AVS Forum banner

Official Epik Subwoofer Thread

2M views 21K replies 1K participants last post by  elmalloc 
#1 ·
Well guys....as the saying goes:

".... and so it begins! "



As some of you may already know, Ascendant Audio has been very quiet for many many months, and it's owner, Chad Kuypers, has been missing in action for a VERY long time. Some of you guys from the DIY world will remember Ascendant Audio from their driver offerings, such as the famous Avalanche XBL^2 drivers, as well as the the Havoc and a few others.


Well, the cat is out!!! (Sorry Chad....we the people can't keep our mouths shut when we discover a good thing...
) so THIS is why you have been missing in action, huh?


Epik Subwoofers is about to launch in the next few days apparently, and seems like they will have several offerings to start, which range from 4 different 15" ported alignment, to a flagship large 18" ported box. I'm sure there will be tons of info in the next few days, specially Pictures, price, measurement numbers, performance numbers, etc.


looks like the URL is up too, but nothing up yet: http://www.epiksubwoofers.com


Given the performance and price of Chad's past offerings, such as the avalanche, can only mean one thing: a great commercial subwoofer lineup at amazing prices.


Anyways, thought you guys might find this bit of news VERY interesting indeed. I hope Chad, Scott, and some of the other guys decide to chime in and show us more info.


It's a great time to be an A/V enthusiast indeed!!!
 
See less See more
3
#20,801 ·
Hey lovin i got my inuke. Looked at that link you sent me. Now i want to see if the amp is working. I hooked up everything but dont hear any bass with test tones. Am i missing something? Do i need to some how activate amp? I am not hearing the sub at all. Do i set inuke as stereo, dual, oe bi-amp?
More specifics of what you did might help. It's also possible it wasn't an amp failure but rather a driver failure. Personally I haven't used an iNuke series amp, I use Crown XLS amps so not sure what the mode choices are with the iNuke, the manual should be a good guide or make a thread in the diy subforum....
 
#20,802 ·
More specifics of what you did might help. It's also possible it wasn't an amp failure but rather a driver failure. Personally I haven't used an iNuke series amp, I use Crown XLS amps so not sure what the mode choices are with the iNuke, the manual should be a good guide or make a thread in the diy subforum....
Ok thank god the driver is good. I figured out what was wrong. Had to turn up knob in front. Its alive! Now i need to firgure out how to optimize the sub.
 
#20,803 ·
I have not been so lucky. Not sure what to do now. I just paid 120 with shipping to repair plate amp and as soon as i plugged up the empire. Red light then snap then buzz,cracking sound. I checked resistance on the sub leads and got 3.7 to 4.2ohms. I checked on the drivers and got what i think was 6.5 to 7 ish.

Im in the hole now 300 dollars for this stupid sub.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
#20,804 ·
I have not been so lucky. Not sure what to do now. I just paid 120 with shipping to repair plate amp and as soon as i plugged up the empire. Red light then snap then buzz,cracking sound. I checked resistance on the sub leads and got 3.7 to 4.2ohms. I checked on the drivers and got what i think was 6.5 to 7 ish.

Im in the hole now 300 dollars for this stupid sub.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Not to be mean but why would you attempt to repair that pile of crap amplifier? It's pretty much the consensus in here to buy a quality separate amplifier (some buy replacement plate amplifiers from Parts Express). The drivers themselves and the cabinet especially are still very nice.

If I were you I would get a refund for the repair because it obviously was not completed properly and purchase a quality replacement amplifier.
 
#20,805 ·
Careful there. Daveds50 in NV did that repair. I Would retract that statement. Very well respected in the community. And the amp not so bad just needed to be de-chinafied with better quality parts, which is what he did. Also ran for 2.5 hrs on a test rig with no issues. and those drivers in the epics have known issues for the voice coils melting or fusing together. I Would rather be out 86 on that playe amp repair than an spa1000 that i wouldnt be able to return to PE for 330 bucks. But there could be other issues at hand with the amp, but it was the output section again that blew.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
#20,806 ·
Careful there. Daveds50 in NV did that repair. I Would retract that statement. Very well respected in the community. And the amp not so bad just needed to be de-chinafied with better quality parts, which is what he did. Also ran for 2.5 hrs on a test rig with no issues. and those drivers in the epics have known issues for the voice coils melting or fusing together. I Would rather be out 86 on that playe amp repair than an spa1000 that i wouldnt be able to return to PE for 330 bucks. But there could be other issues at hand with the amp, but it was the output section again that blew.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Buy a better amp, watch your problems go away. :)
 
#20,808 · (Edited)
I won't say anything .. he did me a favor. If he honestly felt he did something wrong ... i feel he would have admitted to it. These drivers respond fine on a 9 volt and multimeter though. I am perplexed as to what to do. In 21 years of buying used ebay other ....ive never gotten burned on something. But i bought this knowing it was broken. and thought I could bring it back to life very affordable. I really hate the idea of external amp ... as i was hoping to place in back half of the room. But i could at least try it once more and see what i think. Ive not heard it once... so what do i have to lose. I Think daveds50 is a good guy and he knows what he is doing including friends (Tom) at psa... perhaps he missed something...or perhaps it got damaged during transit... or perhaps something just went wrong when power was reapplied to it ...after all cheap china amp ...and ultimately bad decision to repair


Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
#20,809 ·
no matter what you guys think, the amps are not that bad... certain Chinese parts need to be replaced, and then they work fine and are reliable. what some of you are replacing the amps with, are way worse.

kinda like people that think Elemental Designs amps were bad... funny that if the crappy drivers that they used late in their run are replaced, then the amps are darn near bullet proof. i have been heavily abusing a few for years, with no trouble. ( i refuse to use eD drivers, and all i had went to the recyclers, including the new in box ones )

no amp can handle shorted wires or bad drivers. nc88keys amp had the standard over 2 hours burn in at 4 ohms at 75% power after repair. but, will blow up the outputs if hooked up to shorted wires or bad drivers immediately, just like any amp.

what people are failing to understand, is drivers do not last forever. with the popularity of long throw drivers, things wear out even quicker when companies cut costs. i usually replace mine and give them away at around 5 years... and my amps never blow up.

yes, i am reducing the amount of cheap Chinese amps taken in, but that is due to the time involved swapping Chinese parts, compared to the current work load on regular repairs. with both car and home audio amps coming in from companies, i am pretty busy.
 
#20,810 ·
I'm hoping someone can help me out. My Empire just stopped working. My credit card company will still honor covering its repair or replacement cost, even though the company is out of business. However, I have to provide a copy of their warranty policy or something that shows proof of a warranty. Since it didn't ship with a manual and I didn't think to save anything from their website, I am currently SOL. Does anyone have anything at all that shows proof of a warranty? A copy of the webpage even..

Thanks so much.
 
#20,811 ·
I'm hoping someone can help me out. My Empire just stopped working. My credit card company will still honor covering its repair or replacement cost, even though the company is out of business. However, I have to provide a copy of their warranty policy or something that shows proof of a warranty. Since it didn't ship with a manual and I didn't think to save anything from their website, I am currently SOL. Does anyone have anything at all that shows proof of a warranty? A copy of the webpage even..

Thanks so much.
If I were you, I would just make something in word. It's not like they can call and verify the authenticity.
 
#20,813 ·
I'm hoping someone can help me out. My Empire just stopped working. My credit card company will still honor covering its repair or replacement cost, even though the company is out of business. However, I have to provide a copy of their warranty policy or something that shows proof of a warranty. Since it didn't ship with a manual and I didn't think to save anything from their website, I am currently SOL. Does anyone have anything at all that shows proof of a warranty? A copy of the webpage even..

Thanks so much.
Others have suggested making a product page in Word which will probably work. You could also modify your original order email to include language regarding the warranty it came with.

Also, don't repair the amp. Replace it with another plate amp from Parts Express or external amplifier (I like the iNukes, but they have noisy fans).
 
#20,814 ·
Others have suggested making a product page in Word which will probably work. You could also modify your original order email to include language regarding the warranty it came with.

Also, don't repair the amp. Replace it with another plate amp from Parts Express or external amplifier (I like the iNukes, but they have noisy fans).
What amp do you recommend? I ask because my amp died just a couple days ago. Is there a plate amp that is comparable? I have 4 Empires that have done well up until now.
 
#20,815 ·
What amp do you recommend? I ask because my amp died just a couple days ago. Is there a plate amp that is comparable? I have 4 Empires that have done well up until now.
I bought a Behringer iNuke 6000DSP to power my 2 Empires. I've been very happy. The fans in the iNuke are noisy but I have my gear in another room.

I don't know much about plate amps, others in this thread have posted about it, most buying from Parts Express.

I'd look into a single amp if you could, needing to buy 4 plate amps could be spendy. Although, perhaps there's a plate amp that could power 2 Empires...
 
#20,818 ·
I bought a Behringer iNuke 6000DSP to power my 2 Empires. I've been very happy. The fans in the iNuke are noisy but I have my gear in another room.

I don't know much about plate amps, others in this thread have posted about it, most buying from Parts Express.

I'd look into a single amp if you could, needing to buy 4 plate amps could be spendy. Although, perhaps there's a plate amp that could power 2 Empires...
If I go with an external amp that's the one I plan to get, even though it will be in my living room and I'm unsure about the fan noise. I wish I could find an original replacement amp for sale but I've had no luck. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do yet.
 
#20,819 ·
If I go with an external amp that's the one I plan to get, even though it will be in my living room and I'm unsure about the fan noise. I wish I could find an original replacement amp for sale but I've had no luck. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do yet.
You definitely do not want an original replacement. Just about everyone is eventually having problems with them.

Depending on you living room setup, remember that the iNuke's have rack ears. They work fine on a shelf, but they do look like they should be rack mounted. A lot of people have replaced the fans with quieter ones. Behringer chose industrial type fans instead of PC type fans, so there was little concern for noise.

If I was putting an iNuke in my living room, I'd buy replacement fans, and little rubber feet for the amp itself and call it a day. If you don't really have a place for it, I'd see if you could find a plate amp that could power 2 Empires and get them. At least that way they are unseen.

I'd remove the plate amp off one of your broken Empires so you know what your working with. You said you had 4 Empires, right? Are they all together, separate or in groups of 2?
 
Top