Speaker Size Settings, Large, Small, or Small with lower crossovers?

[Medrep1]

Hi All,

Just curious what you guys are set up as with regards to your 5.1 settings.

My processor does not have audyssey, so calibrating manually is the only way forward.

I have just upgraded my speakers, and was curious what settings would be the best to get the most out of them?

My amp, as good as it is IMO, probably wouldnt be the best amp to power my new speakers as ALL LARGE, so just testing with various crossovers right now.

Any suggestions or comments appreciated, and, finally out of curiosity, when would all speakers set to LARGE be appropriate?

Many thanks

David

 

[t72bogie]

if you have 5 floorstanding speakers that will play down to say 15Hz, then you could lose the sub and set them all to large I guess

the reason why the whole 5.1 was invented was because not many people had dedicated cinema rooms with huge speakers all around them, hence the THX guidelines with satellite speakers that play from 80Hz and up and a sub to do approx 80Hz and down

so id look at the spec of your speakers and see where they start to roll off

My surrounds/centre go down to 55Hz ish, so I cross them over at 60Hz ...but I still have my sub doing 80Hz and down, for a bit of overlap

if your amp/receiver/processor only has "large" or "small" settings rather than individual settings per speaker then its nearly always best to go "small" if you have a sub in your system

so I would check out the specs on your speakers to start with and see what options you have in the amp

a search on here should give you instructions for basic home cinema set up - corssovers, levels, distances etc if you dont have an amp with auto-set-up

 

[Mark.Yudkin]

If your speakers will go down to or below 80Hz at 105dB with no drop off, then set to Small, 80Hz. If they can't manage this, set to Small and raise the crossover for the specific speaker until there's no "hole". A calibration CD and SPL meter are of course required tools.

A few (expensive) speakers do manage to go down to 20Hz at 105dB, If you're the lucky owner of such speakers, you could contemplate using Large or even of using a lower crossover.

Having some overlap between the sub and speakers may lead to bass peaks; so calibration remains the recommended course of action.

 

[dts_boy]

here's a question:
when audysey does its thing on my system it sets all speakers to large apart from the centre. the fronts have built in subs so this is fine, the rears are M&K column surrounds and have an additional bass unit so leave it as is. the centre is set to 80hz and sub is fine as well.
my question is does the audyssey need the speakers to be like this for its eq to work or does my changing speaker sizes upset this?
i have played around and if i'm totally honest i cannot hear too much difference - one of the reasons i'm not rushing out to get the pro mic kit for my processor

 

[Medrep1]

Cheers!

I have played around with a few settings, and so far mains x over at 40hz, centre 60hz, and rears 60hz, sub at 40hz seems to give the most powerful/cinematic performance without taxing the amp too much.

I can take it to over 3/4 volume without apparent distortion or amp clipping into safe mode. Anything set to large and the amp doesnt like it. Im not surpised though as the processor manual states any speaker set to large disables the x over for that particular speaker, and therefore sends a full range signal. Probably not the best thing to do at high volumes, when the mains only go down to around early 30's hz and the centre 40hz.

Thanks for the input. I probably could do with having a re run of REW now.

Cheers

 

[herosrule]

I dont have a 5.1 set up just two speakers for my amp witch is conected to my DVD89, and the dvd player is used for movies and playing CD`s As I dont have a sub should i set my speaker size to large? as the bass isn't as good as they say on my tannoys

 

[Member 96948]

here's a question:
when audysey does its thing on my system it sets all speakers to large apart from the centre. the fronts have built in subs so this is fine, the rears are M&K column surrounds and have an additional bass unit so leave it as is. the centre is set to 80hz and sub is fine as well.
my question is does the audyssey need the speakers to be like this for its eq to work or does my changing speaker sizes upset this?
i have played around and if i'm totally honest i cannot hear too much difference - one of the reasons i'm not rushing out to get the pro mic kit for my processor

Changing the speaker sizes does not upset Audyssey as it equalizes the full range response of the speakers in order to assure a smooth transition through what ever crossover has been selected.

What speakers have you got with built in subs?

I'd ask in the processor section about the pro-kit. My impressions are it goes a lot further than letting the amp strut it's thang, but if the difference beween Audyssey on/off isn't all that much, it could be that you have a pretty good room to start with.

Russell

 

[dts_boy]

i have def tech mythos super towers - which have the built in subs. it will be interesting as i am about to move house so will see how much difference a new room will change the sound of my system.
still thinking about the pro mic kit but can't see the value in it right now - it would be great to try it first (with the ability to allow dealer to demonstrate the end result and revert back after) as this way i could be sure its not a blind gamble.
any dealer around manchester prepared to do this i think?

 

[leon]

i have the def tech super towers 2 x 7002 and 2 x 7004 and the centre clr 2500 with a sub as well ..
ive set them all to large on the parasound i played around between large and small but found the large better for the def techs/ crossover ..
i think u also should have a sub volume on the power amps at the back of the speaker mine are set to 12 oclock facing the ceiling ..
only using half of the 400w active subs power.. any more than that and i move stuff around in the loft in my bungalow :
not sure if that helps

oh and on the 7.1 (rear centres)def techs i set them to small as they are quite small and close to my rear of the sofa and have no subs in them