Digital Trends

Axiom Epic 50 March 5th, 2003 | by Mike Bell

QS4 Surrounds

The QS4 surround speakers are 6.5 inches tall, 9.5 inches wide, and 6 inches deep. There are two 4.5-inch aluminum woofers and two neodymium-titanium tweeters. The drivers are angled to the left and right for dispersion. There are two small speaker grills — one on each side. The grills are so small that their thickness is exaggerated in appearance. A wrap-around grill would have provided a more esthetic appearance.

EP175 Subwoofer

The EP175 subwoofer is 17.5 inches tall, 13.5 inches wide, and 14.25 inches deep. There is a single 10-inch aluminum woofer. There are two vortex ports in front and below the 10-inch woofer. The EP175 weighs about 35 lbs.

The rear panel of the EP175 contains multiple binding posts and RCA jacks for high level in, line in, high level out, and line out. The line input is used for receivers or Amps that provide a separate line out for subwoofers. The high level inputs are provided for receivers/Amps that have no separate line out for subwoofers. When the high level inputs are connected to the receiver's front left and right speaker outputs, the front left and right speakers can be connected to the EP175's high level outputs.

A power switch, fuse, power indicator lamp, variable low pass filter control, phase switch, and level control make up the remaining rear panel functions. When the power switch is left on, the EP175 automatically detects the presence of a signal on the line input and powers up from standby.

The level control adjusts the subwoofer output relative to the other speaker channels. The low pass filter control allows user adjustment of the range of low frequencies that are directed to the subwoofer. A phase switch selects 0 or 180 degrees phase shift of the subwoofer output relative to the other speakers.

Listening

The towers were placed about 18 inches from the rear wall. The QS4s were placed on stands at the rear of the room about 10 feet from the towers. The EP175 subwoofer was placed to the side of the right tower.

A Yamaha R-V1105 surround sound receiver drove all of the speakers. A Yamaha CDC-905 compact disk changer and Sony DVP-NS700P DVD player were used for the audio sources. The optical outputs were used so that the receiver's D/A converters were used to reproduce the sound for both movies and compact discs.

It took several minutes and several different audio sources to get a satisfactory set up for the subwoofer phase, level, and low pass frequency. Even after this initial setup it was not uncommon to make fine level adjustments between different movies and audio CDs. Ideally, a sound level meter and test disk could be used to set up the sub's controls; however, personal listening preferences would probably overrule those settings anyway.

The Epic 50 system sound was very impressive!