few questions i hope you can help with.

[thoran6]

1. I upgraded yesterday from a klipsch HD 500 series to VF-35, VC-25 and VS-14 and have a Yamaha 465 receiver, but i am using the 6 inch subwoofer that came with the HD 500. Will this work fine or should I get an 8 or 10 inch woofer?

2. I hear conflicting ideas on speaker settings in the receiver. Do i make the front and center large and the VS-14 small?

3. Does it really make a difference to set the subwoofer in the receiver to both the front and sub instead of just the sub?

4. What crossover and volume would you suggest for the woofer? it is currently at 80 and the 11 o'clock position.

5. From watching TV shows in 5.1 I dont seem to hear alot of effects coming from the VS-14's. Should i manually adjust the volume or keep it with what the auto adjust did via the plug in microphone and YPAO test?

That should be all. Thanx for reading and or responding.

[dtel]

Nice upgrade. [Y]

1. I upgraded yesterday from a klipsch HD 500 series to VF-35, VC-25 and VS-14 and have a Yamaha 465 receiver, but i am using the 6 inch subwoofer that came with the HD 500. Will this work fine or should I get an 8 or 10 inch woofer?

I would get the 10", without large mains you will need all the help the sub can give with bass.

Not that there is something wrong with the VF-35, but there is a whole lot of bass in movies and it takes alot to reproduce it.

2. I hear conflicting ideas on speaker settings in the receiver. Do i make the front and center large and the VS-14 small?

I would set them all to small to give the amp in the receiver a break and let the sub carry the bass.

3. Does it really make a difference to set the subwoofer in the receiver to both the front and sub instead of just the sub?

Yes, set to both the front mains will also get the bass signal, set just sub if it a big enough sub, like the 10"

4. What crossover and volume would you suggest for the woofer? it is currently at 80 and the 11 o'clock position.

I guess you are talking about the sub. I would check the spec's on your mains and set the crossover a little above where they pick up, 80 is probably ok. Volume on the sub should be set to match the rest of the speakers YPAO should help you get that right.

5. From watching TV shows in 5.1 I dint seem to hear alot of effects coming from the VS-14's. Should i manually adjust the volume or keep it with what the auto adjust did via the plug in microphone and YPAO test?

I would leave it like the YPAO set it at OR get a DB meter from radio shack and set them manually yourself if you think they aren't set right. How does DVDs sound, more from the rear speakers? If set correctly it will play the way the director wants you to hear it, good or bad that's how it should go.

That should be all. Thanx for reading and or responding.

All of this is my opinion and others may have different ideas, but that's what i would do. i don't have YPAO so i set mine with the DB meter and it's fine, sometimes there is not much info on rear channels.

Make sure your Yamaha is connected correctly to you source and is receiving a 5.1 signal, and check which settings ( mode) your playing it back on with the receiver.

[thoran6]

thanx for the input. it helps alot. i havent played dvd on it as of yet. will get the 10 inch today.

[dtel]

I think you will be much happier with the 10". If I had to guess a DVD will give you a much better surround sound, even the HD 5.1 channels I use don't come close to a DVD.

[mbr311]

2. I hear conflicting ideas on speaker settings in the receiver. Do i make the front and center large and the VS-14 small?

I would set them all to small to give the amp in the receiver a break and let the sub carry the bass.

Sorry to threadjack but I was wondering do you think the same applies to my setup (in terms of setting the mains and center to small vs. large)? Thanks!

[dtel]

Yes in my opinion, unless you always listen at low volumes. Most HT amps don't put out anything close to the power they advertise with all channels working at the same time covering the whole frequency range.

I use 6 Fortes and a sub and have all 6 set to small, it sounds better that way, if I had a big 3 or 5 channel amp it may be different.

imo

[dtel]

I am surprised no one else posted on this.......it has been slow this spring around here.

[jrod]

Continuing the threadjack theme... Dtel, I do have a 5 channel amp powering my front soundstage, do you think I should set my front speakers to "Large" in my Integra? The Outlaw pushes 165w/ch (real watts).

What do you think?

[zaskarx]

Continuing the threadjack theme... Dtel, I do have a 5 channel amp powering my front soundstage, do you think I should set my front speakers to "Large" in my Integra? The Outlaw pushes 165w/ch (real watts).

What do you think?

Give it a try, cant hurt, see what you think. I have a 200 wpc B&K 5 channel amp. I have RF7 and run mine on small. I thought big sounded good, sounds ok but crossed at 80 seems to sound better to me. The bass is smoother. I think the bass from the mains and sub dont mix well in my room. I thought big sounded good till I gave small a try . Try it and tell us what you think.

[dtel]

" Continuing the threadjack theme... Dtel, I do have a 5 channel amp powering my front soundstage, do you think I should set my front speakers to "Large" in my Integra? The Outlaw pushes 165w/ch (real watts).

What do you think? "

Your right the Outlaw probably is 165 real watts, i would say try it both ways and see how it sounds.

For a long time I had my forte ll's set to large and also had the bass signal going to the sub. Dr Who to me to try setting them to small and see how it sounded, I only have a Yamaha RX-V730 which is less than 100 watts.

When I tried it, it sounded better on small and having the sub do the bass. At low volumes it sounded a little fuller set to large but when you turned it up a little the bass was like Zaskarx said "the bass was smother". It also had less of the boomy sound and a little tighter sound, not less bass just a better sounding bass and an overall cleaner sound.

I think it was not just taking some pressure off the amp in the receiver but also not having bass coming from 6 Forte's and the sub at the same time, I like it set to small better, all of this is considering the sub can handle the bass on it's own, I don't think a little 6" or 8" sub could do it.

It all comes down to what sounds best and more is not always best when it comes to bass.

What I do is take everybody's ideas on the forum try them out and go from there, this place has saved me a bunch of money and I ended up with a setup which is WAY better than if i had just stumbled around putting things together until i was happy.

This has just been my experience, do what you think sounds best. [Y]

[jrod]

Thanks guys! I'll try it both ways tonight and let you know what I think.

[RockOn4Klipsch]

I think speaker setting are dependent on many things, room placement, power constraints and listening habits. I'm in the camp of running things Large (or full range). I listen to alot of music and multi channel music, there is a noticeable difference in my system when switching between small and large settings. When running things as small and xover at 80 hz the bass and lfe sound a little bloated, when I run large it's tight, fast and deep, so alot depends on what each speaker is capable of in "your" room.

In most cases with your big box brand recievers the small setting is probably ideal, you ease the strain on your amplifier and inturn recieve better sound quality. Most newer recievers you also get room correction technology which helps to deal with issues such as the one in my situation.

I think the best thing to do is if your curious is to really experiment with different settings. When you play with the settings use the same material (ie same song, same scene ) this gives your some objective as to what your trying to achieve, also push the system a little to see what it really sounds like, since lower frequencies are less noticeable to the human hear, your systems sound may change at higher SPL so give it a good go. When pushing the system you will also notice if your amp is stressing and whether or not certain settings work for your amp at higher SPLs.

[Youthman]

You have been given solid advice. Try it both ways, maybe leave it for a few days and see what your ears hear. Then switch one setting (say Large to Small) and listen to the same material over the next few days and see what your ears hear. Take notes so you can remember what you heard. In the end, your ears are all that matter. Who cares if the consensus is to set your speakers to Small if you prefer the sound of them set to Large.

[mbr311]

You have been given solid advice. Try it both ways, maybe leave it for a few days and see what your ears hear. Then switch one setting (say Large to Small) and listen to the same material over the next few days and see what your ears hear. Take notes so you can remember what you heard. In the end, your ears are all that matter. Who cares if the consensus is to set your speakers to Small if you prefer the sound of them set to Large.

Any advice on how to figure out best what sound setting is best for each program? I feel like I'm constantly looking for the "best" sounding setting for DVDs, regular TV, music, etc... Right now I have settings for each but its hard to figure out with 25 or so sound settings which one sounds the best. Any advice on that, like is it best to have someone tinker with it while you are in your normal seating position?

[Youthman]

For me, the only "setting" I change are the following:

Music - 2ch

Concert DVD - Movies

Blurays - Movies

TV - 7ch Stereo

Other than that, I leave the settings the same for everything. I don't use most of the "Sound Fields" that my Yamaha has (Classical, Dolby PLII, Music Enhanced etc). Most of them just add artificial reverb to the sound which I do not prefer. I don't even care for "Pure Direct" since it turns off my sub.

As far as "tinkering" with it, no need to have someone else do it. You can sit in your listening position and change the settings from your remote to see which you prefer.

Did that answer your questions?

[thoran6]

do most people listen to 7.1 enhanced when watching tv? i have been debating it alot. to me it seems as the surround left and right dont function the same as on 7.1 enhanced, all of the sounds on the tv go to all of the speakers. any thoughts?

[mbr311]

For me, the only "setting" I change are the following:

Music - 2ch

Concert DVD - Movies

Blurays - Movies

TV - 7ch Stereo

Other than that, I leave the settings the same for everything. I don't use most of the "Sound Fields" that my Yamaha has (Classical, Dolby PLII, Music Enhanced etc). Most of them just add artificial reverb to the sound which I do not prefer. I don't even care for "Pure Direct" since it turns off my sub.

As far as "tinkering" with it, no need to have someone else do it. You can sit in your listening position and change the settings from your remote to see which you prefer.

Did that answer your questions?

Yea that answered my question thanks!