Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater My EP800s are HERE!

Threads with cliffhangers?!?!

SRoode,

That is a very nice setup. In fact, your theatre setup matches up very closely to what I have been imagining for my future basement theatre (hopefully sooner rather than later). I've been spec'ing out some equipment and taking measurements of my basement to determine screen sizes and overall layout. I really like what you've done and it mates well with my initial designs. Do you mind sharing some of your measurements? For example:

- Room dimensions - particularly width across the front of the room accommodating the screen/speakers/entertainment unit, along with ceiling height.
- Screen size?
- Dimensions of the screen on the wall (i.e. top/bottom/sides in relation to height on the wall)?
- Dimensions of the black entertainment unit underneath the screen (which, btw, I really like - did you purchase or build?)
- Seating distance from front wall (to 1st row of seats if you have multiple rows)?
- Throw distance of projector?
- Any other measurements you believe would be relevant.

Thanks in advance! I'd really appreciate your help but it is not required immediately as I don't plan on doing the basement for some time. Either reply in this thread or by PM - your preference.

Thanks again and awesome setup!

Bryan

P.S. Originally thinking, I was going to put two subwoofers the size of the EP500 up front (I currently own the EP500 in my bonus room setup). However, seeing the two EP800s may change my mind

um, oooookay. Nevermind. I think what I have now sounds pretty good.

I would also really be interested in knowing your projector/screen setup because I would like to get one far down the road.

Thanks also

I would also like to know your bank numbers because I too would like an EP800.

Part II:

To sort of cut to the chase of tuning, I did a 20-100Hz plot of the room before any BFD tuning. Below you will see a graph (hand plotted, no REW) of the results, as well as the results after BFD tuning with only 3 filters. I probably could have gotten by with 2, but I added one more at 33.1Hz to make it flatter.



As you can see, the pre BFD tuning was very good. It was +/- 3.5 db across the 20-80Hz spectrum (80Hz is my crossover point on my receiver. I have the subs crossovers set at 150Hz). The post BFD tuning was amazing. Just a hair over +/- 2 db across the same spectrum. Keep in mind that this was done by hand, and by using only the SPL meter. When I can get my laptop here and do a proper calibration with REW (like Jason did), I'm sure I can do even better!

Impressions - I brought the family down to the "Bass-ment" to listen to the new speakers. I chose to listen to music first, and picked songs we were all very familiar with. I have to say, the changes for music were very subtle. The EP800s sounded musically very similar to the EP500 setup I had before (which is a good thing!). I noticed that the music seemed to be "tighter" (for lack of a better word) in the low end. The bass was not overpowering, but is was definitely there, and definitely tight and fast. My wife said she noticed very little difference as well. The kids of course just ran around in circles and danced. After several songs, we both agreed that the new speakers performed just as well, and a bit better, than the EP500s.

Next, we chose a couple of movies to check out the differences in LFE. THIS is where the big changes occurred. I picked "Apollo 13" and "V for Vendetta" as our two test cases, again because we were both very familiar with these movies. For "Apollo 13", we played the takeoff scene. Even moments before the ship took off, there were points where I could feel my seats shake. This is a first for me in this theater because, since it is in the basement, it sits on a concrete foundations. I've had no problems in the past getting my walls, furniture, and dishes upstairs to shake, but getting the floor or seats in the theater to shake was next to impossible! My wife noticed the difference right away. I told her that the extra 8 or so Hz the new speakers were providing were mostly in the subsonic range, but definitely in the range that would provide the "shake" and "punch" that we were missing from the old setup (I would like to provide a small caveat on the EP500s. They are fantastic speakers! In most any other setup, they would provide a bunch of shake or punch as well. Basement theaters are tricky however.)

Next, I played the domino scene in "V for Vendetta". Again, the floor and seats shook when the LFE effects were played. I pulled out the SPL meter and read peaks of approximately 100db during the scene. There was never a distortion of sound, it always seemed tight and punchy, and for the first time (well, second now), the theater seemed to actually shake during the scene. I asked my wife what her impressions were, and she agreed that the new setup (and sensory feedback) added a greater sense of realism because you felt more like you were in the scene.

Well, that's my initial impression in a nutshell. I'm extremely satisfied with the new speakers. Sending the EP500s back is sort of bittersweet however, because it's sort of saying goodbye to good friends. They were fantastic subs, but the EP800s are musically equivalent to them, and on a different level when it comes to LFE.

Bryan,

Nice to meet you. Some pix of my theater (with the old subs) are here:

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showgallery&Number=206049

Room dimensions: 16ft wide by 18ft deep.

Screen size: 126" diagonal 16x9 Carada screen

Dimensions of the screen on wall: 9'-9" wide and 5'8" high. This includes the 4" border all around.

Entertainment unit: It was custom built into the wall for the theater. I hired an Amish carpenter to build it to the exact width of the screen. I think it was only about $700-800.

Seating Distance: It's a perfect triangle to the main seating position. Speakers are 11 ft apart, main seat 11ft to each speaker, main seat about 12 ft to screen.

Throw distance of projector: About 13'

Other relevant measurements: Main seat is about 10 ft from each surround, and about 9 ft to each rear speaker.

For music, I would be happy with the EP500s. For LFE, the EP800s are in a different league.

-Steve

Steve - that is exactly how I would describe the change from the 600 to the 800. For music, really not a difference at all (and I didn't expect one), but for movies, YES, the shake and rattle is there at levels that I'd never experienced with the 600. The EP800 finds LFE in places that you'd never know existed with other subs. It's been fun to listen to familiar movies again and feel the difference with the new sub.

Thanks for posting your thoughts!

Jason

IH, no, the power consumption rating on an audio receiver or amplifier typically is an average consumption rating unless it's specifically termed "maximum", "full power", etc. This results in some screams of fraud when it's noticed that, for example, a 7x100 watt receiver has maybe a 500 watt power consumption shown on the back panel. Having heard that class AB amplifiers are maybe 50% efficient, they think that if the power output rating was true that the consumption would have to be around 1400 watts.

Well, the power rating is true(has to be so as to not be in violation of the FTC amplifier power regulations)but the consumption rating can also be accurate. An average usage number might be taken with 1 channel driven at full power and the other 6 at 1/8th power, which also happens to be the standard that Underwriters Laboratory uses when testing for overheating, since that's considered to be roughly the average usage that occurs in home audio. The channel driven at full power runs at about 50% efficiency in a class AB amplifier, but the efficiency drops off at lower power levels and might typically be around 25% at 1/8th power. So, the consumption would be about 200 watts for the channel driven at the full 100 watts with 50% efficiency plus 300 watts used for the other 6(1/8th x 100 x 6 = 75 watts total output, using about 300 watts at about 25% efficiency), and that's why the plate on the back shows 500 watts consumption.

SRoode,

Thanks for the measurements. Once again, nice setup. I have two more questions if you don't mind. First, what is your ceiling height and secondly, what is the bottom height of the screen from the floor (or conversely, the height of the entertainment unit)?

Thanks again!

Bryan