Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater I think I underestimated the EP500

Well after living with the ep500 for over a week now I must say that I am very impressed. Do I still want more output, well yes, since the sub’s volume is currently maxed out but I won’t be able to get it without upgrading. If you never seen my initial posts about my new system than to make a long story short the sub was coming up a little short in the db department since I have close to 12000 ft^3 to fill.

That said I had some alone time with a few movies in the last couple of days and got a chance to listen to levels at which the wife won’t watch with me. I must say the output from the ep500 was surprising. My couch rattled a few times but more than anything you could feel the LFE. My walls and windows were not rattling but the overall feeling of pressure was huge! I couldn’t believe it. While I could try turning the gain way up in the receiver to get higher levels of LFE at lower volumes I will still be topping this sub out when I watch at high volumes. Oh and I only really noticed just how significant the difference was after watching scenes back to back with the sub on and then off.

So I convinced the wife and an EP600 is on the way!!! I’ll audition both subs and see which one I’ll keep (most likely the 600!!!). I’ll see if the extra output of the 600 is enough to balance the system.

Oh and I should put out a big thanks to Axioms customer service. I was prepared to pay for the EP800 when they advised me against it. They mentioned that it did go lower but not necessarily louder due to the sealed design. Most companies would have shut up and taken the money! Also because I will presumably be sending the EP500 back they only billed me the difference between the 500 and 600. Again very nice since they could have charged the full amount for the 600 and only credited after the safe return of the 500. Service like that keeps customers coming back!

Good luck! Sounds promising.
Did you get the horizontal or vertical configuration?

You would be better to keep both subs and place them on opposite walls centered. While the output of the 600 is greater than the 500, you not going to find a huge difference. In that room you need multiple subs. I've pretty muched owned all of Axiom's subs at one point or another and I don't think your going to see a huge difference.

Placement is key, so not sure you have experimented. Maxing out the volume is not the answer.

I currently have an EP600 and twin EP350v3's spaced out around my 8100 cubic ft room.

12000 c.ft......wow!! 30x50 ft?

No kidding, that is a giant room

And I thought my room was huge, I'll move down to 2nd place.

Mind you, the wife and I went home shopping in the spring, and a lot of the newer homes are all open, with lofts (which generally have like 18 ft ceilings overlooking the living room) so I guess it's not tough to get that much area. 25' x 25' x 18' is over 11,000 ft^3

Thats good news osborne. Do try both subs at the same time to see what that does for you in your room.

Just get the Epic 80 - 600 7.4 system

Problem solved

I think you meant and epic 80 800 7.4 system, right?

Always fun spending other people's money.

I didn't see it in the online store, but I'm sure you could piece it together.

Might scare the cat, though.

So what sort of space are these subs rated to fill anyway? With my room being 35 x 35 with 9 foot ceilings I have 11025 sq ft to fill.

Man, I wish I had a room like that.

That's not a room, it's a house lol!!

Man, I wish I had a house like that.

I wish I had a house!

Yeah, me too.

Man, I wish I had a house like that room.

My house has a little less volume than that room…but it’s still the best audio/HT upgrade I could have made.

Whoa, I meant 11,025 CUBIC feet, not square feet... sorry. But you know it's crazy, I never really realized the fact that this room actually is bigger than my last house was technically speaking. The home I owned before moving in here with my fiancee was listed at 980 square feet, and this room is 1225 square feet!!!

Of course that 980 square feet didn't include the full basement since it was only partially finished. Still, it's hard to envision that the entire main floor of my old house would fit inside this room!!! I never have thought about that before. I guess once you get used to something it doesn't seem as big as it really is. Looking around this room its hard to fathom my old house fitting inside of here... that's just craziness!

Don’t think I live in some mansion or anything!! It is an open concept home that has the living room (listening area), dinning room, kitchen and some more open space all in one. I think the overall dimensions are 28X48X8.5.

After now listening to many music DVD’s and some movies that give the ep500 a chance to shine it really blows me away. During movies this sub will rock my listening area, I changed a few things and now the bass is even better than my initial setup. The couch shakes and the floor vibrates but like I posted earlier it is more that you can feel the pressure rather than have things falling off the walls.

During music the sub is completely different. There does not seem to be much output but what is there is very clean and tight. Not that the base is lacking because the M80’s sound fantastic and have great punch.

I can’t wait for the 600 to show up. They only thing is it is going to be hard to resist running both the 500 and 600 together. I’m sure once I do I’ll want to keep them both!

yup. Multiple subs and proper placement in a large room is awesome.

Hi everyone havent been on in awile I ended up getting an SVS sub (cylinder sub). The EP 500 just wasnt right for my room but it is a very nice sub. Axiom is great to deal with and I had no problem in sending it back. I demoed a bunch of subs at my house and liked the sound of the SVS the best. I am sure you guys are familiar with SVS. But I am happy wwith the rest of my axiom speakers M22s, vp150, QS8s.

No harm in buying what you like. I have the PB 13 Ultra. Which SVS did you end up with?

Enjoy your new sub!

Cheers!

I got the new SVS PC-12plus cylinder sub. I have the stores demo because they had to order it. I just like the way it sounded in my bedroom plus with that cylinder design it fit perfect on the side behind my left speaker.I also liked this (HSu I think that was the name) sub they let me listen to but it was too big for my bedroom. I hope SVS is as good to deal with as Axiom has been. That is like the 3rd thing I returned but I am keeping the speakers.

Good to hear that you found something you liked, that is the most important thing. Can you tell us a little bit about how things went? Last I remember you were waiting on the pro's to come in and look at everything and see if it was working properly. Was there anything at all wrong with the EP500? Did they get it working and you still found it to be lacking in a certain area, or was it working all along and it just wasn't to your tastes?

I'm curious because I've been having problems with my EP800 sounding as if it's bottoming out, and I remembered you saying if you turned yours up too high it sounded distorted, was wondering if we were hearing the same thing or not. Anyways, I'm glad you found something to your liking reguardless of brand.

Yes Micah I was having that EXACT same problem like it would bottom out when it shouldnt be. And so I would have to turn it down to stop the bottoming out then the bass is to weak. That 800 should never bottom out but what do I know I just go by my ear. The experts were not familiar with axiom I mean they heard of them but didnt have any hands on time with them. They tried everything with the 500 and just couldnt get it to my liking but when they brought in diff subs I finally got the sub to sound right at least how I wanted it to sound. I thought it was the amp til I heard diff subs. Im not saying something is physically wrong I just dont like the way it is set up. The so called experts never actually said something is wrong with the 500 just that they couldnt get it to sound how I wanted. My EP175 even never bottomed out. I dont get it but have moved on

I also got a pair of Hsu speakers. Anyone heard these? Great sounding and only $170 each I got 2 for my rear.

I know it's obvious, but if I DON'T say something, my fans will be ever so disappointed.....

What is obvious????????? lol Oh I hope axiom doesnt think I dont like them buying a pair of HSUs because I am very happy with my M22s, VP150, Qs8s. The Hsu's just have a differant sound that now makes my system 7.1. I almost got a HSUs sub over the SVS cylinder sub that I ended up buying.

He was just making a 'rear end' joke. Don't worry, mixed speaker company's are completely accepted around these here parts. I'm one step away from owning two different brands of speakers. I've sent off an email to JC letting him know that the EP800 is still performing poorly dispite everything we've done so far to rectify the situation. I told him I would still like to audition a fully inspected and tested EP800 to see if I like it any better than this one. If I get it and it performs better, then I will stay 100% Axiom. If I get it and it still doesn't meet my expectation for a sub at it's price point, then I will send it back and will then be on the lookout for another subwoofer manufacturer.

However, nothing can change the way I feel about the rest of my Axiom system. The M80's, QS8's and the VP150 all perform superbly and have surpassed all of my expectations as far as they are concerned. I couldn't be happier than I am with them. It's just this pesky problem I'm having with my bass unit. Hopefully a new unit that's been put through her paces and proven to be in good working order will change my bass fortunes around. Because I'd like to stay with all Axioms if that's possible.

Shame I'm on your ignore list buddy as this URL might be of use to you.

http://www.rythmikaudio.com/products.html

Buy two 12" kits with the plate amp of your choice, a table saw and other tools necessary from home depot etc and you'll still have more money in your pocket and even more important more better bass in your room plus a bunch of what amount to free tools for other future projects!

Solid-State

What's even funnier is that he thinks that his rear has fans.

It's fanny-packed.

::runs away crying while holding his butt cheeks::

Maybe that's where the term "fanny" originated.

I don't have any rears, but I use a 14" sub on my bottom end, errr...

You guys "crack" me up. Ahhh "crap" now I am "rearing" my butt into the mix.

LOL!!

So now I find myself (again) in the position of wanting to "upgrade" my sub (EP350). I keep hearkening back to LotR on Jay's PB13. I really enjoyed that secondary deep thud from Sauron's death that I don't get at all from the 350.

Alas, I really don't want to spend the $2k for the 13. Living in BFN Canada my main options are back to the SVS PC-12plus ($1200) or the EP 500 ($1150 FO with audition coupon or about $600 with 350 trade in). Or maybe a 'Digm DSP (haven't heard how low they go). I'm really only looking for the deep low end in movies. Now I know Jay has opined that the PB12 NSD was a bit too punchy and maybe not the greatest for music, any idea if the 12Plus does a better job with this? Even if it doesn't do well with music I can still use the 350 for that.

Trying to get good comparisons on AVSForum really runs into the fanboy club. I find I only use the site for troubleshooting these days.

The PB13 seems to be one of the value leaders so I don't know if you will do any better elswhere. Are you willing to look at building your own?

I'm kinda hoping that the $800 difference between the 13U and 12P would be due to outrageously higher output rather than respectable lower reach.

As for building my own, although I have always been intrigued by the notion, I keep picturing the "Homer Simpson spice rack" style In/Out tray I built for the boss a few years back. I'm just happy I still have all my fingers.