Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Subwoofer POP

The input signal from the game could just be too hot during those scenes and the receiver ends up clipping the signal to protect itself.

Listener - one more elaboration on Mark/Jay's posts. (I think) what they're both saying is that the sound is recorded into the game at an extremely high level compared to the rest of the sound and because of the big dynamic range (volume difference between soft and loud sounds), even if you are listening to the normal game sound at moderate levels, when this particular sound comes through, it is at such a high level that the receiver has clips (makes that sound you're hearing) to protect itself.

I see. So does this mean that it would prevent the subwoofer from damaging itself?

its your input source i bet, not the sub... but that doesn't mean it can't be good on your sub.

I know the dsp in the 500 basically won't allow harmful signals to pass to the driver and I would assume the 350 is the same way. It, very eloquently, will trim back the signal instead of just clipping it.

I have had times when my input source gets a bit scrambled (digital decoding) and a bunch of loud and unpleasant noise outputs a high volume... that may be your problem also.

Nope, the 350 has no DSP. What goes in comes out.

If it's popping like that, it doesn't sound good to me.

Hi Listener,

As kcarlile has pointed out, the EP350 does not have a DSP, so it is possible to overdrive the woofer, in which case, the voice coil will hit the magnet structure at the back of the driver when its excursion is too great. Sometimes that will make a noticeable "snap" sound.

There could be any number of reasons for what you are hearing. It does sound like some type of clipping somewhere in the amplifier chain rather than over-excursion of the 350's driver. It's a very robust driver, the same as the EP500's, but without the DSP circuit I suppose it would be possible to overdrive it.

What I described above (the voice coil hitting the magnet) is a nasty mechanical sound and when you hear it, turn down the level immediately so no damage will ensue.

Regards,
Alan

Thank you Alan and every one else who responded. This should not be a problem going forward since I will not be turning up the dial on the sub that high again. I do have to say that when I did this it produced almost "wall shattering" bass. I liked it. I liked it a lot. If I wanted to be able to reproduce this safely I guess that means upgrading to the ep500.... or perhaps the 600 or 800....

EP800, the lower extension is what really gets things shaking.


I sure love spending other people's money

Listener, there is no reason you can't run your sub a little hot, just not cranked all the way up.... I would calibrate it with the other speakers, say 75dB, using the receiver or other test tones. Then, bump it up a few dB's until your satisfied..

I set all 3 of my subs, one at a time with the others off, to the same as my other speakers. Then once they are all on, combined are about 5dB's above the other speakers.