Epicenter Settings

[Max_Power 10+ year member]

I received an AudioControl Epicenter for chrismas this year and am very happy with it so far. However, I am having some trouble setting it up properly for the sound I am trying to achieve. I have read the instruction manual (great and humerous by the way) several times, and I am having trouble understanding what each knob is doing. One is for setting center frequency, and the other is for the width of the band. That I get, but I do not know what way means what.

Does increasing it raise or lower the frequency?

Also, as a side note, I have an AudioControl Matrix on the way, which is basically a line driver with multiple outputs and inputs.

My question is this, Will this addition require me to lower the input senitivity on my amp, and if so will it in-turn lower my output at a given volume?

Any help or plain comments will be appreciated.

Thanx

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[expo5.0 10+ year member]

you will want to play with the epicenter to get it to sound right to you-

basically- i'd start with the volume at a nice mid level (not too loud at all- leave it room ot get louder), and with a song with a nice consistent bass tone to it. Turn on the epicenter's "restoration", turn the width all the way down, and adjust throughout the frequencies. Set it at the frequency which is the loudest and/or sounds the cleanest. Next play with the width (likely want this all the way "wide" for daily listening). In my experience i usually have the freq. almost buried to the low end and the width all the way open.

 

[Max_Power 10+ year member]

I have a Hifonics Bxi1606 amp, should I turn the bass boost on on that? Right now it's off. I have 80hz boosted 4db on my deck should that be flat? The bass setting, which is at 60hz, is flat as well. How high is your level at mine is at about 65% - 75%. Also is there any risk of distortion/clipping from the epicenter itself.?

Thanks for the help so far.

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[expo5.0 10+ year member]

yes, there is all kind of risk from it, but not from the epicenter itself clipping- be careful with your new toy and don't play anything that sounds "bad"

I would not boost your bass anywhere else whatsoever (later you can use your hu's adjustments slightly if you want, but keep the amps boost off)

what kind of subs are you running? what kind of enclosure?

 

[Max_Power 10+ year member]

Currently I am running 2 Kicker CompVR's in 2.25cu ft slot ported box tuned tuned to 25hz. With the Epicenter on the bass goes super low, but it kinda got sloppy. Thats the reason I posted this whole thing, I realized maybe I dont know what I'm getting into .

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[expo5.0 10+ year member]

i know exactly what you mean by sloppy- it is likely that you are actually losing spl on those songs by using your epicenter as well...

don't play it when it sounds bad like that

 

[Max_Power 10+ year member]

What I meant by sloppy is loose and inconsitent. Sometimes it sounds right, then others the bass seems out of place. The best news is that for the most part it is working well for the music I listen too the most, which is classic rock and alternative new rock. The woofers hit and sounded great when I listen to rap, but I only listen to rap to hear the bass (not my kind of music). Thats the whole reason I wanted the epicenter. I wanted the same kind of bass I got with the rap.

-On a side note, does your epicenter light flicker on and off when the bass hits. In the manual it says it should, but mine rarely does. I ask this because is it possible that I have a deffective one. The build quality seems to be great, but there is always like a small percentage of bad ones that slip through.

Shoot me back

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[Max_Power 10+ year member]

I almost forgot. Do you have to disable the subsonic filter on the amplifier to get maximum results from the epicenter. I see that in the Epicenter manual it states that there is already an internal one in play, and if I use a second one it may just complicate things. Especially since the markings on my amp are a helpful as follows, (full left=min, full right=max). I tried to get it set right, and I thought I did until I played Bass, I Love You through it. If you havent heard that song on a good system I feel for you. The last note in the barage is like straight 15hz. The amp I used to use was the little powerhouse Alpine MRP-M350, which rocked that song. Now that song falls flat on its face //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crying.gif.ec0ebefe590df0251476573bc49e46d8.gif .

 

[expo5.0 10+ year member]

having two filters is not a problem

if yo are really tuned to 25 hz you shouldn't be at TOO much risk on that end of things though

for the record i don't run an epicenter in any of my vehicles at this point- but i'm a veteran installer of maybe 10 and have run epic150 and epic160 in past iterations of my explorer.

yes, the epicenter is an awesome way to get a little more feeling into classic rock

 

[expo5.0 10+ year member]

why is no one else responding?

 

[Max_Power 10+ year member]

dont know, I thought the Epicenter was pretty popular!

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[azbass 5,000+ posts]

why is no one else responding?

we cant really tell you how to make it sound good over a computer.

 

[MikeyB 5,000+ posts]

I have one and everything that has been said is correct, just play with it and be careful.

 

[expo5.0 10+ year member]

i was trying- lol

you're right though, very hard to explain over a forum post

 

[Max_Power 10+ year member]

yeah, I can sypathize with all you, its hard to tell people what you're thinking an write it down.

-Well I spent around an hour playing with it, and got it to sound decent. The problem I am having is that when I play a song that had bass before I added the epicenter It sounds weird and weak. The good news is that when I play music that didn't have bass it, the epicenter makes it come alive. I am still having problems with it sounding heavy on some material. I realize it cant be perfect but I thought it would be more consistent. I am starting to think that one of my knobs dont work, the one on the left, I think its the width. also the light behind the EPICENTER logo only light up when I have everything going very loud.

-I think I might try to exchange it w/ another one to see if it helps

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Life happens while you're making other plans