Confused!!!!

[Jodylee]

Alright here is my situation. I am confused at what to set the crossover frequency on the sub too. I have read that the rule of thumb is to set the crossover on the RECEIVER to 80 Hz and work from there but what to you set the crossover on the actual sub too. I've read different things on this 1) set it to the highest setting and let the receiver do the rest. 2) Don't set it above 100 Hz.

If the first suggestion is correct, then would it matter if you had two different subs that had different max crossover frequencies, one with 140 max and another 120 max?

Thank you in advance!!!

 

[Davemcc]

If you have a switch to disable the crossover on the sub, do that. If not, set the sub's crossover at it's highest point.

When you set the receiver's crossover to 80Hz, the sub will not receive and signal above 80Hz and by setting it as high as possible, there's no chance of overlap between the receiver's and sub's crossovers. If you set the receiver at 80 and the sub at 100, with the crossover slopes built into the electronics, there is a chance that the crossovers could affect each other. You don't want one to interfere with the other.

There isn't much chance of interference with them set at 80 and 100, but the object is to use only one crossover and eliminate any processing by the other.

 

[Jodylee]

If the sub is not suppose to receive anything over 80 Hz then why can I hear a difference in output when the sub's crossover is adjusted between 140 Hz - 80 Hz.

 

[lsiberian]

You're in luck!

Just this week AH wrote an article on crossovers. Check it out! It will help you understand better.

http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/crossover

But bascially the crossover on your receiver is a low pass filter for your subwoofer usually rolling off at 12db/per octave. Practically speaking 6db is about twice the volume. So -12db would be about 1/4th the volume per octave.

By setting the subwoofer crossover you are rolling off your subwoofer even more because it's a variable low pass filter as well usually with a 12db/per octave rolloff as well

combined they create a 24db/per octave crossover. The concern would be that the Mains aren't compensating enough for the loss in subwoofer volume. So you will be losing volume in the crossover range. I suggest you use your ears to determine your preferences. As with anything I suggest you play with it and see what you like because every room and person is different so use your ears.

The general advice is to set the highpass filter to the maximum setting on the sub and then use the receiver to crossover. This is what I do and I get great LFE from my sub. But as i've said try it for fun. Experimenting is fun isn't it.