Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Dual EP800 vs SVS Ultra 16

That's awesome. The white dust cap is more performant than the black as I've described in another thread.

I didn't read any of this. I was not aware that there were two styles of dust caps or if there was a difference. The white is higher performing?

Slim, you're really out of it :p

www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php/topics/427423/Re:_M100_max_spl#Post427423

Mojo,
I am copying what I had sent to Craig who wanted to know what my impression is of the EP500 after a few hours of use......



Craig,

Here I am typing out my second round of initial impressions on the EP500. I wrote a long winded essay and inadvertently deleted it!

The good news is; I was able to eat dinner, play a second round of the same music with a change out from an RCA ended interconnect over to XLR as I was having sub woofer hum when things were idle; I thought it was a ground loop, then I started to play with switches and then move the RCA cable around in it's socket, the hum seemed to disappear. I thought this was a good time to switch over to the XLR and the hum cleared up.

Initial settings on the sub amplifier: gain at about 80% of full, polarity 'normal', crossover 150 hz. and after playing with the phase, I found with the sub at the opposite side of the room from the Bryston Model T mains and at around 25 feet distance, 45 degrees works to make the sub sync harmoniously with the woofers in the Model T's and produce the most output.

After listening to Timo Maas 'Connected' which is electronic music mix with a lot of varied bass content I found the sub to be totally transparent in the room. I cannot really say where it is vs. the Def Tech 15 inch 500 watt sub which I could point to in the dark. The Def Tech was more in your face with hard hitting bass, but could be muddy if too loud. The EP500 no matter how loud I play it, it's silky smooth, not in your face.

I switched to vinyl and put on Don Henley "Dirty Laundry" which has great bass at the intro and it was just superb. Very nice defined bass, hard hitting (probably not as hard as the EP800, but still right there). From there I switched over to The League instrumental, again mostly electronic with wide ranges of material, but lots of good bass. Very impressive, again the EP500 is very smooth, balanced and integrates with the Bryston's like it's a Bryston Model T placed at the back of the room, the sound is just immersive. There is an obvious first cousin relationship going on with the Axiom driver and the Bryston's. They just play right.

One thing I 'think' I am hearing and not imagining because I want to; the use of the XLR cable seems to have dramatically improved the overall response the sub, it's cleaner, more detailed and the bass seems much tighter, could it be me? Or is the driver breaking in

The Def Tech 15 inch sub played with more low end impact, but it was a muddy presentation vs. the EP500 which no matter how high I turn it up, it doesn't change. The Def Tech had to be carefully watched, the level could not be over 60% or that was it, total mud. How is the EP500 vs. the Paradigm monster 15 inch 4500 watt sub I demoed here? No where near the power or output, but cleaner sounding, it just works with the T's. The Paradigm over powered the room and everything was vibrating, not what I am looking for at all. And the EP500 vs. the SVS PC 13 Ultra? The Ultra put out a lot of nearly low frequency output, with a lot of slam like a disco, but again, it was not as silky smooth as the EP500. If someone is looking for extreme output, the larger brothers of the EP500 might be your choice, but again I am trying to round out very high output Bryston's, not over take them. The EP500 appears to do this well. When I graze around the room as Mojo likes to call it, I cannot tell where the EP500 is or if it's even on. But when I turned it off, wow, it seemed thin and naked in the room; so it's doing its job well. Again, it's as if I have another Bryston Model T at the back of the room on steroids for the low end.

With experimentation on crossover settings, the 150 hz. setting works best with the T's. Again it totally blends. If I move to 80 Hz, the Bryston's stand out, you can really point to them as the EP500 is doing only lower bass ranges. But at 150, the EP 500 becomes another Model T in the space. It's interesting to hear.

So the question is, to add another EP500 to get even fuller similar material, or do I add in the EP600 or 800? for more chest slam? What do I do?

BTW, vinyl rules here! this EP500 with the T's and perfect original analog vinyl is just the cup of tea for me; the sound is so silky smooth.

Slim

By the way, I am sticking with White dust caps

I have a pair of the EP500 and could not be happier. With the two of them on with some content you can get the whole room shaking. I was told when I ordered them that the pair will help give you a bit lower frequency as the two will have an additive effect. I have not heard an EP800 so i don't have a reference to what it sounds like. I know for myself listening to clastical music with the warnings on the CD that playing too loud can blow your speakers, I have never

1. had a problem with blowing the EP500. it takes whatever I throw at it.
2. feeling disappointed that I am not getting the sound that I deserve.
3. wished that I had bought a larger unit.

This is very encouraging and now I am looking forward to my 800 even more (due to arrive on Thursday).

Is the 45 degree phase shift via your pre-amp?

150 Hz sounds like a very high number. Is this the cross-over on the sub or the pre-amp? Anything higher than about 80 Hz for a cross-over will cause voices to emanate from the sub and that's not a nice thing.

I don't know if you'll get chest slam with a 600 or 800. These are linear subs that will put out no more than that which they receive. I'll know more later this week.

BTW, there's an 800 in the B-stock store

I'm going to have to buy a receiver with XLR outputs. Balanced signals are more noise immune and suffer less degradation with distance.

Matman,

You have a nice set up there.

I too am using the AVM 60 preamp and like it very much. I feed it to the Parasound A51 with 5 channels. I use two channels to the left and two to the right Bryston T's, bi amping. Each channel at 4 ohms is outputting 400 watts. The dynamic power of the T's fills this 10,000 cu foot room very well, but Its so large that I need subs to round things out. Thus far, the EP500 is holding it's own. I am sure you are right, a second one would really do the job. But I cannot keep from wondering if the second sub was to be the EP800, how would that effect the over all balance.

I want a 500 now too!