Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Dual sub now in place - EP500 impressions

So I’ve got my new EP-500 behind the listening position where my old Energy 10” sub was previously and the Energy is now up front between the left speaker and the Television. Overall I am very pleased with the dual sub configuration. For music listening I find the bass seems more integrated with the overall sound and I hear more bass presence from the front soundstage. The EP-500 adds depth that I did not have before, in fact at one point my ears were getting blocked from the pressure , so I dialed it down a bit.

One thing I was a bit surprised when I first connected the EP500 is that it was very quiet, I had the volume control at 50% and could barely hear it and I found that even at full volume, it was still relatively benign. With my Energy sub, I had it set at about 55% of max volume and in my pre/pro I dialed it down – 5 db (to get 80db on my SPL meter)otherwise, it was to much bass. With the EP500 on full volume, I did not perceive it as loud as the Energy at 55%. But after running an SPL check, it was clocking in at 80db, just did not sound like it was. So, I changed my pre / pro setting from – 5db to 0db and then set the ep500 to 70% of volume. That gave me the “umph” was I looking for.

Both subs are xover at 70hz and my mains are Full range. One might think that I would be drowning in bass having tower mains on full and two subs at 70hz.. but that's not the case..If I don't do it that way, I don't get enough bass.. I'm convinced the concrete floor and 4 concrete walls are to blame for that.

It’s a very different sound / experience that I am use to with my 10”. In movies, the sub is excellent, it goes down so much lower than my other sub, I had to dial it down a bit because watching GI-Joe and Transformers it was making things rattle in the room !!

In hindsight, I probably should have gotten a smaller sub than the ep-500 for my room size, especially since I’m running two subs, and it’s a BIG BOX.. I listened to a MJ Acoustics 10" sub that was a tiny box, but quite unbelievable bass sound from such a small box ($800 bucks)

I think I need to tweak some more, but at the end of the day, I'm happy with it and it will stay where it is.

Good to hear. Good bass is always one of the most satisfying parts of the audio equation in my book!

Glad to hear you like your purchase.

In the world of subs the EP500 is a little on the small side, but it works extremely well for it's size. Axiom subs are not known for high SPL but they can achieve good levels. The volume control on the EP500 was recently reworked to allow greater sensitivity, previously, much like your Energy, the EP500 was usually set at 1/2 or lower, it now appears many are setting it up at the higher setting.

dang 75%, that should knock down your foundation, Axiom must have made some changes. Most have the knob at 6-7 o'clock which is very low.

Hi Jay

I was thinking the opposite.. that the sub is HUGE !! well compared to my 10" Energy it's a MONSTER, like 3 times the size.

I guess they must have made changes because I was expecting it to blow me away at full volume but in fact there was little difference between 60% and 100% volume. Currently I have the black line on the volume knob in line with the Green power light. And I have my Energy set for 50% at the front of the room.

Did you calibrate each sub individually, to the same dB's in SPL of your other speakers? Even my EP600 is not much past 7 o'clock, which is very low, my room is 8,000 cu ft.

Hi Riker,

Based on the few impressions that people have posted on here that have the newer amps its seems that the 500 likes to receive a higher voltage signal coming from the subwoofer pre-out on the receiver. Now if you are achieving the output you want with your current settings no need to change anything. If you want a bit more output difference between 60% and 100% on the dial you can boost the subwoofer pre-out level on the receiver from which you have set to 0 to something like +2 or +3.

No yet.. I did calibrate the EP500 to 80db and I left the Energy sub at the same volume level that it was when it was calibrated at 80db.. but I have not re-verified the Energy with the SPL. I'm pretty sure it's going to be very close to 80db.

My room is roughly 2500 cubic feet.

Ok. That seems to be the case, as before I had the pre / pro sub setting set to 0 and in the speaker level calibration setup menu I had it at -5db to achieve 80db calibrated. Now I still have the sub setting at 0 but I had to also set the speaker level setup menu to 0 (from -5) with the volume control of the sub set at about 70% to get the calibrated 80db.

I guess I was expecting the other way around.. ie: if my 110W 10" sub is set to 55% (with a -5db in speaker levels) then surely a 500W behemoth with a 12" driver would require lower setting to get the same bass output.. At the end of the day, as long as I can get the total amount of bass I want (and I do), it does not matter how I get there..

Riker, have you done the sub crawl with the EP-500? You may be sitting in a null and not getting the full effects of the sub. Just a thought or my 1 cent.
Mel