Who benefits from an Epicenter

[sjv13]

I was just looking around in the processor part of Crutchfield and saw the Epicenter bass restorer. Are these mostly for people who use speaker level inputs? Would there be a noticeable difference for me? I just have a pretty normal system. RCA from head unit to PAC bass knob, then out to a mono amp, then speaker wire from amp to sub. 99% of the time I'm playing 320kbps files (1% of the time it's Apple Lossless ~1100kbps). Would this improve my bass? I feel like I dont have a strong enough substage for it to make much of a difference. Maybe I do. Idk.... any input?

[trumpet]

I've done a little bit of reading about the Epicenter. It came about when people were still listening to cassettes, and the music didn't have the low frequency extension by limitation of the recording media. I'm probably simplifying it or mangling it altogether but you can search Google about it if you want to learn more. Your digital music files are not lacking in bass unless they were recorded that way originally. If you need louder bass you need to add power, add or change subs, and look into a more efficient enclosure.

[ciaonzo]

Very misunderstood device and one of my all time favorites. It's strictly for fun but it can be beneficial, you just need gobs of power to make up for the demands it places. It's actually a synthesizer. It latches onto a frequency and throws in an artificially generated frequency one octave below that. Very simple. You control the amount of this effect by turning the knob. Works best (sounds better) when you use a much lower subsonic filter, something around 15hz. I believe it comes with 33hz fixed which is pretty high, but it's a safeguard against novice users. It will still thrash your drivers, though.

[BlurredVision]

Very misunderstood device and one of my all time favorites. It's strictly for fun but it can be beneficial, you just need gobs of power to make up for the demands it places. It's actually a synthesizer. It latches onto a frequency and throws in an artificially generated frequency one octave below that. Very simple. You control the amount of this effect by turning the knob. Works best (sounds better) when you use a much lower subsonic filter, something around 15hz. I believe it comes with 33hz fixed which is pretty high, but it's a safeguard against novice users. It will still thrash your drivers, though.

people make this sound like its the speaker blower upper, but u say its probably from playing harder at below tuning?

[sjv13]

I've done a little bit of reading about the Epicenter. It came about when people were still listening to cassettes, and the music didn't have the low frequency extension by limitation of the recording media. I'm probably simplifying it or mangling it altogether but you can search Google about it if you want to learn more. Your digital music files are not lacking in bass unless they were recorded that way originally. If you need louder bass you need to add power, add or change subs, and look into a more efficient enclosure.

Very misunderstood device and one of my all time favorites. It's strictly for fun but it can be beneficial, you just need gobs of power to make up for the demands it places. It's actually a synthesizer. It latches onto a frequency and throws in an artificially generated frequency one octave below that. Very simple. You control the amount of this effect by turning the knob. Works best (sounds better) when you use a much lower subsonic filter, something around 15hz. I believe it comes with 33hz fixed which is pretty high, but it's a safeguard against novice users. It will still thrash your drivers, though.

people make this sound like its the speaker blower upper, but u say its probably from playing harder at below tuning?

So it really doesnt have much of a practical application nowadays? It just is kind of a novelty that makes bass lower than it should be? (Which would be kinda fun, once in a while).

[ciaonzo]

people make this sound like its the speaker blower upper, but u say its probably from playing harder at below tuning?

It is definitely a 'speaker blower upper' in the hands of an unskilled user, lol. It throws in very low frequencies so people who are tuned high should not even consider it.

[ciaonzo]

So it really doesnt have much of a practical application nowadays? It just is kind of a novelty that makes bass lower than it should be? (Which would be kinda fun, once in a while).

Oh, it has a practical application. Anything that's light in the ass for low frequencies will benefit from it. It's just not accurate in the sense that it's not how the artist recorded the music. Definitely worth having.

[sjv13]

Oh, it has a practical application. Anything that's light in the ass for low frequencies will benefit from it. It's just not accurate in the sense that it's not how the artist recorded the music. Definitely worth having.

Would my arrrgg on 500rms benefit? The box is tuned to 33hz.

[ciaonzo]

Would my arrrgg on 500rms benefit? The box is tuned to 33hz.

They work best with drivers that have lots of mechanical and thermal headroom. In fact, headroom is the keyword here. You can't expect to be running hard, nearing your 500w output and then throw in a synthesized, line-driven frequency generator without any mechanical or thermal headroom left. See where I'm going with this?

[sjv13]

They work best with drivers that have lots of mechanical and thermal headroom. In fact, headroom is the keyword here. You can't expect to be running hard, nearing your 500w output and then throw in a synthesized, line-driven frequency generator without any mechanical or thermal headroom left. See where I'm going with this?

So you're saying no. And it would work well on a substage that has an overpowered amp with the gain turned down and high rms sub?

[BlurredVision]

so I'm imagining something like a smd 15 on a 2500 amp tuned to like 28-30 Hz? The key is headroom