EP500 first impressions - 01/15/05 04:09 AM
Howdy all,
I'm a complete newbie on this forum, but I do happen to be the proud new owner of several Axiom pieces, in my brand spanking new home theater room.
Just a little background for you all:
My dedicated room is about 17*13 with 7'6" ceilings in a basement. It is drywalled, including ceiling, and carpet is installed on top of a raised subfloor (some type of synthetic plasticy egg cartonish looking stuff raising the wooden subfloor up for possible moisture relief and some insulation). Also, I have several acoustic panels up around the room for toning down the mid/highs (1.5 inch egg carton foam inside a nice looking frame with fabric covering).
Now to the good stuff:
Receiver: Pioneer Elite 56Txi
Universal Player: Pioneer Elite 59AVi
Fronts: Paradigm Reference 60's (please don't hate me)
Center: Paradigm Reference CC470
Side Surrounds: QS8's (they rock, but you all know that)
Rear Surrounds: QS8's
SUBWOOFER: El'Beasto (or EP500 if you prefer)
This "review" is going to be very non-technical, as I don't have the setup to make charts and things like that. Keep that in mind as you read my subjective comments. Also, I just got this stuff hooked up this week, so this test really is comprised of a 3 hour period. I may do a followup later after more sampling if you guys want.
Quick initial impressions I got:
It didn't take me long to find out a couple things. This thing is no toy. For the room size I have it sitting in, I'd say its probably overkill for power. Lets just put it this way. I was using my Pioneer's MCACC auto setup, and it was playing the sub at reference with sub volume half way up, pulsing out some mean bass, and things started falling off of other things.... ON THE NEXT FLOOR.... IN THE NEXT ROOM OVER. Would not have known, but my wife came running down in panic stopping my test before I destroyed anything else upstairs. WHEW, that's power baby. Subsequently, my max setting is now about 1/4 power (at least with wifey home). Of course there was no distortion, just the odd creaking and groaning of my house's structural components.
All tests performed at 80Hz crossover (I flip between 80 and 50 as I play, but to really give this thing a good workout I thought 80 was more appropriate).
DVD Test: I used I-Robot with its wicked deep DTS sound track to test what this puppy could do. Well, it didn't disappoint. The base enveloped me immediately (in the first scene), waffling my pant legs and thumping my chest. Quick aside, the sub volume controls start at about 4 o'clock and spin around to about 1 o'clock. For this test, the sub volume was at only about 7'oclock, with the receiver's calibration at -2.0DB. I had main volume at -12DB. Absolutely no distortion. At first I thought there was, but I found out it was just my stack of CD's on the carpet bouncing around. I quickly moved them to the next room and continued the test. INTENSE, immersive base, but without being boomy. Occasionally, on the deepest of deep bass parts, my walls will shudder (giving a sense of boomy), but I can't blame the woofer for that.
The other killer bass scene "you are having a car accident". Again, excellent bass. Scary good. It really adds to the feeling of dread and impending doom as the "trucks" roll in. But it still sounds natural and unforced. Not sure how else to describe it.
Music Test:
I turned the sub volume down to about 6'oclock for this test.
SACD source: Peter Gabriel's Greatest hits, in SACD Stereo.
OK, this is where the sub really shines in my opinion. In Don't Give Up, there is a great bass tester, as the bass guitarist plays the main riff for the song. The riff starts with very low notes, and ends in mids. If your sub is not very musical or tonally (is that a word?) correct, you'll know where it crosses over to the main speakers. With the EP500, the crossing was undetectable. The note separations on the sub were great. It didn't sound like a subwoofer, it sounded like a bass guitar. It made the soundstage so much deeper and fuller, and the song so much more powerful. I loved it. And let me tell you, I loved my Ref 60's alone with this song before. But now I'm spoiled. Secondly, I tested Shaking the tree, which combines musical bass playing in the lows, along with the drummer's bass drum. The 2 sounds were separated beautifully. No blending of whumps, like I get on my 10 year old Mirage woofer (which I used to think was really good).
And finally, I played Biko, with its massive congo drumlike bass beat. Again, powerful and undistorted. I again thought I heard some distortion, but was pleased to find a couple cd's stacked behind the chair causing the rattling. Once removed, clean, tight filling shaking bass ensued. It made the song feel powerful, immersive and alive. Loved it.
My second test CD was Creed's Weathered. It's not a great recording, as you can hear some audible hiss in quieter moments, but it does have a good traditional rock drum line. The kick drum sounded real. Real as in you are practically looking for the drummer in the room hiding behind the mains. Tight, clean and pleasing.
Well, that's it for now. Please feel free to post questions, or even suggest different tests I can run. Thanks for reading this rather lengthy and nontechnical post.
Bret
I'm a complete newbie on this forum, but I do happen to be the proud new owner of several Axiom pieces, in my brand spanking new home theater room.
Just a little background for you all:
My dedicated room is about 17*13 with 7'6" ceilings in a basement. It is drywalled, including ceiling, and carpet is installed on top of a raised subfloor (some type of synthetic plasticy egg cartonish looking stuff raising the wooden subfloor up for possible moisture relief and some insulation). Also, I have several acoustic panels up around the room for toning down the mid/highs (1.5 inch egg carton foam inside a nice looking frame with fabric covering).
Now to the good stuff:
Receiver: Pioneer Elite 56Txi
Universal Player: Pioneer Elite 59AVi
Fronts: Paradigm Reference 60's (please don't hate me)
Center: Paradigm Reference CC470
Side Surrounds: QS8's (they rock, but you all know that)
Rear Surrounds: QS8's
SUBWOOFER: El'Beasto (or EP500 if you prefer)
This "review" is going to be very non-technical, as I don't have the setup to make charts and things like that. Keep that in mind as you read my subjective comments. Also, I just got this stuff hooked up this week, so this test really is comprised of a 3 hour period. I may do a followup later after more sampling if you guys want.
Quick initial impressions I got:
It didn't take me long to find out a couple things. This thing is no toy. For the room size I have it sitting in, I'd say its probably overkill for power. Lets just put it this way. I was using my Pioneer's MCACC auto setup, and it was playing the sub at reference with sub volume half way up, pulsing out some mean bass, and things started falling off of other things.... ON THE NEXT FLOOR.... IN THE NEXT ROOM OVER. Would not have known, but my wife came running down in panic stopping my test before I destroyed anything else upstairs. WHEW, that's power baby. Subsequently, my max setting is now about 1/4 power (at least with wifey home). Of course there was no distortion, just the odd creaking and groaning of my house's structural components.
All tests performed at 80Hz crossover (I flip between 80 and 50 as I play, but to really give this thing a good workout I thought 80 was more appropriate).
DVD Test: I used I-Robot with its wicked deep DTS sound track to test what this puppy could do. Well, it didn't disappoint. The base enveloped me immediately (in the first scene), waffling my pant legs and thumping my chest. Quick aside, the sub volume controls start at about 4 o'clock and spin around to about 1 o'clock. For this test, the sub volume was at only about 7'oclock, with the receiver's calibration at -2.0DB. I had main volume at -12DB. Absolutely no distortion. At first I thought there was, but I found out it was just my stack of CD's on the carpet bouncing around. I quickly moved them to the next room and continued the test. INTENSE, immersive base, but without being boomy. Occasionally, on the deepest of deep bass parts, my walls will shudder (giving a sense of boomy), but I can't blame the woofer for that.
The other killer bass scene "you are having a car accident". Again, excellent bass. Scary good. It really adds to the feeling of dread and impending doom as the "trucks" roll in. But it still sounds natural and unforced. Not sure how else to describe it.
Music Test:
I turned the sub volume down to about 6'oclock for this test.
SACD source: Peter Gabriel's Greatest hits, in SACD Stereo.
OK, this is where the sub really shines in my opinion. In Don't Give Up, there is a great bass tester, as the bass guitarist plays the main riff for the song. The riff starts with very low notes, and ends in mids. If your sub is not very musical or tonally (is that a word?) correct, you'll know where it crosses over to the main speakers. With the EP500, the crossing was undetectable. The note separations on the sub were great. It didn't sound like a subwoofer, it sounded like a bass guitar. It made the soundstage so much deeper and fuller, and the song so much more powerful. I loved it. And let me tell you, I loved my Ref 60's alone with this song before. But now I'm spoiled. Secondly, I tested Shaking the tree, which combines musical bass playing in the lows, along with the drummer's bass drum. The 2 sounds were separated beautifully. No blending of whumps, like I get on my 10 year old Mirage woofer (which I used to think was really good).
And finally, I played Biko, with its massive congo drumlike bass beat. Again, powerful and undistorted. I again thought I heard some distortion, but was pleased to find a couple cd's stacked behind the chair causing the rattling. Once removed, clean, tight filling shaking bass ensued. It made the song feel powerful, immersive and alive. Loved it.
My second test CD was Creed's Weathered. It's not a great recording, as you can hear some audible hiss in quieter moments, but it does have a good traditional rock drum line. The kick drum sounded real. Real as in you are practically looking for the drummer in the room hiding behind the mains. Tight, clean and pleasing.
Well, that's it for now. Please feel free to post questions, or even suggest different tests I can run. Thanks for reading this rather lengthy and nontechnical post.
Bret
I could be mistaken, but I think your's is the most in depth critique of the EP500 we've had here on the forum.
