Marantz SR5009 Setup- speaker height

[rnet9]

I know there is a lot of discussion about speaker height and crossover. I'm still confused. If the Frequency Response of the speaker determines if the speaker height should be Large or Small, is there a rule of thumb to determine the best setting?

For example my left and right Channels are Energy CF-50s. The Frequency Response is 39Hz-20kHz +-3db.
What should the height be set to; Large or Small? If small what should the crossover be set to?

I know that my Center and surround channels should be set to small, what should the crossover be set. I've included the Models and Frequency Response below.

Center- Energy CC-10 FR: 60Hz-20kHz +- 3DB
Surround- Energy CB-5 FR: 71Hz-20kHz =- 3DB
Subwoofer- Energy ESW-C10 FR 32Hz-140Hz +- 3DB.

Thank you for taking the time to help out
Rnet9

 

[gibbsy]

Welcome to the Forum.

If you are running a surround system with a sub then the general rule is to have all speakers set to small, regardless of their physical size. The ideal crossover is suggested as being 80hz.

This thread, you only need to read the first post, is an excellent description of what and why you need to use when running a sub.

Crossover and Speaker Settings in Relation to Bass Management

Crossover and Speaker Settings in Relation to Bass Management Most, if not all AV amps and receivers now incorporate some form of bass management. In many instances this management allows a user to determine the point at which lower frequencies are sent to the speakers and subwoofer via...

www.avforums.com

 

[rnet9]

Welcome to the Forum.

If you are running a surround system with a sub then the general rule is to have all speakers set to small, regardless of their physical size. The ideal crossover is suggested as being 80hz.

This thread, you only need to read the first post, is an excellent description of what and why you need to use when running a sub.

Crossover and Speaker Settings in Relation to Bass Management

Crossover and Speaker Settings in Relation to Bass Management Most, if not all AV amps and receivers now incorporate some form of bass management. In many instances this management allows a user to determine the point at which lower frequencies are sent to the speakers and subwoofer via...

www.avforums.com

I read the post it was great. I guess I'm looking for a formula. I took the advice and set my crossovers to 80hz. My sound is good, but I'd like to tweak it to make it better.

 

[dante01]

The common rule of thumb is to always set speakers as being SMALL regardless of their physicalk size or their rated frequency handling capabilities. Even if the speakers have a rated frequency handling below 80Hz then you'd still be advised to set the crossover at 60Hz or higher.

OK, I Get It But My Speakers Really Are LARGE!​

For some, your main speakers may actually extend down to 30Hz or lower, especially if they include 10” or 12” side-firing low frequency drivers. The temptation will be to set these speakers to LARGE. The setting is there so there must be a place for its use, right? Actually, we usually recommend setting almost all speakers to SMALL, even if they are physically large floorstanding speakers. Here’s why: Even though those floorstanders have a low extension, they won’t necessarily go down to the lowest range of your subwoofer as linearly and free of compression (unless your main speakers have more piston area and box volume than your sub – but we won’t address that here) The problem with the LARGE setting is: the ultra low frequency information will not be heard if the speaker cannot reproduce it. Well if by some chance you were able to get your main speakers bass extension flat down to 20Hz, then adding the subwoofer on top of that would yield too much (up to 6dB) of bass output at the frequencies both are producing. Hence integration between the loudspeakers and subwoofer will be poor and the bass may be overpowering, sloppy and/or boomy.

As a practical example, my reference system has a pair of RBH Sound 1266-LSEs which extend down to 32Hz. I have them set to SMALL and I set my crossover frequency to 60Hz. Because of this, the subwoofer handles everything up to 60Hz that would otherwise go to my front speakers. The front speakers are now freed up to concentrate on only 60Hz and up. The result is no lost information, less distortion, more headroom and a better overall sound.

Alternatively, you can bi-amp your large tower speakers where the mid/tweet section gets connected to the receiver front main speaker level outputs which will be set to SMALL and you can connect the bass drivers to a separate powered amplifier to the sub output of your AV receiver. This will allow you to effectively treat them as powered subs which are now bass managed with your other powered subs in the system. However, this type of setup is more complex and you really need measurement tools and know-how to properly setup a multi-sub system to get the benefits that these type of systems offer.

AV Receiver Bass Management Basics – Settings Made Simple

This guide is designed to address the numerous questions we've received from new home theater owners on setting up their loudspeakers and AV receiver bass management settings. Get good bass here.

www.audioholics.com