Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater EP125 Problem ?

Hi All,
I have the EP125, have owned for about 2 months.
When watching movies at certain points where the soundtrack level increases, it makes a loud vibrating noise like the speaker has blown. The level is set at about 5 to 12.
Is the answer just to turn it down a bit.
Thanks for you help,
Neil

Interesting? I think 5 minutes before twelve should be more than fine. I have my EP350 at 12:05....What receiver are you using? Could it be the level on the receiver has gotten cranked up for the Sub channel? I think mine is like -4db when I watch movies, and it rocks the room...

Give Axiom a call. THey'll be able to help you faster and more effectively than we will.

Good luck!

hI,
Thanks for the reply
i have a Yamaha RX-V550.
The level is set to 0DB. I have M50,s up front are are set at large.
Thanks,
Neil

I agree with Ken, I think they could give you prompt help with this problem, who knows maybe they'll even upgrade you to a EP500 or 600 or free NOT

Before you call, just try and tighten everything up a tad.

Good point, I wonder if he has a bad connection issue, or possibly the pet dog has been knawing on the LFE cable that is if you have a pet dog

Or based on his name, maybe he has a pet fox....

Do you have anything setting on the sub? I had a framed photo setting on mine and I kept hearing a simular sound. Then I realized it was the photo dancing to the beat.

OT: I can relate, the other night, about every 5 seconds my wife and I kept hearing a strange vibration sound. It appeared to be coming from the kitchen area. But when we walked around the kitchen, the sound kept moving in the opposite direction we walked. I thought maybe it was the sump pump (for those who know what those are), so I went downstairs, no go, from the basement the sound appeared to be above me in the kitchen. Back to the kitchen, and I would walk towards the sound then it would be behind me again, I would walk to the left, and it would eventually be behind me again. So taking Alan's advice on how to position a Sub, I got on all fours, luckily the wife didn't have a camera, and crawled around the floor, as the sound approached me, I looked up, I felt so foolish, it was our 4 month old's little bouncy seat, that has a built in vibration to get your kid to sleep. We laughed for an hour, we hadn't had a good laugh like that in years...

Anyway, Bray has a good idea, could it be something totally differant then the sub? Possibly a picture nearby, or a heating vent on the floor.

Has anything changed in your environment since it DIDN't make this noise?

Thanks Guys,
I will try all those things tomorrow. There is nothing sat on it though. Have had it in two different locations and am still getting the same noise. Occurs in Master and Commander in the first battle scene.
Thanks again,
Neil

Thanks Guys,
Just got off the phone with Axiom.
The problem is my tiny S.W. is being "overwhelmed". The answer was to turn it down a bit more when watching the more noisier (deep bass) movies.
Its only set at 10 to 12 right now and still does it.
I will have to reduce the DB output on the receiver from 0 to maybe -2.
The other alternative was get a bigger sub. The EP175
Thanks again,
Neil

swampfox:

All Yamaha receivers LFE and SW levels are set at maximum (0db) from the factory, so dropping it down 4-5 db will help. Your best bet is to get a set-up disc like Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-Up, Video Essentials, or Avia, and also a SLP meter from Radio Shack to properly calibrate your system.

I believe my Denon receiver is set at -4dB for the sub, and I have the EP350 volume at 12 o clock....

Hi again,
Well i had to turn it down to -10db to reduce the vibration.
Still there a little bit. Volumn on S.W. at 10 to 12.
Will have to live with that for certain movies.
Looking for a bigger S.W. going cheap. Check your garages and attics.
Thanks again,
Neil

doesn't seem right....

I've been running merrily along for over a year with an EP-125 without running into any problem like this - something's wrong!

No it does not seem right.
Turning the receiver down to -10db is the lowest setting.
Its like turning it off.
Strange, but it still vibrates a bit.
Neil

Swampfox, how big is your room.

Are you anywhere near Toronto ? If so, want a second opinion ? I could bring over a bigger sub to play with as well

The room size is 12' x 16' but open on 2 sides.
I have QS4'S on the ceiling on the open sides and QS4 on the wall on the other side.
M60's and VP100 up front. All sound ok with the volume on the receiver at -20db. But when the EP125 is turned lower it does not have the same impact.
I live on the other side of Cambridge.

If the room is open on two sides then there is a pretty good chance the sub is just too small for the room. Only other possibility I can think of, depending on the receiver, is to push the crossover frequency way down and rely on the M60s to carry some more of the bass. The M60s go pretty deep on their own, maybe if you only ask the EP125 to carry the lowest notes you can get the "oomph" you want without overloading the sub.

The EP125/M60 combination sounds like an unusual one -- M60 is -3db at 37 hz while EP125 is -3db at 35 hz. Did you have smaller mains before then upgrade ?

I would try the following :

- set mains to "Large" if not set that way already
- set crossover frequency on EP125 to 40 or 45 hz, maybe start with 40 and go up from there

You may already be set up this way, of course.

The other obvious thing is to make sure your sub is positioned as well as possible to maximize bass output, usually in or near a corner unless you are right near the middle of the room.

Have you done the "put the subwoofer in your favorite listening chair then crawl around the room pretending to be a subwoofer and looking for the spot where you get the best bass" trick ? If not, that might be a good idea. You will probably need a longer subwoofer cable than you have now, everyone else does

Sorry John,
In my last post i said i have M60's up front. Must have been wishful thinking, the mains are M50's.
Yes you are right, i bought the EP125 before the others thinking i was getting bookshelves. Maybe the answer is just get a bigger sub.
But i will try your suggestions and see what happens. Thanks for the reply,
Neil

>>Must have been wishful thinking, the mains are M50's.

No problem. I understand the M50s are pretty good in the bass department as well. Good luck with the experimentation.

The answer is definitely to get a bigger sub but with luck you can postpone it until you are ready to get that big honkin' sub you really want

Just to add to my earlier post. The sub is right in a corner and the mains set to "large"

What was your crossover on the sub set to ? I'm guessing you had it set high so the receiver could do the filtering.

Yes, that is correct. I set it as per Axioms recommended "Receiver and Subwoofer Crossover Setup" from their web site

Good. Take a deep breath, ignore the recommendations, and crank the sub crossover down to 40-45 hz. Then play your movies again and see what happens

I assume center and surrounds are still set to "small". Some receivers will route the low notes from those channels to mains (if set to large) AND sub, other receivers seem to just route low notes to the sub. I think my HK just routes to the sub, not sure.

Depending on how your receiver works, you *might* notice some missing bass from the center and surround channels but I *think* you should be OK.

It's also possible this won't make enough difference if all the LF content is under 40 hz anyways, only one way to find out.

Yes all the speakers are set to small except the mains.
The receiver is Yamaha RX-V550 and is set to 80 hz.
Do i do the change on the receiver or sub ?
Thanks again.

Do the change on the sub. Leave the receiver crossover at 80 hz. Also check the "Bass Out" setting on the receiver and make sure it is set to "BOTH" (you have three choices -- SWFR, FRONT, BOTH). This will make sure that the low frequencies from surround and center go to the M50s AND the EP125 so they can share the load.

[EDIT] I downloaded a manual for the 550, can you tell ?

Finally found time to try it. Seemed to make the situation a little worse. I had to turn the receiver volume down to -34db before it would stop rattleing. At that level i could hardly hear the movie. Finally arrived at setting the sub at -10DB on the recever (its lowest level) and setting it at 10 to 12 on the sub. Still small amount of vibration at the peaks.
But this greatly reduced the lows.
Will start saving for another sub, as that seems to be the only answer. This could be thread of what sub to buy ?
Thanks for your trouble and time bridgeman.
Much appreciated.

Hmmm. That's not what we want. Was the "Bass Out" already set to "Both" ?

Yes it was set to both.
It seems to only happen at certain times.