Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Axiom 8 Channel amp or multiple 2 channel amps

Speaking of which, it'll be a sad day when Eric's beautiful unit is discontinued equipment.

Actually, once you have it, it doesn't matter if it gets discontinued!

Another great thread. I have a couple of extra bucks coming my way and I've been trying to decide what to buy next. I have been considering an amp (Emotiva 3 channel) to run my M22's which are my L/C/R's and then leave my old Onkyo to drive the surrounds.

Believe it or not, my other option is to finally buy/make a sub. To this point I only have 5.0 sound and I am actually considering an amp for my fronts before a sub!

I am sure that is crazy talk and EVERYONE here would tell me to get the sub first... but I just can't get over the thought of havng 200 watts per channel dedicated across the front and then I picture the amp sitting in my rack and it just brings a smile to my face. I fully understand that I likely will hear no difference what so ever, especially as I am never running these speakers loud at all... I just WANT to do it!

When push comes to shove I don't know what my decision will be, but the decision will be made in the next couple of week.

The amp may help you out when you play loud. The sub will help out all the time with all content. Except for some of the oldest classic films which have no content in the lowest octaves, my sub is always outputting some bit of filler.

Ultimately it is your setup, and your choice. But there's a reason everyone is going to tell you to get the sub first. Trust us, that fuller sound should make you smile just as much as a piece of jewelry sitting in your rack.

I do trust you... I really do... I can't believe I'm still debating it. The biggest mental draw back is the shipping to Canada on that amp, if I could get it here for less I think i'd of pulled the trigger already. Emotiva really needs a Canadian distributor.

Have you ever heard a really good sub in a system? If you were running anything close to full-range speakers then I would say do what your heart tells you to do. But buddy you're missing out of the biggest impact movies and music have imbedded in their audio codecs... THUNDEROUS BASS!!!! I hear you, you are fantasizing about those three blue lights of the Emotiva and the circular blue power button below them glowing in your equipment rack while you're rocking out to your favorite jams... hey I have those blue lightes in my room, and yeah they're cool, but not nearly as cool as hearing everything the sound engineers in the recording studio's have packed into those discs you listen too/watch!

Like it's been said, it's your money my man, we all have different priorities in life. But if you buy the sub first I think your smile will be twice as wide as it will be if you get the amp first.

Micah, I do hear you... but I'm afraid the EP800 you're running is not in the cards for me. I followed your thread for the longest time, but never did read a conclusion, did you end up keeping the EP800?

I borrowed a neighbours old sub for a couple of weeks and it was pretty great, but I think I'm looking for something that puts out sub 20hz. The EP350 is what is closer to my price range from Axiom but I'd really like something for a little less money then that, I've been considering the diy route, or at least a kit from one of the Canadian resellers and building an enclosure as cabinet space is of little concern to me, I can build a pretty big one if it means getting lower bass.

I am truley fantatising about the 3 blue lights That and our dollar is strong again and the XPA-3 is onsale at right now.

Roar, have a look at the DSP series subs from Paradigm....as you live in Ontario, the prices are quite reasonable here. I picked up my DSP3400 for $700CA at Audio Video Unlimited, it's an excellent sub for the $$.

Another place to check out subs(SVS) is at Sonic Boom Audio in Markham, if you don't go with an Axiom sub.

Sadly my subwoofer situation is up in the air at the moment. But luckily I have the M80's, which completely satisfy my bass thirst while listening to music. Not that the EP800 was useless for musical recordings, it still added even MORE, and I loved it. But for music I can live with just the M80's all day long without any withdrawl symptoms sneaking up on me.

And as for the 'sub 20 hz' statement, I think it was Jakewash that pointed out that what most of us bass-heads consider 'deep bass', is really the 60 - 90 hz range of the scale. Sub 20 hz is the stuff that rattles the walls and the neighbors walls, but you don't hear it. It's really great for movies, but not much music hits below 20 hz. And the thing I found out about subs that do sub 20 hz really well, is that they don't necessarily do 60 - 90 hz outstandingly well. I say this because I was under the same impression as you, that I needed a sub to go as low or lower than anything else out there on the market so that I could experience the same chest pounding bass that I used to get out of my car system. Turns out, the subs in my car probably weren't reaching half as deep as HT subs can go, but they hit me in the chest so hard my heart fluttered. So I was looking behind the wrong door the whole time.

To sum up what I'm trying to say here is, don't think if you can't buy a $2300 dollar subwoofer that it's not worth buying one at all, because the sub that's going to do what you want it to do may only end up costing you a fifth of that my friend!




(and yes, DIY subs can get you loads of performance for a fraction of the cost of a manufactured unit)

Adrian, thanks for the note on the Paradigm, I will check those out. I had found that Sonic Boom was the SVS Canadian distributor and was thinking about calling them to see what they have in stock, because I do find a difference between what the SVS site says the current models are and the Sonic Boom site as well as some dead links on the Sonic Boom site on one of the products I'd like to know more about, 20-39PCi.

Micah - I had done enough reading to this point to realize that the sub 20Hz was the bass you felt and didn't actually hear and that it is related more to movies then music. And I had read enough of your thread to realize that you were quite happy with the 800 in music performance and it was only letting you down in the movies... the iron man sequence is one I've gone back and familiarized myself with for when it comes time to audition

That is one of my thoughts/fears that if I don't spend >1k on a sub I won't get the expereince I'm looking for. I need to start listening to some more subs, if I can find some <20Hz subs to listen to, like some of the SVS line, I think that would help make me decide if I can actually hear/feel the difference between a <20Hz sub or not.