choosing large or small setting!!

[firefighterchri]

I have read many reviews on this question and get many different answers. What is the best way to set my speakers up at (mains, center, rears) if my crossover is set at 80hz? Do I set the mains to large for 2 channel listening since my mains are the rti12's from Polk and are rated at 30hz-26khz. And for movies do I set them up as small and let the sub take over at 80 hz and below and let the mains handle the mids and up. (if this is the case do the mains stop handleing freq. 80hz and below or am I getting confused) What about the center channel as mine ia capable of 55HZ-26khz? I am new to all this and I am trying to understand how to optimize my home theater. Thanks again.

Polk Audio
Rti 12’s 9 (front)
Rti 4’s (rear surround)
Csi 5 (center)
PSW 505 (subwoofer)
50” Sony Grand Wega LCD projection
Yamaha RXV2500 receiver
Sony DVP725P DVD player
Dish network 811 HDTV receiver
Sony Playstation 2

 

[Leprkon]

you probably want to set them to small. there's a danger that two or three sources of sound waves at lower frequencies may actually cancel each other out.

you'll see in other posts how many people beg for help in properly aligning two subwoofers.

if you use the mains too low, you are also putting alot of extra work on your receiver. the sub has its own amp and can take care of itself. the mains are pulling from the receiver and may cause it to overheat.

low fequency sound waves are omnidirectional... human hearing does not do a good job of detecting where they come from. a decent single source is enough to do a good job and keeps the placement reasonably simple.

let your mains do what they do best and let the sub carry its own weight.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

My settings

Currently, I have my sub setting at 120Hz (max), and my receiver set to 60Hz. This allows the receiver to perform the bass management. There is no reason to set the sub anywhere else, since the frequencies are cut at 60Hz via the receiver. All my speakers are set to small and the sub is set to LFE (as opposed to LFE+Main and the fronts as large). 60Hz is about the most your 7" woofers will reproduce efficiently at normal listening levels. Sure, they'll go down lower, but have you attempted to drive those woofers? Before you get much bass out of them, you need to take the receiver almost to 0 on your volume setting (or boost your lowest frequencies on your parametric eq and turn up the bass control). Your towers handle every bit of a 500 watt amp, and much of that power goes to those woofers. Let them do the "punchy" bass, and your sub handle the rest. Your midbass and mids will sound that much better.

 

[firefighterchri]

Thanks again Leprkon and Buckeyefan1 you both have been very helpfull in all my questions I have asked. I will go give this a try this weekend and see what difference it makes.

 

[Karp]

IMO, the only reason to use the "Large" setting for the mains is if you do not have a good subwoofer (yet). If you do not have a sub, setting them to large and the remaining speakers to small (if they have less bass response than the mains) will redirect the low bass to the speakers that at least have a chance at producing the lower octaves. Otherwise, you are just shooting yourself in the foot.

1. Placing the mains at the best location for imaging is very rarely a good place for the best bass response.

2. Very few speakers are even close to being full-range, and even if they can produce adequate low bass, they cannot out-perform a good subwoofer.

3. The lower octaves take MUCH more power to produce the same db level as the mid and upper octaves. (Why do you think the better subs have amplifiers that produce 300W or more just for the bottom few octaves of the frequency range?) Why put the extra stress on your amplifier? Why increase the chances of clipping? This is especially true with mid-range receivers.

4. By reducing the frequency range that the mid/woofer(s) has to reproduce; it will be more accurate in the range that it is required to cover.

 

[firefighterchri]

Currently, I have my sub setting at 120Hz (max), and my receiver set to 60Hz. This allows the receiver to perform the bass management. There is no reason to set the sub anywhere else, since the frequencies are cut at 60Hz via the receiver. All my speakers are set to small and the sub is set to LFE (as opposed to LFE+Main and the fronts as large). 60Hz is about the most your 7" woofers will reproduce efficiently at normal listening levels. Sure, they'll go down lower, but have you attempted to drive those woofers? Before you get much bass out of them, you need to take the receiver almost to 0 on your volume setting (or boost your lowest frequencies on your parametric eq and turn up the bass control). Your towers handle every bit of a 500 watt amp, and much of that power goes to those woofers. Let them do the "punchy" bass, and your sub handle the rest. Your midbass and mids will sound that much better.

Please explain what you mean by "boost your lowest frequencies on your parametric eq and turn up the bass control". I have never done this before and the manual doesn't really help to much either. Also explain what this will actually do to the sound. While I'm on this topic, why is it that the receiver (RXV2500) will always give my center channel a tremendous increase in sound level (+7.5- +8.5) durind autosetup and my sub -6.5- -8.5? II don't like the sound really loud ( screaming loud) compared to the other speakers. Thanks again