HK 235 with Paradigm Setup

[rr2465]

Greetings. I need some recommendations with the setup of my system. I have a Harman Kardon AVR 235 with Paradigm speakers - 2 titans as L/R, the CC170 as the center and the Atoms as the rears. Yes, no subwoofer yet. I'm wondering if anybody has any recommendations on the setup using the AVR 235. The AVR manual has lots of recommendations for large speakers in the front, set up of the back, etc. Are my Titans/Atoms/Center considered "large"? How can I best optimize what I have? Its pretty complex for a newbie.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Rob

 

[cam]

Greetings. I need some recommendations with the setup of my system. I have a Harman Kardon AVR 235 with Paradigm speakers - 2 titans as L/R, the CC170 as the center and the Atoms as the rears. Yes, no subwoofer yet. I'm wondering if anybody has any recommendations on the setup using the AVR 235. The AVR manual has lots of recommendations for large speakers in the front, set up of the back, etc. Are my Titans/Atoms/Center considered "large"? How can I best optimize what I have? Its pretty complex for a newbie.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Rob

The best you can do for now would be to set your mains(titans) to large, center and rears to small and subwoofer to no. Your titans can go to about 60 hz so you will be losing alot of low stuff within movie soundtracks. Be carefull with the volume because some movies can destroy small speakers set to large. When you do get a sub set all to small with a crossover setting around 80 to 100hz depending on your preference.

 

[rr2465]

Thanks

Thanks for the suggestions Cam. I had the Titans and the center set to "large" and the Atoms set to "small" with the Sub set to "off". Now that I look at the specs you're right - I should have the center set to small as well. The CC170 is rated down to 70 Hz while the Titans can go down to 60 Hz. I wasn't sure what would be considered small or large in my setup and I definately didn't want to blow any speakers out. I haven't listened to anything above -20 db yet. Unfortunately it will be a while before I can afford a decent sub. Thanks for the advice!

Rob

 

[trhalma]

i have a similar set up, avr 235 (had it 2 weeks and love it, except for the manual), paradigm cc 170, 5semk3 and atoms, but with a sub.
the manual pg 20 says the small setting is for satellite spkrs that dont produce sound below 200Hz. so you may lose that range for any speaker set to small.
any opinions on how important that is for center/rears?
i believe other receivers have different criteria for setting large v small, such as onkyo and yammy (which i tried.)
how does your center sound with music? overall i am pleased, but the center can be a tad harsh on some highs, but i think it may be in part due to the cd quality.
right now i have all spkrs set to large with all crossover at 100Hz, but still tweaking.
also, if you use logic 7 for music, which is a nice hk feature, the system will default your center to small when logic 7 is in use.

 

[Nick250]

i have a similar set up, avr 235 (had it 2 weeks and love it, except for the manual), paradigm cc 170, 5semk3 and atoms, but with a sub.
the manual pg 20 says the small setting is for satellite spkrs that dont produce sound below 200Hz. so you may lose that range for any speaker set to small.
any opinions on how important that is for center/rears?
i believe other receivers have different criteria for setting large v small, such as onkyo and yammy (which i tried.)
how does your center sound with music? overall i am pleased, but the center can be a tad harsh on some highs, but i think it may be in part due to the cd quality.
right now i have all spkrs set to large with all crossover at 100Hz, but still tweaking.
also, if you use logic 7 for music, which is a nice hk feature, the system will default your center to small when logic 7 is in use.

With your speakers you should set all your speakers to small and the subwoofer set to yes. That will provide you with the best sound for both music and movies.

 

[trhalma]

i'll give it a try and see how it sounds. thanks

 

[rr2465]

Yeah, I got the HK AVR235 for christmas and the speakers about 2 weeks ago. So I have a lot of figuring out to do. For a newbie the AVR manual has been tough to sort through. There are so many options for the different speakers and the sound modes. And I need to get the best speaker placement in the as well. So without the sub (maybe sometime this year!) I have the rears set to small, the titans (front L and R) and the CC170 center set to large. Going from the crappy pair of speakers on the TV the sound is fantastic. I'm sure that I'm missing out on some of the bass but its still a step up for me. For the DVD's that I've played so far (Jurassic Park, Matrix 1) I like the Dolby PLII setting the best. I haven't sorted out what I like best for music. I'll have to give the Logic 7 a try as you recommend.

What sub are you using?

I'd also like to use the 235 to get music in an adjacent room, but I'm not sure about the best way to hook that one up yet.

R