Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Subwoofer and Audio Questions ?

Good Evening to all !!!

Question 1 - I just received my SVS sub (25-31PC Plus) and I am reading through the owner's guide. The guide states that the outlet you use should handle a minimum of 600 watts. I'm use to an outlet being described in terms of the circuit it is connected to - say a 15 or 20amp circuit. Can someone help equate the 600 watts figure to my 15 amp electrical circuit ? I'm assuming it should be ok but thought I should pose a possibly dumb question to be sure .....

Question 2 - I noticed that I am hearing a small amount of random static/interference coming from my front speakers (VP150 and M60's). It appears to only occur when playing audio originating from my Hi-Def DTV cable box. This just seemed to start a few days ago. Since this does not occur when playing a DVD I am assuming that the Axioms are ok. Has anyone ever heard or encountered this ... could it be my new Yamaha 1400 receiver or my cable source ? (Note - audio from the DVD player is also running through the 1400). Any suggestions on how to further troubleshoot ?

Thank you ...... Paul (M60's, YP150, QS8's) ....

I have no idea!

But you might consider playing with your connection routes and/or looking into shielded 75ohm cables like the Dayton Audio line available from Partsexpress.

I run the digital cable signal to the TV first then out from the TV to my receiver. Probably not ideal, but you never know...

I may have found out the answer to my 'watts' question. I visited a few web sites that discussed the relationship between watts, amps, and voltage and performed a few calculations. I also visited another site which stated that a typical refrigerator uses approximately 1,000 watts when running. Since my frig runs on a regular 15 or 20 amp circuit I'd like to think that my 600 watt minimum for the sub should not be a problem. If anyone thinks otherwise, please let me know .....

Just a note that most fridge circuits are a solitary circuit direct to your fridge due to high peak amps at initial start up of the compressor. You should still be OK with the standard outlet as long as you don't have too many other items on that circuit which are constantly on at the same time. I bet most people don't think twice about it until there is a problem ie. circuit breaker shuts off.

Paul, power in watts is equal to voltage in volts times current in amps(P=VxI, a form of Ohm's law). So, the maximum watts that could be used from a 15 amp circuit would be 120 volts x 15 amps = 1800 watts.

As JohnK alluded, you're fine plugging the sub into the wall. The reason SVS includes that warning is that some people like to plug their subs into the "convenience outlets" on the back of their receivers, which almost always have significantly lower maximum wattages than wall outlets.

Thank you to bigwill, jakewash, johnk, and pmbuko for responding. Your input with regard to my subwoofer question was very helpful. I also received a response from Tom V at SVS confirming the same.
Would anyone have any thoughts on the source of the interference/static I am experiencing as outlined in my second question? I am going to perform some additional tests this evening to see if I can isolate the source ... I was just curious if anyone has ever heard of or experienced this before. Thanks again to all for taking the time to respond ..... Paul

tangupa,
If you have narrowed down the static source as being your cable box and you cannot see any loose connections or odd things with your interconnect cables, you could try contacting your cable company to see if changing our the box for another unit does anything. It is possible something is loose inside the cable box.