Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Faulty Cable?

Last night my daughter had friends over and demoed my system. She pulled out the tried and true Nemo DVD and went to the aquarium tapping scene. NO BASS from the EP500!?! I was called to the scene and my first thought was that she had changed something. Turns out she had not. I started checking things out. Worked my way down to checking the cable (Monoprice variety). I unplugged and replugged both ends - heard a brief murmer from the sub but no deal. Next was to try a different cable. The only thing I had was one of the old red, white and yellow cables that come with some equipment. I had to slide the sub over to the receiver, connected red to sub and....voila - bass. On impulse I plugged the monoprice cable back in and....voila, - bass. I reckon my question is.....What? Could it be a kink/short in the cable? Is there something potentially loose inside the sub? Are the Red Sox going to win another Series? Any ideas? I am going to check it back out when I get home tonight - I left the monoprice cable connected.......Rob

Also....I meant to post this in the Advice forum

The Red Sox might not even win the AL East.

I am thinking it is just the cable.

I hope it is just the cable. The sub is just coming up on its 3 month anniversary.

Argon, if it is the sub it would still be covered under warranty so no big deal (other then having to deal with the waiting for replacement parts if it was an amp or something)

First, let me say that the M60's are - as everyone already knows - great speakers and capable of generating some decent bass. SO....when it has been a while since I watched a blockbuster type movie that has lots of LFE - you get accustomed to the sound of regular TV and Music. When I had friends over this weekend with small childs - I put in Nemo and......No LFE! I had replaced the cable but no LFE?? So I uplugged and replugged at both the SWFR and RCVR. Still nothing. I turned the SWFR off and back on and voila....LFE. I think I had better give Axiom a call - unless I am missing something?.....

Oh man, I hope my bad bass mojo isn't spreading around this board!!!

Are you using Auto on for the sub?

If his sub is 3 months old he has no choice. The newer subs don't have any other options on them, they are all 'auto-on'.

I did read through your thread on my lunch break. It made me think.....I don't have any "pops" and I can get mine back on.

I would suspect your sub out level from the AVR might be a tad low. I know when I first enabled auto on for my EP350 it did not work. When I hooked up a BFD and was able to measure the output level, it was very low. When I bumped it auto on worked flawlessly.

Rob, Fred's suggestion of raising the sub out trim level on your receiver should certainly be tried. At the present setting the voltage may be marginal to "wake up" the sub amp and more voltage may make it more reliable. The level setting on the EP500 should be lowered in compensation so that the overall level isn't changed.

I agree with raising the subwoofer pre-out trim level. This will make the auto/on feature more stable as described above by JohnK.

You were able to read through my entire 27 page thread on your lunch break? Good God man where do you work? I want a lunch break like that!

Maybe Rob took one of them speed-reading courses. I did and was able to read War and Peace in a hour and a half(it had to do with Russia).

You will have to excuse my ignorance and I am at work without access to the manual....the sub out level/trim - the only thing that I have tweaked/touched is when I was setting speaker levels with my sound meter. Is that what you guys are referencing?

I have been e-mailing with JC at Axiom. He suggests that the rca jack is damaged or faulty. It does not appear damaged but the connection is loose. Meaning that the plug slides in and out very easily - just does not feel solid. His remedy is to plug into the output jack? Apparently the output will act as an input? At any rate, the plug/unplug - on/off routine that I did Friday night turned the sub back on and so far it is working as it should. I will look in the manual tonight to see if I can discern what ya'll are talking about on the trim. Thanks for the suggestion.......Rob

Valedictorian of Evelyn Wood - class of '85

Rob, yes the sub output trim is the receiver setting that has a range of generally about +/- 12dB and which varies the amount of voltage that goes in to the input on the sub and "wakes up" the sub amp. You can try setting it at a + level(but not at the maximum)and reducing the level control on the sub itself to keep the loudness calibration the same.

Yes, plugging into the low level output on the sub has the same result as plugging into the input. They make up an internal "Y" and the signals can reach the sub amp just as well when they travel down the output branch of the Y.

Amazing. I had no idea that the Y existed. So far, So good. I still have the bass. I think that JC was confused by my description of the RCA jack. He told me to be careful not to break the jack off if it was loose. I told him the jack itself is fine it is the connection between the RCA cable end and the jack that seems loose to me......

..... you said 'jack-off'!

Wooah...those Freudian slips can be hard on a fella.

Ummmm... 'hard-on'?