Speakers set to large or small ?

[TheFactor]

Well im having a difficult time trying to decide between having my new RF7II's set to small or large and I always normaly set my speakers to small and I do realise thats a golden rule from what i've learned over the years . But with my 7's I've been going back and fourth between setting them to small and large and it almost sounds better set to small but its very close it just seems like a waste to set them to small considering that there 4 10's in huge boxes . My dual SVS subs need no help on the other hand handling my bass needs . My gear is in my sig any suggestions would be much appreciated everyday is a learning curve or should I say year lol just when you think you've got it figured out you learn something new . Thanks in advance for your tips and suggestions . Also i've been tossing around going to a RS62II instead of a RS64II and investing the difference in a few more amps although I know the importance of the center channel im wondering if the 62 would sound good with my 7's plus I ran across a deal on a new 62II for under 400 dollars .

[gfalk1]

Small, the woofer's in your 7's will still pick up LF's and will sound better then if you used smaller speakers for your fronts, but let your subs do the work they are made to do, I have tried it both ways and for HT, I think it sounds best when all speakers are set to small.

[TheFactor]

Small, the woofer's in your 7's will still pick up LF's and will sound better then if you used smaller speakers for your fronts, but let your subs do the work they are made to do, I have tried it both ways and for HT, I think it sounds best when all speakers are set to small.

Thanks for the reply and thats what im thinking to and thats true they still will be getting some LF's even when set to small . For 2 channel listening though I always run pure direct with my subs off and let my 7's do all the work and they sound amazing. Thanks again for your input !

[CECAA850]

I set my 7's to small and crossover around 65Hz. They sound great.

[Zen Traveler]

I set all of my speakers to Small and the crossover of my RF-7s at 60 Hz, even though my Denon set them to Large and Audyssey finds the crossover at 40 Hz.

[BE36]

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS? (LARGE AND SMALL)

When I had Forte IIs and hooked up a sub the sound, Bass below 80 Hertz, did not sound that much better actually a little less bass below 80 hertz.

The Sub and Forte II were acting like a giant pair of noice canceling Head Sets.

When I went to small there was an improvement, Sub was not being canceled out.

When I went to Large and changed the location off the Sub, finally got the improvement I was looking for in the low end.

I still crossed the Forte IIs at 60 to make there job easier, but still got so extra bass versus crossing at 80 or 100.

Small and Crossing at 60 helped in two ways

1) Lifted some of the demand made them sound better above 60. (less vibrtions in cabinet? Less movement of woofer gave more punch to freqs it hade to make? Less distortion? Less power draw more power availible?)

2) Filled the room with more bass, smoothed out some of the room nodes.

So find the optimum, best of both worlds, balance between Large and Small:

Play with locations of the subs when set on large to get the smoothest room response and best location for the subs, then go to small play with cross over freq until optimized.

[CHASLS2]

Maybe i have my system set up wrong. I have my RF63's set to large and the RC52 set to large and the RS42's set to small, i do not have a Sub with my setup and use a Pioneer 1120k AVR, i think the crossover is set at 80hz.

If anyone thinks i need to make some changes then please chim in.

[psg]

I had always set my KHorns to large,mostly because of the audiophile feeling that less processing was better, and I didn't want to kill my nice horn-loaded bass. But recently I started using small/40 Hz and I like the results. When I get the new THT sub in, I'll try again with 40 and 60 Hz.

[TheFactor]

Wow thanks so much guys for all the replies and different views and experiences with settings. What a great group of helpful and true audiophiles !!

[TheFactor]

Maybe i have my system set up wrong. I have my RF63's set to large and the RC52 set to large and the RS42's set to small, i do not have a Sub with my setup and use a Pioneer 1120k AVR, i think the crossover is set at 80hz.

If anyone thinks i need to make some changes then please chim in.

I think thats how I would run them if I didnt have a sub but try small just to see what sounds better but I know that can be difficult to hear the difference sometimes and thats why I started this thread : )

[TheFactor]

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS? (LARGE AND SMALL)

When I had Forte IIs and hooked up a sub the sound, Bass below 80 Hertz, did not sound that much better actually a little less bass below 80 hertz.

The Sub and Forte II were acting like a giant pair of noice canceling Head Sets.

When I went to small there was an improvement, Sub was not being canceled out.

When I went to Large and changed the location off the Sub, finally got the improvement I was looking for in the low end.

I still crossed the Forte IIs at 60 to make there job easier, but still got so extra bass versus crossing at 80 or 100.

Small and Crossing at 60 helped in two ways

1) Lifted some of the demand made them sound better above 60. (less vibrtions in cabinet? Less movement of woofer gave more punch to freqs it hade to make? Less distortion? Less power draw more power availible?)

2) Filled the room with more bass, smoothed out some of the room nodes.

So find the optimum, best of both worlds, balance between Large and Small:

Play with locations of the subs when set on large to get the smoothest room response and best location for the subs, then go to small play with cross over freq until optimized.

Thanks for the input and when I mentioned it sounded better on small it seemed to be more separated , like the higher frequencys and bass it seemed to sound cleaner. But I just tested different setting while watching Avatar and G.I Joe . It did sound good though on both settings but after a while of switching back and fourth everything started sounded the same lol .

[TheFactor]

I had always set my KHorns to large,mostly because of the audiophile feeling that less processing was better, and I didn't want to kill my nice horn-loaded bass. But recently I started using small/40 Hz and I like the results. When I get the new THT sub in, I'll try again with 40 and 60 Hz.

Thanks man ! Yes i've always had my speakers set to small when having my studios but thought i'd experiment with my 7's . The only thing I havent tryed was my crossover point i've always liked 80 and speakers set to small on my previous setup . Im thinking I might try 60 and everything set to small.

[TheFactor]

I set my 7's to small and crossover around 65Hz. They sound great.

Thanks im going to try a ,lower crossover point from 80 to 60 .

[TheFactor]

I set all of my speakers to Small and the crossover of my RF-7s at 60 Hz, even though my Denon set them to Large and Audyssey finds the crossover at 40 Hz.

Yes my pio elite always sets my fronts to large and crossover at 80 but 60 sounds like it might be the perfect crossover point and speakers at small .

[TheFactor]

So if im understanding this correctly if I set my crossover to 60 then any LFE below 60Hz goes to my subs and above 60Hz goes to my 7's ?

[dtel]

Maybe i have my system set up wrong. I have my RF63's set to large and the RC52 set to large and the RS42's set to small, i do not have a Sub with my setup and use a Pioneer 1120k AVR, i think the crossover is set at 80hz.

If anyone thinks i need to make some changes then please chim in.

Your good, with no sub you have no choice, if you set them to small there is no sub to play the lower frequencies.

[dtel]

So if im understanding this correctly if I set my crossover to 60 then any LFE below 60Hz goes to my subs and above 60Hz goes to my 7's ?

YES.

When set to small only the crossover point and above goes to your 7's, which helps your receivers amp because the 7's do not have to try to reproduce anything below 60Hz, the sub's amp does.

[jjennings2510]

I set my 7's to small and crossover around 65Hz. They sound great.

Thanks im going to try a ,lower crossover point from 80 to 60 .

Thats what I would do. I actually just resetup my parent's system last night bc a HDMI cable had a short in it and somehow all of the receiver settings were set wrong so I redid everything. Reran Audyseey and repositioned the speakers etc. They have a RF-62 system with a RW-10d sub and setting the crossover at 60hz sounded best. When I set them to large with the extra bass feature the 62s actually sounded weak. (i know you wouldn't have that problem with the 7s but the bass was also overpowering) and since the bass was overpowering the overall sound didn't sound too good. Dialog was too low and everything shook the walls. So i set the speakers to small with the crossover at 80 and it sounded way better.....then I set the crossover to 60 and that sounded best. Bass improved but not too much and the 62s sounded better....fuller. So I have their 62s set at 60hz and the center and surrounds set at 80hz. The LFE is set at 80hz. And with those settings the system sounded the best. Even better than when I did it the first time. Of course I got a call 10 min ago saying that there was no picture because apparently someone changed a setting so all of that work last night might have been for nothing. I think imma get them a Harmony remote for christmas. That way they just push one button to watch tv and won't have to worry about numerous remotes. But if you can set the crossover on each channel then I would try that. 60 for the L/R channels and 80 for all other channels.

[Zen Traveler]

Maybe i have my system set up wrong. I have my RF63's set to large and the RC52 set to large and the RS42's set to small, i do not have a Sub with my setup and use a Pioneer 1120k AVR, i think the crossover is set at 80hz.

If anyone thinks i need to make some changes then please chim in.

If you don't have a subwoofer set all of your speakers to large because you don't have a sub to crossover to.

[CHASLS2]

I get plenty of bass from the RF63's so i don't plan on getting a sub.