front speaker & sub-woofer question

[dtmix]

Just purchased the following speakers:

SB-2(2)

SC.5

SS.5(2)

SW-10

I have 2 questions:

1) I have an entertainment center with lower cabinets. The cabinet doors have cloth grill fronts. The cabinets are at ground level. Will I lose sound quality and/or surround sound effectiveness if I put my two SB-2s in these cabinets?

2) Sort of confused about the subwoofer settings with this system. With the speakers I have, what would be the RECOMMENDED LP Crossover, Level, Phase and Power auto/on settings?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[justin_tx_16]

you really want the front speakers at ear level. just how much lower would these be? also, if you did this you may want to take off their grill... basically double grilling them can make them sound a little off, IMHO at least.

what receiver do you have?

welcome to the boards!

[boa12]

d, assuming you have a receiver w/ a sub out to where you'll be connecting the sw, turn the crossover all the way up to 120hz or highest. your receiver will do the filtering & you don't want the sw's crossover cutting any lfe.

& probably will sound overall best setting all the speaks to small & sending the low bass only to the sub.

as for level, i'd set that sub to flat (0db) in the receiver & adjust the sw's output to where it blends or sounds best to you, or best of all use a sound meter to calibrate the sub level & all speaker levels w/ the test tones from your receiver or a test dvd.

as for phase, sit in the listening position & have a helper switch it back/forth while listening to some bassy cd. leave it where the bass has the most impact &/or sounds best to you. as many don't, you may not hear any dif in the phase settings. if so, just put on 0 (in phase w/ your speakers).

[toddvj]

Unless you have to, I wouldn't put the speakers in the cabinets. Both for the reasons that Justin gave, and also because the sound from the speakers does not move in just one direction. If you put a speaker Cabinet inside another Cabinet it will not sound the same. The engineers who design the speakers take a lot of care to avoid unwanted resonance. You'll get unwanted reflections, vibrations, etc. Compare the speaker's internal bracing with the "bracing" on your entertainment center (rap on it with your knuckles) and you'll see why it's not the best solution, even if it was perfectly at ear level. Of course the real world is always different from the ideal, and compromises must be made sometimes.

[Stephen328]

As far as speaker placement, idealy they should be placed on stands at ear level. Your very last resort should be to put them in your cabinent. And if you had to, you should probably remove the grille as justin recommended. As far as phase, theres another similar method for setting it that i find more effective: Reverse the polarity on your main speakers (plug red to black), sit in your listening position and have a friend adjust the phase shift. When you hear the least amount of bass, its set. Return your speakers polarity back to normal, and enjoy!

[dtmix]

Thanks for the response. I have a Denon 1403 (70x5).

Also, what's the best way to set the volume on the front & surround speakers? Should I set the center channel to +0db and then adjust the others until the volume seems the same from where I'm sitting?