Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners should I buy an ep500 subwoofer

Actually, you'd need to hook it up to both, along with hooking both speakers up to it. Otherwise, you only get the bass from one channel. I would recommend, rather than hooking up the speaker in/outs, that you hook up the sub to the tape out ports on your receiver (assuming you're not using them.) The downside to this is you lose volume control. But the cabling's a lot more straightforward!

Actually what you do is hook up speaker cables to the receiver just as though you were going to run them to your right and left speakers. Instead you run them to speaker terminals (high level inputs) on the back of the sub. To do this, you must have a sub that has 2 pairs of speaker terminals, one for input, one for output (the red and black pairs on the back of this sub).

some subs do NOT have these, so keep that in mind when shopping for a sub. Then you run a set of speaker wires from the high level output pair on the sub to your right and left speakers. The adjustable crossover in the sub now separates the low frequencies and sends them to the sub, and passes the rest on to your right and left mains.

I've never tried Ken's suggestion, but it might be worth giving it a shot.

Well, assuming you've correct with the cubic footage, the EP 500 would certainly be advisable, if your wallet can stand it. It DOES have the high level inputs, but I don't see any hight level outputs. This would be something to talk over with the kind folks at Axiom. They are very nice to deal with, will not try to hype you into something you don't need, and will treat you wonderfully. They're interested in satisfied customers, not making a quick sale. Just explain you're doing a stereo hookup, with no "subwoofer output" from your receiver, but you want a sub. Give them an idea of your room sizes, and they'll help you. Honest, it'll be well worth the phone call.

I have used a sub along the lines of my suggestion, but it doesn't look like that would work with the EP500. I suppose you could use a Y cable to plug it in, but I don't know that that would work properly.

You can also use the Pre-Out + Main-In along with Y adapters to connect the sub, correct? At least that's my plan for when my VTF-2 Mk2 arrives. It has sub in L/R though.

From the Denon website.DRA-685
AM/FM/FM Stereo Receiver • 100 + 100 watts RMS, 20Hz-20kHz >.05% THD • Record output selector • Pre-out and main-in jacks •

As suggested the best way to hook up EP500 would be to use the preouts from the preamp section of the reciever using some Y connectors.This way you still have use of the main volume on the reciever for the sub.

Hi Colleen, welcome.

Ajax, Seabear and others have already given you sound (ha!) advice.

My opinion is that a good mid-level sub like the EP350 would be PLENTY for your needs. Furthermore, if you are primarily listening to music (rather than watching DVD's, etc.), you may not really notice an meaningful improvement depending upon what kind of music you prefer. I had M60's for about 8 months before adding a sub and found that, while I appreciate the sub very much for movies, only certain music that I listen to is noticably improved.

A good sub is a fine thing to have. And, whether it makes economic sense for YOU is a matter of your listening habits, your room and your budget. Enjoy the M60's, they are fine speakers.

So, what kind of music DO you listen to most often?

Okay Colleen, the point's been made that the sub calibration isn't very complicated, but now the question of how to connect the sub has gotten a bit tangled-up in wires and cables. Since your 685 has no separate sub output but has both A and B sets of main output terminals, the simplest thing is to just keep the M60s connected as is(presumably to the A terminals)and to use regular speaker wire from the B terminals to the high level input terminals on the sub. Then, instead of selecting just the A output on the 685, you'd use the A+B parallel connection to drive the M60s and feed the sub a signal. Since a full-range signal would be coming into the sub, the sub's internal crossover would be set to roll off the response above a certain point(e.g.60-80Hz). Although there's sometimes a misunderstanding on the point, the sub's internal crossover doesn't affect the main speakers in any way; it just rolls off the sub on the top end.

As Jonathan and Rick mentioned, there's a way to use the pre-outs on the 685 with Y-connectors, cables, etc. to connect to the low-level input on the sub, but there's no good reason for that complication unless you'd also want to buy high-pass filters (about $25) for the main inputs to roll off the M60s below 70-80Hz.

Where do you buy high-pass filters to roll of low tones from the main speakers. I have looked all over the internet and have posted in several forums and nobody has ever been able to tell me of a product that will do this.

Darren,

You can get the high pass filters at Parts Express

Those look like they would only help if I had separates. Close, but no cigar. :-(