Questions on amps, crossover settings, audyssey, LFE

[Dysmae]

I am looking for some guidance and the best and proper way to setup my system so that I am getting the most out of it. Some of you may read that I recently sold my Klipsch W Icon WF-35s(LF extention 41hz) and bought the Energy Veritas 6.3s (LF extention 32hz). I have a Denon 3310(120watts per channel) and three Marantz MA700s(200watts) hooked into the towers and the center channel. So let me give you guys some background on my initial impressions over the past couple months.

Before getting involved with the Marantz amps, I of course would run the audyssey on my setup. Sounds great. I would set the towers to small(WF35s) with a crossover at 40hz. Then I would add the MA700s to the towers, and wow! What a difference it made. More powerful bass, more seperation in sound effects. It just feels like it brings you closer to the material.

Then I upgraded to the Veritas 6.3. Significantly more bass and a much better midrange than the Icon line. At this time, I only had two Marantz MA700s for the towers, and didn't have the third to run the center channel. Well, I then ran audyssey after about a week of having the new Energy line. The receiver wanted to set the towers and center channel at full range large speakers. I changed them back to small, with the crossover at 40hz. Now, I live in a townhouse, so I can't have too much bass out of respect for the neighbors. After I made those changes, the speakers sounded good, but a bit bloated, so I changed to crossover for the towers to 60hz and now they sound great.

Then a couple days ago, I received my third MA700 (thanks to another forum member), and hooked it up to the center channel. I have not run the audyssey again, but man it makes the center sound way better as is.

So here are my observations and questions.

I know for theater(not 2 channel listening) most of you all have your towers set to small. Does setting the crossover 30hz above what the tower is capable of sound like an effective way to get great performace? The towers seem more detailed like this currently.

Observation: When listening to 2 channel music, my towers are set to large/full range without a sub. Before calibration, the Veritas 6.3 sounded wonderful with deep, pressurizing bass. After I ran audyssey, with the towers running at fullrange and hooked into the MA700s, they still sound amazing, but that deep throbbing bass is missing now for music. So here is my question.

Do most of you run the calibration again after you add an amp to your system? It seems to me that audyssey has really tamed the amps and they don't have as much impact as they once did when I first hooked them up. Currently, my center channel sounds amazing with the amp hooked up(I did not have the amp hooked into the center channel the last time I ran audyssey). I am worried that if I run audyssey again, it will tame the center channel down.

The way everything is setup now is actually ok since I can't have too much bass anyways, but I will be moving into a house in about three months and I will finally be able to watch a movie without having to constantly be on volume control the entire movie. Any comments that you guys make, I guess just let me know what you would do for setup in a house to get the best quality. Thanks again for any advise.

[Dysmae]

Bump for help. Thanks for watching.