pls help me,large or small spkrs?

[marcell]

hey guys!please help me!should i set my speakers to large or small?

im running harman kardon avr240 to rf 52s fronts,rf 25 rears,rc 52 center and synergy sub 10,i notice a sound difference when speakers are set to large as to small but what would be the right setting.also on my sub at what level should i have my Gain and Lowpass i also have the phase switch set to 0 instead of 180,is that right?

[Mr. RF62]

Have your speakers set to small, crossover set at 80Hz, and dependiong on where your sub is located, the phase at 0 is a starting point.

[Just_Strummin]

I agree, though you should also experiment. You aren't going to hurt your speakers unless you do something stupid like turn the volume up too high.

[Mr. RF62]

Let your sub do the subwoofing. Those speakers will not give you enough output down in the low end of the frequency spectrum.

[colterphoto1]

Have your speakers set to small, crossover set at 80Hz, and dependiong on where your sub is located, the phase at 0 is a starting point.

This is correct. If a speaker is not really full range (ie flat down to say 30 hz), it should not be run as LARGE.

Let the sub do the woofing- sage advice indeed.

In your case, the receiver is doing all the crossover functions. I usually set the subs xover and volume fully clockwise and tweak everything at the receiver.

[marcell]

thanks a lot,but when u say crossover set at 80hz would that be the lowpass on my sub to set to 80hz?

sorry!dont mean to sound stupid but i dont know much about speakers,

[Islander]

There are two places to set the low-pass or LFE crossover. One is on the sub itself and the other is in your receiver. The usual practice is to turn the knob on the sub all the way up, to 120Hz or 150Hz or whatever your sub goes up to, then do the setting with the receiver. That keeps things simple. If you use the control on the sub as well as the receiver, the crossover curve could be a bit unpredictable, if I understand things correctly.

[Montigue231]

MARCELL LISTEN..REGARDLESS WAT ANYONE TELLS U..ONLY SET YOUR SPEAKERS TO SMALL IF YOU HAVE A GOOD POWERFUL SUB TO HANDLE ALL THE LOW END THAT COMES FROM MOVIES..IF YOU ONLY HAVE A 10 INCH SUB THAT DOESENT HAVE A HIGH POWERED D CLASS AMP LIKE A KLIPSCH SUB 10 THEN ITS BETTER TO SET YOUR SPEAKERS TO LARGE AND LET THEM HELP THE SUB OUT..

IDEALY YES YOU WANT TO SET YOUR SPEAKERS TO SMALL AND LET THE SUB POUND AWAY...BUT NOT WITH A SUB 10

MONTY

[marcell]

thanks alot buddy! ill give that a try,see how it works out.

[Montigue231]

Get back with us and tell us how your experiences went, and what do u think sounds best?

[marcell]

so i did change my speakers to large,and set the sub to 80hz and it does sound a litlle better,i like it better this way but will i damage my speakers?

thnxs

[Just_Strummin]

I'm not an expert, but as another posted stated, your speakers should be used up to their bandwidth capacity. A speaker reproduces sound. Speaker manufacturers create speakers that will reproduce sound over a signal frequency range. Let's say a speaker can go from 20Hz (the low end) to 20kHz (the high end). That is a full range speaker.

Unfortunately, many speakers will not be able to produce a "flat" signal beyond that range. That means that anything under 20Hz or over 20kHz will not be as loud as the sound between 20Hz and 20kHz. This effect is known as rolloff. For many speakers rolloff is "steep", which means the signal degrades quickly. So, any signal between 20-20 is ideal.

I don't know the frequency "limitations" of your speakers but let's say they're 60Hz to 20kHz. Well then, they will produce sound from 60Hz to 20kHz without steep rolloff at the speaker's limitations. That means any signal below 60Hz and any signal above 20kHz will "lose" energy in decibals. The speaker will reproduce sound below 60Hz, but it won't be as loud as the signal betwen 60-20. That is why you use a SUB woofer. The SUB is lower than 60Hz.

Some subs can get down really low. How low? REALLY low. Maybe down to 5Hz. That is well beyond human hearing, but you'll feel it. That is the rumble you feel in a movie theather.

However, most recordings are between 20Hz and 20kHz because that's how most music is made. Some organ pieces go down to 15Hz, but again most people can't hear it. They'll feel it, but not hear it. So, if a recording only goes down to 20Hz, your sub woofer can't create sound it doesn't get fed. It will only reproduce the sound from the signal it is fed, which in this case is 20Hz.

So, should your set up be LARGE or SMALL? Well, the safe thing would be to set it at small if they aren't full range speakers. But, I don't think you'd hurt your speakers if you set them to LARGE because the speaker simply can't reproduce any signal beneath its frequency range with as much volume as it can between its frequency range.

That is why you like the LARGE setting. Your speaker is reproducing the lower range, just not as loudly. Therefore, your speakers are covering some of the frequency range your sub is covering.

Conversely, some people like to set their subwoofer higher. They want their sub to give some weight to the frequency range that their other speakers cover. For example, your speakers cover 60Hz to 20kHz. Some people may set the cutoff for the sub to be 80Hz, maybe even 100Hz. Why? Again, they want the sub to give some weight to the signal even though their other speakers already cover it.

That's why it is a matter of preference and I suggest you experiment to find out what settings you like the best.

[Mr. RF62]

J.S. has good points in there, another reason that you cut off the mains is to give "releaf" for the receiver to do its job more efficiently on the mid to high frequencies. Therefore your receiver will play a little cooler and you'll be able to turn up the volume a bit higher with a little less distortion.

[Montigue231]

if thats a fact then that makes sense. That would be a good reason to set to small. Although I doubt your damaging anything setting to large. The distortion factor is something to think about though.

[Mr. RF62]

I found with the Reference series that if it sounds bad, those speakers will reproduce it. Bass takes more power than the mid to high frequencies to reproduce. Cutting at 80Hz, takes strain off the receiver and lets the powered subwoofer do the task of reproducing the bass(lower frequencies) wich its is made to do. If you have a more powerful receiver/amp, than you can cut it lower( say 60Hz or 40Hz) as long as your speakers can reproduce that. Some have a rule of thumb to cut the mains bass f.r. at 20Hz higher than the lowest frequecy that the speaker is rated at. I notice that 80Hz works great for movies, but then 60Hz cutoff work better for music. Personal choice.

[marcell]

wow!!! i guess ill change them back to small. thanks a lot

[Mr. RF62]

[]

[Montigue231]

Yes your right , setting the cutoff at 80hz on the reciever and turning up the crossover all the way up on the sub does give more seperation and less distortion.. good advice here. this is what sounds best for me:

reciever cut off 80hz

speakers set to large

sub set to 180 degree lowpass set to 120 hz

If i set my speakers to small i notice my sub bottoms out quickly..it cant handle too much low end its just a ksw 10..but it does fill in some nice low end with the mains set to large at moderate levels.. It really is important to get a good quality sub.

tisk! i been coming on this site for years but never payed much attention to these setting until now[H]

[Mr. RF62]

Betcha wanna get a really good sub now...

[Montigue231]

uhuh, a RSW 12 would be nice and another set of RF 62's or better yet 82's. I posted a thread here not long ago regreting selling off the 62's I had..only paid 100 bucks for them