Full Range vs 80 Hz Crossover

[PENG]

Hello All. I have Polk R700 speakers. Via my AVR, crossovers are set to 80 Hz. My brother the “Master Audiophile” says I should change the setting to Full Range because he says they are Full Range speakers and would sound better if I make the change. What say you? Thank you in advance!

80 Hz will get more vote here on Audioholics, but either way, your ears may not have much of a preference unless you listen to very high level to the point you can hear the distortions. Objectively/factually, distortions will be higher and response will be rougher (more peaks and dips if you use room correction effectively) if you set them to full range, that's physics, Subjectively, ie go by ears, then only you can tell.

 

[Trebdp83]

@Isosevodes mentioned 80% movie watching and 20% music listening in another thread. There are movie tracks that will pummel lesser speakers with a Full Band setting. @Isosevodes also mentioned albums from The Eagles, The Rolling Stones and Metallica. I’m sure some can think of selections from any of them played at high volume that would be troublesome for a mid tier AVR and speakers set to Full Band.

Those wanting real LFE+Main functionality should look to units from Denon/Marantz and not to units that feature Double Bass like Onkyo or Extra Bass like Yamaha. Certain newer Denon/Marantz models are better still and also feature Bass Extraction and LFE Distribution so that one can adjust the amount of low frequencies from the Large Front Speakers being copied to the subwoofer and a selectable amount of LFE can be directed to the Large Front Speakers.

 

[Isosevodes]

Here it is 24 hours later. I never tried Full Range, it was offered as an option to me only. Full Range is off the table. I’m satisfied at either 80 or 100 Hz XO for the Fronts and Center Channel. They both sound excellent to my newbie ears. Onkyo NR7100 AVR , Polk R700’s, Klipsch RP504C-II, RSL SPEEDWOOFER 12S.