Satellite Speaker Crossover Settings

[MRG88]

I have a satellite 6.1 speaker set i neep help with. The center speaker has 4 3-5/8" woofers with a 7/8" tweeter. The fronts and surrounds have 2 3-5/8" woofers with a 7/8" tweeter as well. All speakers have a response of 80Hz-20kHz. I am using a 12" sub that has a response of 30Hz to 200Hz. My settings on my receiver are all speakers set to small. The crossover frequency for all my speakers are set at 80 Hz and the LFE high cut filter is set at 100 Hz for my subwoofer. Does this sound right? I can change the crossover for each individual speaker from 40-120 Hz. I am a newbie and would appreciate any suggestions on trying out something different with these settings to get the most out of my HT system.

 

[MidnightSensi]

You can try a few different options, but a good starting place is to set the crossovers to 80Hz. Then disengage the subwoofer crossover (there may be a switch on it, or you just turn the high cut all the way up). The reason is that if you have a crossover set on your receiver, then you don't want to have it active on your subwoofer. The two will interfere.

Your correct to have you speakers set to small.

 

[Alex2507]

That does sound right. On the sub you should be using the LFE input that disables it's crossover. Your rec'r is already taking care of that for you. You might mention which sub, speakers and rec'r you are using. If anything with speakers that are rated at 80Hz you might try a higher crossover since speaker manufacturers tend to be a little optimistic about their speaker's abilities.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[MRG88]

I should of mentioned on the subwoofer i have the LFE switch turned to on allowing my receiver to be in full control of the crossover frequency on my speakers and the upper bass output on my subwoofer. I have the crossover knob on the back of the sub turned all the way up to 200 Hz. My receiver has the crossover frequency set at 80Hz for all my speakers and the LFE high cut is set at 100 Hz. You guys think i have the settings right? Should i make any tweaks?

 

[AJinFLA]

2 questions:
Can you "hear" the subwoofer, i.e., is it localized where you can tell the bass is coming from its position, or does the bass just seem to be "in the room"?
How loud do you play your system?
If the answer to the second question is fairly loud once in a while, I would suggest raising the small LR satellites to 100-120hz and the fairly small center to 100hz. This will prevent the onset of distortion as quickly by lowering the amount of low bass to the speakers.
If you listen at low volumes, you're probably fine, the lower the High Pass frequency, the better.

cheers,

AJ

 

[MRG88]

2 questions:
Can you "hear" the subwoofer, i.e., is it localized where you can tell the bass is coming from its position, or does the bass just seem to be "in the room"?
How loud do you play your system?
If the answer to the second question is fairly loud once in a while, I would suggest raising the small LR satellites to 100-120hz and the fairly small center to 100hz. This will prevent the onset of distortion as quickly by lowering the amount of low bass to the speakers.
If you listen at low volumes, you're probably fine, the lower the High Pass frequency, the better.

cheers,

AJ

The bass fills up the room and is kind of hard to tell where its coming from. If there is a scene in a movie where something heavy drops using the surrounds you can't tell where the bass is coming from. It sounds like the bass is coming behind or beside you. I do listen at loud volume. Are you saying I should try raising the crossover frequency to 100 Hz with all the speakers? Should i keep the subwoofer LFE high cut at 100 Hz?

 

[AJinFLA]

Are you saying I should try raising the crossover frequency to 100 Hz with all the speakers?

Yes. If it sounds relatively the same, then further raise the LR satellites to 120hz. Listen to male voices. If they do not sound "thin" (or better yet, get less "chesty") and you still cannot pinpoint the sub, you're all set.

Should i keep the subwoofer LFE high cut at 100 Hz?

Yes...unless it starts to stand out after adjusting the center and LR as suggested above. If you do start to hear a "hole" in the response, then yes, try adjusting upwards.
If not, crank the system up and enjoy

cheers,

AJ

 

[sholling]

That does sound right. On the sub you should be using the LFE input that disables it's crossover. Your rec'r is already taking care of that for you. You might mention which sub, speakers and rec'r you are using. If anything with speakers that are rated at 80Hz you might try a higher crossover since speaker manufacturers tend to be a little optimistic about their speaker's abilities.

Welcome to the forum.

+1 on all Alex says including welcome to the forum.

More than likely you're bypassing the crossover control on the sub so don't worry about that. I'd play with the receiver's crossover setting in the 80-90hz range to see which you like better. And make your nex project experimenting with the phase control and location. There are instructions in one of the stickies.

 

[MatthewB.]

I would use a crossover of 120-150. I have a full Deftech setup with small Mythos gems as rear surrounds, sitting less than 2 feet from main sitting position and Audyseey set those at 150Hz and those have dual 3.5" woofs and 1 inch tweets.

 

[greggp2]

Alex and AJ have given you very good advice. I would set your crossover in the 100 - 120 hz range. Your speakers are rated to 80hz, but that is at +or- 3db if I had to guess. Distortion will usually set in around 10-20hz before your speakers rating most of the time. If you have your crossover being controlled by your receiver/processor, you can turn the knob on your subwoofer up as high as possible. The processor will control when it sends the signal to the sub.

Just be sure the knob is turned up higher then the point you allocate on your processor and you should be fine. With your set up, I'd likely cross over at 100 - 120 depending on AJ's advice of how things sound. 120 would be a safe bet.