Crossover & LFE help!!

[JackRick]

Hello all, looking for some guidance and clarification on LFE settings for my beginner setup. I have a Denon 540bt receiver, pushing the 5.1 polk T series speakers, and two psw108's for subs. All speakers are set to small.
Should I have the bass for my Denon receiver set to "LFE" or "LFE+mains"?
Current Crossover is=
60hz for T50'S.
80hz for T30(center) & T15's(rear's)
120 for "LPF for LFE".

Any constructive criticism is appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

 

[Leemix]

Hello all, looking for some guidance and clarification on LFE settings for my beginner setup. I have a Denon 540bt receiver, pushing the 5.1 polk T series speakers, and two psw108's for subs. All speakers are set to small.
Should I have the bass for my Denon receiver set to "LFE" or "LFE+mains"?
Current Crossover is=
60hz for T50'S.
80hz for T30(center) & T15's(rear's)
120 for "LPF for LFE".

Any constructive criticism is appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

Set to LFE or you will get bass from both main speakers and subs

Crossovers you just have to try to see what you like but might be worth trying 80 for LR and maybe up to 100 for center and surrounds, its very possible you will prefer the 60 and 80 you use now or maybe 80 all around but fun to try anyway.


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[Sef_Makaro]

Set to LFE or you will get bass from both main speakers and subs

Crossovers you just have to try to see what you like but might be worth trying 80 for LR and maybe up to 100 for center and surrounds, its very possible you will prefer the 60 and 80 you use now or maybe 80 all around but fun to try anyway.


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I’ll second what Leemix says; set the bass to LFE, set LFE low pass to 120hz.

80hz is a decent starting point for the speaker crossovers. Larger more capable speakers can be set a bit lower, smaller surround type speakers should likely be set a bit higher.

 

[ryanosaur]

Personal preference: I like LFE + mains, Unless your speakers are fully capable to at least 30Hz, I highly recommend having your subs propping up the bottom end.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Hello all, looking for some guidance and clarification on LFE settings for my beginner setup. I have a Denon 540bt receiver, pushing the 5.1 polk T series speakers, and two psw108's for subs. All speakers are set to small.
Should I have the bass for my Denon receiver set to "LFE" or "LFE+mains"?
Current Crossover is=
60hz for T50'S.
80hz for T30(center) & T15's(rear's)
120 for "LPF for LFE".

Any constructive criticism is appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

I would not use lfe+mains. It sends a duplicate lfe signal to the sub and mains and those speakers are not made for full range signals. You’ll get much better performance with the normal lfe setting. I’ve also encountered muddy bass by using lfe+mains.
Btw, nice GN.

 

[ryanosaur]

D@mn, geting out voted.
Thats the old YMMV in full effect!

 

[Sef_Makaro]

D@mn, geting out voted.
Thats the old YMMV in full effect!

If it sounds good to you, it sounds good!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

D@mn, geting out voted.
Thats the old YMMV in full effect!

Sorry brother. That’s been my experience.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I liked that one too. Ed is actually one of the reasons I like towers vs BS even if they’re crossed higher.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Wait....where’s your link @ryanosaur?

 

[ryanosaur]

http://www.subwoofer101.com/setting-up-your-gear/large-vs-small-lfe-main-double-bass-etc/
Just read this... good info to help explain it a little better than I understood it previously.
(sorry phone issues. here we go.)

 

[Sef_Makaro]

http://www.subwoofer101.com/setting-up-your-gear/large-vs-small-lfe-main-double-bass-etc/
Just read this... good info to help explain it a little better than I understood it previously.
(sorry phone issues. here we go.)

That’s a good read.

 

[JackRick]

Thanks for the replies! I read those articles before asking for help, but they kinda further confused my simple brain. They gave reasons NOT to set speakers to larger. They even mentioned why people who have them set large use LFE+mains....but I want clear on which LFE setting to use if everything is set to small.

 

[Leemix]

Thanks for the replies! I read those articles before asking for help, but they kinda further confused my simple brain. They gave reasons NOT to set speakers to larger. They even mentioned why people who have them set large use LFE+mains....but I want clear on which LFE setting to use if everything is set to small.

Just «LFE»


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[ryanosaur]

Just «LFE»


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and experiment with your xo settings around 1 octave above the cut off of your speakers.so if your speaker is 50Hz, try 80, 90, 100... 80 seems a little low to me, for a 50Hz speaker though, but as illustrated earlier: YMMV. Go with what sounds best, produces best bass and highs. (sorry... using arbitrary numbers... multitasking.)

 

[HTfreak2004]

I prefer setting my 3 screen channels and 2 surrounds to small with the preamp bass management set at 80 hz for movies and music. My Anthem AVM 20 preamp (bought 2004) is THX ultra2 certified and uses a 2nd order crossover at 80 hz. My sub is set at 120 hz for the LFE channel. Since LFE are not present in every scene of a movie and usually not present in music the 80 hz bass management setting for the 5.0 channels allows my paradigm sub 15 with a 15 inch driver and 1700 watts rms to alleviate the load of my 5 other channels and 5 channel anthem mca50 amp. I have tried 60 hz for the my paradigm cc570 centre channel, 60 hz for my paradigm studio 40 surrounds and 45 hz for the paradigm studio 100 mains however what became very obvious is the lack of LFE in the movies I watch and believe me I love movies with monster explosions that shake the house! With the 80 hz setting bass was more balanced and solid. The whole system had more depth. I have taken a lot of time to find the best spot for my sub to perform at it’s best relative to my main listening area. Neither my sub or other 5 channels are corner loaded since I prefer solid accurate bass over messy loud bass. If you take the time to position your subs and other channels and then phase align the subs to the rest of your speaker channels and each other you will find messing around with variables crossover settings for each channel yields less balanced and solid bass. With 2 Subs you have the potential to improve bass over an even greater listening area however It will just take more patience than if you had only 1 sub to find the ideal position for each sub. AcousticFields has plenty of information that is useful for music or home theatre setups. Blending either preference is more a matter of taste. Even if you setup everything in its ideal location, source material varies dramatically in dynamic range so much so that one movie or music session can leave you breathless while another can leave you wondering what happened to the dynamics! Source material is the deciding factor on when your system sounds it’s best and when it sounds it’s lacking for more body. No crossover or speaker setup can fix that but at the least it shouldn't make the worst source material sound even worse! Lastly if your into multiple subs you’re already trying to dedicate the lower octaves from 80 hz and below to your subwoofer drivers with built in powerful amps. When you dedicate specific frequency ranges to each driver in your setup using bass management and the speakers built in crossover networks you will reap the best your system has to offer you whatever crossover you dedicate your bass management to has a consequence on your audio experience. Satellite speakers should be focused on creating separation while subs should be focused on creating foundation and depth!

 

[JackRick]

Thank you all for the help, I've set my bass to "LFE", raised my crossovers to 80hz on L/R, and 90hz for center & surrounds. Set my LPF for LFE to 120hz. All speakers are set to small. I've placed my subs on the sides of my entertainment stand, staggered at different distances from the front wall they're against. I've set my towers equal length apart in relation to the distance from me, and towed them in. My surrounds are mounted to the direct sides of my listening spot, and 2ft above ear level.

How am I doing, so far?

 

[ryanosaur]

Sounds solid enough. I'm a big fan of looking for better homes for the subs. I'm in the school that says the front wall/corner loading isn't always the best place. but again, that's a personal preference kind of thing. If you want to experiment: try the crawl. Otherwise, see how things are sounding, and check back in and let us know how its working for you!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Thank you all for the help, I've set my bass to "LFE", raised my crossovers to 80hz on L/R, and 90hz for center & surrounds. Set my LPF for LFE to 120hz. All speakers are set to small. I've placed my subs on the sides of my entertainment stand, staggered at different distances from the front wall they're against. I've set my towers equal length apart in relation to the distance from me, and towed them in. My surrounds are mounted to the direct sides of my listening spot, and 2ft above ear level.

How am I doing, so far?

Well...how’s it sounding so far?

 

[HTfreak2004]

You will have to put in plenty’s of hours listening to various source material to appreciate how your current gear & setup performs. The main idea is after perhaps 100 hrs of critical listening to movies or music you can consider how small setup adjustments alter your experience. It is very possible to setup your gear in a way the suits a certain type of music or movie genre but will not suit another. That is why trying to find a balance may “not” be your goal in the long run especially if you have no intention of listening to certain types of music or watching certain types of movies. Arrange your gear according to your taste in music and movies. Accept that your tastes are what dictates your setup. It is important to understand what the basic fundamentals are that cross the spectrum of all gear and incorporate them properly while working within the the boundaries of the room your gear sits in to achieve what is ultimately in line with your tastes. It will be a brand new experience watching you favourite movies and listening to your favourite music over a great surround/stereo setup especially if you only used your tv with a sound bar for movies or getto blaster radio for music!