Crossover question...

[SangYuP]

Hi, I'm am new to this and I've searched the web looking for crossover frequency information. I understand what crossover does, but what isn't clear is if it's for just the front L/R speakers or if it's for front L/R/center or for all my speakers (front L/R/, center, surround L/R/rear). By the way, I have the ONKYO TX-SR502B receiver.

Another thing is, I have some old JBL that I use for my surround and center. The specs are identical to the satellites and center which is a freq response of 120hz-20khz. I am using Polk Audio R30 for my front L/R and I believe the the frequency response goes way lower (55hz-20khz). My question is depedent on the answer to the first question. If the crossover is only for the front L/R, then I'll set my crossover freq to 80hz, but if it's for all my speakers, what should I set the crossover to since I'm limited to 120hz-20khz for my center and surrounds and my front L/R goes down to 55hz?

Also, will setting my front speakers to "Large" cancel the crossover frequency that I set? I read somewhere that if you set the front to large, then the receiver sends the full frequency to those speakers, and if you set it to "small," then the receiver will send only the higher frequency depending on the crossover.

Last question. I have a feature called Double Bass or something like that. To my understanding, if you turn it "ON", it takes the bass from the front speakers and sends it to the subwoofer. Does this mean that it cuts those frequencies out from the front and sends it to the subwoofer or does it send those freq to both front and subwoofer?

Sorry for asking so many questions. Thanks in advance.

 

[shokhead]

If you set the front mains to small and the x over to lets say 80,they will get everything over 80.

 

[MDS]

Another thing is, I have some old JBL that I use for my surround and center. The specs are identical to the satellites and center which is a freq response of 120hz-20khz. I am using Polk Audio R30 for my front L/R and I believe the the frequency response goes way lower (55hz-20khz). My question is depedent on the answer to the first question. If the crossover is only for the front L/R, then I'll set my crossover freq to 80hz, but if it's for all my speakers, what should I set the crossover to since I'm limited to 120hz-20khz for my center and surrounds and my front L/R goes down to 55hz?

The xover affects any channels set to Small. It's tough to figure out what setting is best when the mains go much lower than all the other speakers.

Generally speaking you want the xover to be 1/2 to 1 octave above the lowest frequency response of the least capable speaker, but that doesn't work too well when the speakers only go down to 120 Hz because it will be too high (1/2octave=180Hz, 1 octave=240Hz). In your case, I would use 100 or 120 Hz.

Also, will setting my front speakers to "Large" cancel the crossover frequency that I set? I read somewhere that if you set the front to large, then the receiver sends the full frequency to those speakers, and if you set it to "small," then the receiver will send only the higher frequency depending on the crossover.

Correct.

Last question. I have a feature called Double Bass or something like that. To my understanding, if you turn it "ON", it takes the bass from the front speakers and sends it to the subwoofer. Does this mean that it cuts those frequencies out from the front and sends it to the subwoofer or does it send those freq to both front and subwoofer?

The manual is very vague. In most other receivers, this 'double bass' feature only affects LFE (the .1 in DD or DTS tracks). The Large speakers are already getting bass because they get a full range signal so the only thing left is the LFE.

I haven't used that feature on mine, so I can't verify if it does indeed send the bass below the xover from Large channels to the sub. Even if it does, it won't remove those frequencies from the mains because that would violate the definition of 'Large'.

 

[SangYuP]

Thanks for the information!

So according to what you said, I should set my front L/R to "Large" (so I get the full range of freq) and then set the rest of my speakers (center, surround L/R/rear) to "Small" and set the crossover freq to 100 or 120. So the xover freq would only apply to the "small" speakers and the "large" speakers will get the full range. Is that correct?

 

[shokhead]

Set all to small.

 

[MDS]

Yes on the 100 or 120 Hz xover setting (try both and see which one sounds better).

I was just answering the questions about Large vs Small. In the vast majority of cases, it's better to set all speakers to Small and Sub=Yes. The only reason to set the mains to Large would be to experiment with the Double Bass setting to see if you like it.