Front L-R connect to subwoofer or AVR?

[movrshakr]

Front L-R connect to subwoofer or AVR?

I just acquired a Polk RM6600 set for a really good price. Will have an Onkyo TX-SR575 on doorstep in a couple of days.

I have been studying about speaker/sub connections. I had planned to connect the 2 fronts, center, 2 surrounds, and sub to the corresponding terminals on the AVR. However, reading in the Polk manual, it says this:
------------------------ Polk Recommendation --------------------------
BEST HOOK UP METHOD (Figure G)
-Connect the left and right front speaker outputs of your receiver or amplifier to the SPEAKER LEVEL INPUTS of the powered subwoofer.
-Connect the satellite speakers to the SPEAKER LEVEL OUTPUTS of the subwoofer.
-If it is more convenient, parallel wire the subwoofer and satellites from your receiver. (Figure H).
-Connect the center channel speaker directly to the center speaker output of your receiver or amplifier.
-Connect the surround satellites directly to the rear or surround channel outputs of your receiver or amplifier.
RECEIVER SET UP
All surround sound receivers allow you to match the electronics to your speakers. Refer to the owners manual of your receiver or surround processor to learn how this is done. To get the best performance from the RM6600, use the following settings:
Front Speakers - Set to “Large”
Center Speaker - Set to “Normal” or “Small”
Surround Speakers - Set to “Small”
Subwoofer - Set to “Off” or “None.” This setting may not make sense to you as your RM6600 system has a subwoofer, but really, this is the right setting.
------------------------------------ End -------------------------------------

Now I am really confused. Will the AVR set up properly (Audyssey) if I use the Polk recommended hook up? Polk says it will, but I don't see how it can, if the fronts are actually "fired" out of the sub. ???

Anybody know how all this is supposed to work and which way to do it?

 

[markw]

The Polk RM6600 is an integrated system.

As such, it was designed to work as a single unit. The sub is designed to work with those satellites and, conversly, those satellites are designed to mate with that sub. What their directions are saying is that since the optimum balance has already been determined and designed into the system, it will work best this way.

And, like a Bose Acoustimass system, it's also a bunch of tiny mains that require different rules than a normal pick-it-yourself combination of normal sized speakers. Mainly, keeping deep bass from the mains and this most likely reuires a higher cutoff point in the sub than one would normally like..

I can say, however, that you'll have no control over the sub or mains as standalone units. How this will affect your setup procedures I cannot say. You may just have to wing it.

But, if you choose to "break up the set", and try connecting the setup in the "conventional" manner, make sure you set the mains to small. Odds are they can't take any deep bass.

 

[movrshakr]

...And, like a Bose Acoustimass system, it's also a bunch of tiny mains that require different rules than a normal pick-it-yourself combination of normal sized speakers. Mainly, keeping deep bass from the mains and this most likely requires a higher cutoff point in the sub than one would normally like....

Thanks. In an email I just got from Polk support (impressed with quick response BTW), they said set the crossover at 150Hz.

In the instructions, they say set the fronts to LARGE, but since, in Polk's configuration, AVR feeds sub and fronts are actually being fed out of the sub, I must assume the sub is feeding only the right freqs to the fronts. Setting fronts to large in the AVR would feed the full freq range from the AVR to the sub, and it must be doing the crossover, rather than the AVR.

Further thinking...however, their alternate configuration has wires from AVR front out terminals to BOTH the sub AND directly to the front spkrs--which would feed the full freq range to them. That confuses me a bit, so I don't think I will do it anyway. But they say it is OK.