Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners ADA1000 & that 12v trigger

I am slow sometimes on getting everything hooked up. The Anthem pre-amp does have a single 12v trigger port on the back. Now I have figured out how to hook up all the EP500 subs to use the trigger port and turn on and off with the pre-amp.

The same cannot be said for the ADA1000 units that I have. There is a 3.5mm port at the back of the unit that I gather is for the 12v trigger, but hooking this into my system doesn't seem to accomplish anything. Am I doing something wrong? I know that there are several regulars on this forum that have an ADA amp, and am wondering if you have ever gotten the trigger port at the back of the unit to ever work? I don't know if I am doing something way out there wrong, or if it's just simply that mine were not assembled correctly and someone forgot to hook up that part inside my box. What is rather confusing is that I have two ADA1000 amps, and both don't seem to do anything with the trigger. I have tried hooking up a single wire to the back of the Anthem pre. Also even using the trigger out from one of the EP500's. One would link if the sub can be switched, then the same signal would also work on their amps.

HELP!

Hi Matman Did you try different positions of the front power switch. I dont have my amp at the moment but as I recall I toggled between the positions and the trigger worked when initially it did not. Hope that helps

On mine. there is a single push button on the front that will turn the unit on and into standby. There is a rocker switch at the back that turns the unit on and off.
The green light at the front of the unit shows if the amp is on or in standby. With the 12v trigger installed, the unit just sits on solid green (turned on) and just won't go into standby mode.

I have tried that maybe I need to turn off/on the rocker with the trigger cable installed, and that made no difference. Tried putting it into standby mode with the pre-amp turned off, and then see if it comes on when the pre is turned on. Nope. Tried routing the cable through the EP500 just in case the power signal wasn't getting through. The EP500 turns on and off perfectly, but not the ADA.

One option I have been looking into for a bit as the LFR's DPS unit doesn't have a trigger for it, was to get something like



and then use the 12v trigger line to switch on and off the relays that I can hook up to an outlet that powers the DPS unit along with another set of amps for the height speakers that I have. As this relay has two lines, I could hook it into the split receptical to get two separate 20amp lines.

I didn't think I'd need something like this for the ADA but for the $15 and a small electrical box, it might be the best option.

Just to double check: Are you using mono or stereo cables for the triggers? Mono cables work 100% of the time while stereo depends on the equipment. I've had my share of problems when upgrading.

trying to find mono cables for triggers can be a real challenge in this day and age. they stereo cables. I however would hazard to guess that as the EP500 and ADA1000 are both made by Axiom, that what would work flawless for one, should work flawless for the other. But I could be totally wrong.

Axiom in looking into the issue and if they come back with it likely being a cable issue then I will have to special order some mono cables from the USA as I have not found any here. They sell mono patch cables 1/8" for modular synths on Ebay.

I can tell you right away that products from axiom work differently. Stereo worked between EP500 and D2v, but not with EP800. Stereo did work with old A1400 but not with ADA1500.

I had the same issue and using the front power switch fixed it.
Cycle on/off on the front switch.
Does your avr have a option to use or not use it?
Pretty sure my Yamaha had a spot where I could turn the function off.

Ya the toggle trick worked for me too. I have a couple amps that do not have triggers and I ended up getting a remote controlled power outlet from Walmart. They kinda look like a typical wall-wart power supply but just pass power from the outlet when turned on with a small remote.

I am not in a good mood with Axiom right now. I cannot believe how they could cock up what would be an exceptional amp with such sub standard parts (relay) that it cannot function right with a 12v trigger.

The ADA amp doesn't come with a trigger in and out like the EP sub woofers that Axiom makes. This means that if your pre-amp only has a single 12v trigger output, you are going to need to split the signal wire into two or more.

My Anthem AVM60 has just a single 12v - 40ma connector on the back. this is perfectly good enough to trigger the two EP500 amps that I have connected in either daisychain using the trigger in/out ports on the back, or even using a splitter to run separate wires to each sub. They work perfect.

The ADA on the other hand, if you try and split the output so that you get two 3.5mm plugs, then the 12v trigger doesn't work. If I even try to run the 12v trigger off the output port from EP500, the ADA doesn't work. This is just SHODDY WORKMANSHIP OR SUB STANDARD PARTS/DESIGN. I fear it is the latter as the same problem is had by both the ADA unit that I have.

For a pair of amps that cost me over $3000 for, I would have expected far much more from Axiom that what they delivered. in my books, they sound great but one star for functionality when you can't even get a 12v trigger designed properly.

Sorry Ian. The truth sometimes stings!

Does the amp trigger if it is the lone item connected to your avr? In other words when it sees the full voltage it is designed to see and not whatever is produced when split between more than one piece of equipment. If so I wouldnt blame the amp but be more inclined to be unhappy with the shortcomings of the avr having only one trigger output.

Do you have a mult-meter/volt meter. I might be wise to check the voltage produced at your avr and confirm with axiom what is required. Might just be a compatibility issue. I may be grasping at straws but I think it might be worth exploring

If you re-read my gripe. The Anthem AVM60 only has a single 12v - 40mv trigger port. That is what it is.

The AXIOM EP500 works perfectly with this. It works perfectly if I string multiple units together. The EP500 has an amp built by Axiom. it works.

The AXIOM ADA1000 does not work perfectly with this. Note how the two devices are built by the exact same company. Both happen to have an amplifier inside of them, that were built by Axiom in Canada.

So now ask yourself. why would one of the components that was designed and built by Axiom work flawlessly and the other one not.

Think about if for a second.

I was only trying to help...but nevermind.

Can you use a 12v triggered power strip? One 12v to control multiple 120v devices. They are on Amazon but might be expensive.

There are also current sensing strips that enable outlets once a trigger outlet draws. You can use powering on your AVR as the trigger.

http://www.smarthomeusa.com/smart-strip-power-strip-automatic-switching-surge-suppressor/

An ir controlled strip would be easy to integrate with a universal remote as well. Lots of solutions out there.

I know that Emotiva makes a 12v trigger repeater. It's $40 but as I am in Canada, the cost of shipping the unit up here adds another $40 to the cost when you pay for taxes, duty, handling costs from UPS.

I was thinking of making something better for myself. I think i'd just get that 12v 30amp relay along with a 12v dc rectifier transformer, and put them into my own box. Then run the trigger line into the box to control the relay that would turn on and off a set of 4 power outlets and run the rectifier to give me a set of multiple high current 12v trigger lines out. I am sure that I can make this for far less than the $80 that the emotiva device is and gain the 4 outlets that are trigger switched.

It is not the end of the world and there are lots of ways to bodge your way around the bad ADA design. My comment still stands that the problem should not be there in the first place to have to do this sort of thing to begin with.

sorry for being rather quip with you. I was in a bit of a pissy mood from a day that just didn't go anywhere near what you'd like it to.

My ADA1500 has worked flawlessly with the trigger outputs of a couple of different Marantz prepros. The Marantz triggers are rated at 150ma. I make my own 3.5mm mono cables so I get the exact length I need.
I have made a 4 outlet relay controlled box like you are contemplating but just used a wall wart plugged into it for the 12V.

No worries. I can understand your frustration. When something doesn't work as expected it can be a PITA. I hope you get it resolved.

I might have missed something...
You're trying to split your single AVR output into 2 seperate amps right?
Why or how do the subs come into it?
In theory you can run one cable into a $3 splitter (plugged into the back of the first amp) and run a second cable to the second amp.
Did you check your AVR settings to see if ithe trigger can be turned on/off?

If I understand

His AVR is limited to 40ma from its 12v trigger out. He is trying to drive 4 devices and it won't do it properly. It would do 2 subs, but not the amps too. One of those crummy nuisance situations. He wishes the Axiom subs/Ada amps had 12v repeaters to solve the issue but they don't. He is unhappy about it but has a few ideas for workarounds he can use.

Matt, be sure to share your solution so others may benefit.

The ADA amps use a much larger relay inside them than the EP sub woofers. As a result, they require larger amounts of current from the pre-amp trigger to switch them on.

Anthem for some reason decided to give a measly 40mA for the trigger line out. Not enough to power many external component switching, especially considering it is a PreAmp and needs 11 channels to drive the speakers. (13 for me as I have LFR's) + sub woofers.

I am going to need some help from someone who knows electronics as I know enough to get myself into trouble, but not enough to understand how to get around it.

So his avr doesn't have a lfe out?

My first thought is stereo vs mono cable as well, although I have to admit that 40mA seems pretty low for a trigger output.

I did find at least one 1/8" mono cable locally though:

https://www.amazon.ca/TNP-3-5mm-Mono-Cable-6FT/dp/B01MEBXOOP/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1509908901&sr=8-13&keywords=1%2F8+mono+cable

I need to stick my head into Sayal next week (they often have buckets of things you can't find anywhere else) so will keep my eyes open. Will also look at your relay thread tonight... rain has stopped briefly so need to run out and get back to brush cutting.

BTW apparently trigger incompatibility seems to be a problem since AFAICS there are no industry standards, but the usual workarounds seem to be:

1. If your master unit has a switched outlet plug a 12v wall wart into it and use that to trigger the other equipment

2. If no switched outlet then get a current sensing master/slave power bar (something I did not know existed until just now) and plug the wall wart into a slave outlet.

Dumb question - do the amplifiers on EP500 and ADA1000 generate much heat when idle ? If not I would be inclined to leave them on all the time rather than switching on and off, although the whole "switching on and off is the hardest thing on your equipment" may be an old wives tale, not sure.

I probably should switch my old Adcom off when not using it, since it definitely generates some heat even at idle.

Too late to edit, but might actually end up a couple of bucks cheaper ordering from the US:

https://www.amazon.com/TNP-3-5mm-Mono-Cable-3FT/dp/B01MA18DPL

it is a bit of a pitty that this message board doesn't allow you to embed photos (upload) but only link to them. I finally got around to making my 12v switch box on Friday before it started to rain. I even took the time to take step by step photos that I could post. But as there is nowhere to do that here I guess I am out of luck.

But needless to say, I finally got my ADA1000s to work right with my Anthem preamp. I learnt a bit about soldering. I figured out that I was right to order some extra parts as you can't always count on the printed guide to be correct when you order parts of ebay from china. I think it looks pretty good and works rather well. As an added bonus, now my LFR DSP also gets to be turned on and off by the additional 120v plug that I also added to my 12v trigger box.

Yes its a bit of a hassle to upload to another site then link to this site , Axioms forum is a bit dated to say the least. Anywho what was the purpose of your switch box. BTW i use IMGUR which is still free and it works ok.

PrimeCables has 3.5mm mono cables for cheap, if anyone is still looking: https://www.primecables.ca/p-370665-cab-...black#sku383505

You've been hard at work researching your purchase, eh bman84?

Yeah dude, can't wait to get going. Speakers and amp have been ordered. Just need my contractor to start on the basement.

For the sake of posterity and the forum search engine...

I had a similar problem when I had to upgrade the amps in my 2 x EP500's and my A1400-8 to an A1500-8 (long story).

I have an aging Denon AVR-4306 which is rated at a paltry 25mA per trigger output which is not enough for the new amps.

I purchased an Emotiva ET-3 "trigger amp" which has three trigger outputs and I'd estimate a total trigger current of about 400-450mA. They cost US$40 plus shipping.

No problems since. The only downside is the ridiculously bright blue LED's so it needs to be hidden behind equipment.

Cheers,
Scott.