such."

Sounds good. My fiancée likes the Epic 80/600 stuff so much on the main system, she started drooling over the PC setup if only they could replace all five channels.

So let me get this straight...your fiancee is a she, and you were able to use drooling and speakers in relation to her all in the same sentence?

No wonder you are getting married to her!

Well, of course you can... just buy 3 sets!

She used to do retail installs of home theater gear, so none of this is foreign. I could have brought home those giant B&W cornucopia-looking monsters, and she wouldn't have cared about their looks or size. (if anything she might have wondered why i paid that much for them, tho)

But anyway, yes.. she's recommended the speakers to several of her friends already. (especially the ep600... can you even believe this? a woman telling people about this huge f'n thing? ) So when she was browsing around the store area she was pretty excited by the PC speakers, so will probably be bringing down a set once they expand the Audiobyte line to 5.1.

A possible workaround might be to do two QS4's in the office, then have both PCs split them as their rears. The desks sit across the room from each other, and we almost never both have a surround app going at once. But i should slow down a little bit, already having snagged the 80/600 and the a1400-8 this year. :-P

OK, Now I'm drooling.

Size continues to matter.

:::::Runs away crying:::::

Mark. Look at the size of those ears. Whacha worried about??

OK, these audiobyte thinkies aint no pc speakers. Not even close. I took one look at the amp and thought: desktop stereo system.

I saw several sets of speakers on at the end of the line being cleaned up for shipping. fluorescent metalic green and irridescent blue next to each other. I'd never buy them, but those colors were freakin cool!

Another review. I find the reviewer's comments quite accurate. I don't have the EP0 so I can't comment on that.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/loudspeakers/axiom-audiobyte.html