Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater EP500 volume knob faulty?

About 1 year ago I purchased a set of Axiom speakers + EP500 subwoofer from a local individual (not direct from Axiom). He didn't have room for the setup anymore and wanted to get rid of them for cheap, so I jumped on it. I lived in an apartment at the time so I didn't set the EP500 up for fear of angry neighbors. Now that I've moved, I took the time yesterday to set up the EP500. I'm running in to a little problem though...

My EP500 volume knob does not seem to adjust anything (with one exception - see below). I set the sub to 9 PM like the manual states and went through auto calibration on my receiver (just as a guide so that I could change it later). The receiver would finish calibration and tell me that the sub was too loud. I went over to the volume knob and adjusted it to the minimum. I then repeated the calibration and the same problem occured (the sub was also noticeably too loud).

I then ran through some music and found that the subwoofer volume level was having no effect on the output of the sub... it was like the volume remains at MAX no matter where the knob is.

At some point in my attempted diagnosis I went over to the sub volume knob and touched it and shocked it (static buildup). The sub immediately jumped down in volume. I adjusted the knob and it actually had an effect on the volume now. My music actually sounded good instead of having overpowered bass.

I'm not sure how long it lasted, but I eventually turned on a movie and noticed that the volume remained loud again and I could not adjust it. I'm unsure what the problem is, but I've tried playing with the ground loop screw and this has had no effect. I've also put the sub volume to the minimum in the receiver and this has had no effect.

Is this something I can fix or is this something I need to get Axiom to fix for me?

My guess is that it's a dirty potentiometer and it can be taken care of with a squirt of this.

But.... [ DISCLAIMER..... DISCLAIMER.....] .... I'd call Axiom first.

I had an issue with my EP600 sub not to long ago where I could not get it calibrated when it was daisy chained with my 2 350v3's.

I noticed that sometimes when I calibrated it, I would have to have the volume near minimum, but the 350's would be like 3/4 gain. Then I noticed that the smallest adjustments on the 600 gain, would jump like 20-30dB spikes. In my situation, there was a problem with my amp, and a replacement warranty amp was sent. Now I have no problems calibrating all subs in my large room.

Tykbr, the instructions actually say to start at the midway point, of 9 o'clock, not 9 o'clock. Most of us have our 500 or 600's around 6-7 o'clock. Then, when the receiver does it calibration, the sub channel should be around 0dB's on the receiver. Brands may vary a little.

Also, make sure you have your crossover on the sub on "bypass" if you have an older 500, or cranked to the max on the newer models. Your receiver will and the bass management, and you don't want them competing with each other. Set you speakers to small with an 80hz crossover.

I set my M60's to small instead of large, which seemed to give me the ability to control the EP500 volume via the knob on the back. LFE is directed to the subwoofer only now and I tried to set the crossover to 80 Hz, but this sounded funny to me, so I lowered it down to where I thought it sounded best.

It seems that the ticket was changing the size of the front speakers. I'm trying to put two and two together, but can't figure out why that would make a difference. Perhaps I need to refer back to the manuals.

Thanks for the replies!

You do not want to use the crossover knob on the back of the sub as you will be controlling this in the receiver. The crossover setting should be applied in your receivers setup menu. When you set the speakers to small, you then tell the receiver at what frequency to direct to the sub.

On the older 500's there was a "bypass" option on the crossover knob, this is what you want. Or crank it to the highest setting if you have a newer model. Also, place the trim on "flat" for starters.

Have you also calibrated all the speakers to the same dB SPL using the built in test tones, or a Radio Shack SPL meter?