Crossover to Full Band Question

[halsafar]

A friend recently purchased the following:

AVR - Onkyro TX NR717
Speakers - Soundstage 3D50 (front), 3D40 (rear), 3D10 (center)
Sub - Polk PSW500

Immediately after setup we ran Audyssey, it setup:
- Front/Rear crossover to 60hz
- Center, 40hz
- LFE, 120hz

However the AVR has options to set crossover to 'full band' for what it deems are large speakers. I do believe the front and rear speakers are fullband. Certainly sounds pretty nice when set to full band, however the speakers seem to struggle on the low a bit. The front/rear speakers frequency response specs of match the 40hz Audyssey picked, same with the center at 60hz.

Any recommendations? Music sounds far more epic when set to full band. Is there any risk of damaging the speakers? Are these even full band speakers?

Thanks!

 

[Pyrrho]

The crossover should be set above the -3dB point of the main speakers. How far above depends on the specific details; normally, 20-30 Hz above works well. Since your speakers are rated for (unfortunately, without a tolerance specified) 44 Hz, you should set the crossover above that point. The center should be set above 60 Hz and the rear speakers above 47 Hz.

Now, most speakers are designed to be able to handle a full range signal, so with reasonable volumes, you will not hurt them running them full range. But they are not going to be giving you deeper bass than they are able, and you will increase distortion and effectively decrease the maximum power from the receiver, as it will be amplifying deep bass that the main speakers will not be able to reproduce as well as the rest of the frequency spectrum that they can reproduce.

From your description, it sounds like you like having excess bass. If your subwoofer can handle it, you can turn it up higher than your automatic setup system sets it. You can also turn up the bass generally, if you have a control for it.

In all cases, if you hear distortion (that is not part of the original recording), you are straining your system and should turn it down until you do not hear any distortion.

 

[halsafar]

Thanks! Advice taken. I set the speakers back to the appropriate crossover setting. It does sound better this way. I think we only thought full-range sounded better was because it sounded different.