First I have to say that axiom got my shipment here quick. It was two days. I was actually hoping it would take a little more time then it did because I had to work and couldn't be at my house and as always they show up at 10 in the morning!! DOHH! So I had to go get them cause I definitly wasn't waiting till today. I have to say these are beautiful. The pictures do not do justice to how pretty the cabinets are. I was really pleased with how they look.
Anyway here is my problem. I let the yamaha 5790 do the calibrating and it gave me an error telling me the sub was too loud. Also the sub has a continuos hum. I took out the ground screw but it was still there. After a while it went away, but if I put the sub setting where it tells you to to start you hear it. I know I am a newbie and this is why I am having this trouble. I know I need to get a SPL meter from radio shack right. Will doing the calibrating myself with that take care of the following problems: Subwoofer sounds muddy, boomy, and not crisp at all. When scenes have explosions or low rumbling in it. It sounds more like noise than part of the effect. I know a ep 500 does not sound like this. I assume it is me!!! What settings do I need to put the Front center and surrounds too? What crossover setting do I use? I have a straight rca run to my sub from my reciever. What setting do I put my sub on and what setting do I put my reciever on? The other speakers only seem to need calibrated with the SPL meter. Thanks for the help. I apparently NEEED LOTS of it.
J, you have the Epic 60/500 system, correct?
I have my crossover setting on the fronts set at 60 with the center and surrounds set at 100, these particular figures came with a fair amount of playing around and tweaking. My sub is set to 'bypass' to let the receiver handle all of the crossover chores and the trim set to 'flat'. Keep in mind that I am running 80's and have an H/K receiver but these figures should set you up in the right direction.
I've bookmarked
this page for my own reference, hopefully it will contain some information to give you a helping hand.
The other thing to remember is that room placement makes a big difference with a sub, particularly with a real good one. It can make the difference between "boomy but no real bass" and "holy &$&% did you feel that ?". I would turn the sub down a bit, get everything else roughly calibrated, then start working on the sub.
Also you'll want to set your speaker size to 'small', I forgot to mention that.
John is absolutely correct regarding room placement and the sound level. I've noticed on the 600 that it doesn't take but a very small movement of the volume dial to produce a lot of sound, almost to the point of me thinking 'man, that volume level sure looks low' when it fact the sound is quite amazing.
Will a sub produce a hum if it is turned up too loud? I only turned it to the 9'oclock setting like it told me too and I got a very loud hum. If I pulled the cable out It was gone, but that kinda defeats the purpose now don't it. When I turned it down to around to about 6 or actually lower it would get a lot softer obviously and not be noticable. How low should I turn it to get the calibration done correctly. Another thing. When I calibrated it using the auto setting it did not sound loud at all or produce much of anything. I know my other sub which was a tiny little thing would be much louder and quicker with its sound during calibrating. Is that a sign that something could be wrong with the new one?
Ok I will try all this stuff tonight. I can't wait until I get it all working correctly. I can definitely tell the monstrous power it has. Now I just gotta get it smoothed out I guess. Thanks guys for the feedback.
Hi jhunt17,
Welcome. No, your sub should not have an audible hum. You have what's called a "ground loop", which is a byproduct of the multiple power supply cables and a ground voltage differential (often the TV or satellite cable feed to your system is the culprit).
Anyway, read this article:(http://www.axiomaudio.com/tips_eliminate_hum.html) on some steps to get rid of it and here are some other things you can try.
Try plugging the sub into a different AC outlet in the room, one that isn't supplying power to your components (A/V receiver, TV, cable box, etc.). That might fix it.
If not, disconnect your cable TV or satellite feed at the point it enters the cable box. If that eliminates the hum, you can install one of these in-line ground guards between the cable TV feed and your box or TV.
http://www.tributariescable.com/catalog_view.php?id=172
Try reversing the AC plug (if you can) for your A/V receiver. Each time you make a change, try putting the ground screw back into the sub to see if there's any difference in the hum level.
Finally, if none of these approaches work, then this inexpensive Xantech Ground Breaker should solve it.
http://basshome.com/product_3965_detailed.htm
Regards,
The first thing I did was disconnect my cable tv and whamo that was it. Thank you for helping me fix that problem. I bought a spl meter and am in the process of calibrating the rest of the thing. I assume I want all of my speakers hitting my listening area at the same level. That only makes sense. Anyway. All of you guys are great and thanks for everything.
ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW!!!!! After I got it calibrated to the best of my ability. I began to watch some scenes. I am totally amazed with how much of the movie soundtracks I was missing. Little background effects and all sorts of other parts came through clearly. I love it. I now OWN a movie theater. It is awesome. Everyone was right. I did have a smile ear to ear after I got everything put together correctly. The Ep 500 vibrates the windows and I don't even have it hardly turned on!! When I was using the spl meter to put everything together I kept turning it down, turning it down, then down again. I was up till 2 in the morning just watching scenes of movies. I absolutely love Finding Nemo when Darla taps the glass of the aquarium. It litterally vibrated the windows in the room. Don't even get me started on the Lord of the Rings. Sorry for the rambling, but in short I am very proud of my purchase. My girlfriend even said they were good looking enough to be in a living room. Grills on of course. I love the finish, it looks like wood to me, and I feel right in the middle of the action. I could not have asked for better results. Thanks again for everyone's help. Alan, Thank you for getting to me so quickly with all the information I needed to fix the problems I had. I do have to say It was a pleasure working with Axiom and the service was second to none. Thanks again.
J Hunt
Isn't it great when everything comes together.
Now just sit back and enjoy.
Those words match my experience to a "T". Now you will find yourself looking for movies at the rental shop just because of there sound.. . .who cares about those silly things like plot and characters and all that nonsense, give me a great audio track with some sweet bass and enveloping surround. Yeah!
Hey, it's great to hear everything is working so well.
I think you just discovered one of the cool things about a really good sub. You keep turning it down... and down... and down... so you hardly hear it... and it STILL rattles the windows at the right times
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Now you will find yourself looking for movies at the rental shop just because of there sound.. . .who cares about those silly things like plot and characters and all that nonsense, give me a great audio track with some sweet bass and enveloping surround. Yeah!
Haha ever since I got my Axiom setup I've been thinking the same thing. For instance, I didn't care much for I, Robot but that sure would be a great movie to blast with my Axioms.
The theater I saw Star Wars: Rots had really weak speakers so I'm just drooling for the chance to blast em at home.
Congrats on the purchase and just like us you will love the sound of these babies.
Yep... I Robot is a completely different movie with a good sound system.
On the other hand, Resident Evil 2 doesn't really sound ANY different with a good sound system... but I have rented it about 3 times now so maybe I should break down and buy it.
I would also recommend the new Batman Begins movie for its LFE content. I have a lowly, but overachieving Hsu STF-2 and during the "Batmobile" racing scenes my neighbor came by and asked me to lower it because the sound didn't bother her but her room was vibrating. I was bursting with pride. I can only imagine what a EP500 or 600 could do.
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ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW!!!!!
Cool ... and congrats, this is what it's all about!