Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Out with the new and in with the newer

Ian and Andrew have done such an amazing job on these actives. It makes me wonder what we could possibly upgrade to from here.

I was comparing between the man-cave M100/EP800/dual 500v4 system and the living room active LFR system today.

There is no doubt depth, width, height, imaging, fidelity and bass in the man-cave soundstage. Of those, the only thing that stands out compared to the A-LFRs, is the degree of depth. I surmise this is because the backs of the M100s are three feet from the front wall while the A-LFRs are only 8". That depth however is flatter than the A-LFRs. Also recall that the 8" of depth, is giving me a soundstage clear out my bow window; so I am not at all complaining and am in fact thrilled. One thing to note about the depth, with the A-LFRs, instruments are more distributed into the depth. In all other respects, the A-LFRs are noticeably superior. Even the bass...and every other band. Wow!

I'll qualify all this by saying they are two completely different rooms and the cave system is equalized with Audyssey XT32. This is also no double-blind test but I am sincerely trying to report what I am hearing.

Mojo,
I’ll need to measure when I get back home but I’d guess they are around 10 ft apart, maybe a foot away from the wall and think they were set to 0 or +2 far. I can’t say I’ve had enough time to experiment.

I’ve never heard that version of Take 5 before so looking forward to listening to it.

Ok thanks, Curved.

I've decided I can't let these go from the living room.

I don't know if Craig agrees, but for music, this is the best bass I've ever heard sub or no sub. Not by a small margin either. This is in a 1900 cu. ft. living room that is open to the rest of the house.

As I said before, no sub is needed but since I have twin 500v4, why not go for the gusto?

So with Craig's advice, I've locked in the twin 500s. These are sitting on the inside of each A-LFR. Each is fed off each DSP. Each sub is wide open. The DSP cross-overs are set to 40Hz which means the LFRs hand off to the subs at 40Hz.

What can I say? It sounds really good! You get that transparent, musical, room-filling bass the sealed Axiom subs excel at! I will experiment with running the LFRs wide open as well while the sub dial is set to 40Hz.

Here's what I did:

1. Set sub to 150Hz
2. Set DSP cross-over to 40Hz
3. Ensure sub is off, phase at 0, polarity normal, gain at 1/3
4. Play 40Hz and measure LFR SPL at MLP
5. Turn sub on, measure sub SPL at MLP.
6. Toggle polarity switch. If SPL goes up, leave it there. If it goes down, toggle to previous position.
7. Slowly turn phase and watch SPL. Leave dial wherever SPL is max.
8. Adjust sub gain for 3dB above LFR SPL
9.Enjoy.

If you have two subs like I do, in step 8, adjust each sub incrementally until you get a 3dB SPL with both working.

Mojo - The bass from the actives is exceptional, but can still be improved upon with the EP500/600/800.

Let's start here - from 2002 until 2010, I tested over 100 subwoofers here, and did hundreds of hours of blind listening. It was in 2005 that Ian and I first talked, after a test of the vented EP-500 and EP-600.

I had, after a lot of blind listening tests, picked those 2 as my favorite 12 inch subwoofers. Fans of Hsu and SVS went ballistic - even though I had actually owned more Hsu and SVS subs than pretty much anyone.

During these tests, a lot was learned, and I posted this info on the AVS forum back when it had useful information instead of the marketing tool it is now.

One of those pieces of information was this: A subwoofer that is linear from 32 Hz up to and passed the crossover point, and that can do so at high levels, will give one amazing music performance, as well as cinema.

Too many subs were going after the 20 Hz output level and forgetting linearity.

What you are experiencing a speaker with three built in "subwoofer" drivers that are tuned to about 38 Hz and linear to 34 Hz. The lowest frequency of a 4 string bass guitar is 40 Hz, while even the largest kick drums are usually at 40 Hz or above.

You are also getting this linearity out to the 200 Hz crossover, which means the harmonics of the fundamental frequency are presented flawlessly in your system.

This adds up to what you consider to be the "best subwoofer."

Properly set up, the EP-500 can add a lot to your actives, but it will take work.

Aye, great explanation. I did the work, Craig.

Mojo - you posted while I was typing. It looks like you are well on your way!