Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Question about EP600 v3 sub

Of course there is.

You have no 800, slacker!

Yes it has been reviewed.

https://www.dvdplaza.fi/forum/threads/axiom-ep-600-2nd-test-testi.50461/

We live in a great time for subwoofers. There is so much competition right now, that we have been getting more and more performance for subwoofers at lower prices than we could have come by 5 or 10 years ago. The www.data-bass.com website is a wonderful resource to give you an idea of comparable subwoofers in the $900 price class (http://www.data-bass.com/systems). Below I pick out two that I would put toward the top of your list, if you need the output of a large subwoofer. I'm just guessing that is the case since the EP600 is pretty large.

The SVS PB2000 is in the price class and here are the measurements of the previous generation model, which has improved the performance for about the same price.

http://www.data-bass.com/data?page=system&id=66&mset=71

The Rythmik FV15X wasn't measured, but it is in about that price class and but has about 2-3 dB less output than the FV15HP.

http://www.data-bass.com/data?page=system&id=51&mset=50

I have a 6500 cubic foot space to pressurize and my Outlaw LFM-1, which was purchased at a much smaller house is no longer able to keep up in such a large space. I'm strongly leaning towards the Rythmik FV15HP to pressurize the larger space, yet remain clean. The HSU VTF 15 H Mk2 can be purchased for less price with about the same output capabilities (also at about your budget), but I don't think that it plays as clean. You may want to add the HSU sub to your list as well.

I don't know how the new Axiom subwoofers perform in comparison, since I haven't seen any measurements. But, I would expect the new ep600 to be in the ballpark of the long term output compression measurements (in the link) above or less. This is because going with a sealed design over a ported design in a similar sized box, driver and amp combination will yield less overall output, in general, especially below 40 Hz. Also, a sealed design will, in general give more distortion down below 40 Hz, in comparison. But, the sealed design may have more output above 40 Hz and better transient response (the ability to start and stop playing a certain frequency) in comparison.

I think that the measurements from the various links really do give you a good idea of how the various subs will perform. I don't find reviews of subwoofers without detailed measurements all that useful, in general, since the room plays such a dominant role in what you actually hear with just one subwoofer. So we are mostly getting an idea of how a subwoofer, perhaps properly placed in the reviewer's room or not, sounds to them. If they have a rectangular room and properly placed two of them (at midpoints of opposing walls), then I might take more of what they say into account. But, this is rarely the case. For example, there was a somewhat recent shootout with subwoofers (http://www.soundandvision.com/content/review-power-sound-audio-xv15#BHA1lXRYZ4OMx556.97) and the comments that the reviewers mention don't really gel with the measurements we see for the HSU, SVS and Powersound Audio subs that you can see on data-bass. Good luck in your search.

This is as good a time as any to delve into what to look for at Data Bass.

The vast majority of people go right to the CEA-2010 Burst test, which is, to anyone who has experience with subwoofers, a mistake. For example, the 20 Hz burst has a duration of 0.325 second. What a subwoofer can to for less the 1/3rd of a second is not relevant to its performance.

The real information at Data Bass can be found in the long term sine wave tests. There is a page here that shows these results:

http://www.data-bass.com/data?page=systems&type=2

For a subwoofer in the price range, look at the average for 20-80 Hz. That is the priority for a relatively affordable subwoofer, the two octaves from 20 to 80 Hz.

In terms of real world performance, almost every, if not EVERY, subwoofer that is ported will have audible chuffing at high volumes. It's just a matter of physics. This chuffing will not turn up in any measurement test, but it sure is an ugly sound.

One aspect of the EP-600 is, due to the huge port area, port chuffing will not occur. In the real world, even though it loses a couple of dB at 20 Hz to some others, it will sound better at higher volume levels. To put it simply, unlike other subwoofers in its price range, you just cannot get an EP-600 to make a bad sound.