HT Speaker Crossover Settings

[Teetertotter?]

The past few years I have let Denon's Audyssey dictate the speaker calibrations and left it at that. The other day, I decided to set the LFE subwoofer to 80HZ and the other 5 speakers to 80HZ crossovers. My basement HT room is 12X10. What a noticeable difference in clarity, whether DD movie dialog, Sci-Fi sound, or music. Everything is more distinct and now music to my ears. I am just saying, that setting everything to 80HZ, in my environment, made a huge difference. My original crossovers with Audyssey were:
Speakers SMALL
FR RL 40HZ
Center 60HZ
SL SR Can't remember 60HZ?
Subwoofer 120HZ
Again, just saying for my environment/application.

 

[Pogre]

Yup. We suggest 80 hz for most folks, regardless of what the avr does. If I followed what mine does I'd be running the fronts full range with no sub at all for music. Even 40 Hz is pretty low. I lose some punch at 40.

 

[ryanosaur]

The other day, I decided to set the LFE subwoofer to 80HZ

When singling this out, are you talking about the separate LPF for LFE? If so, you want this set at 120Hz. 120Hz is the maximum frequency content of the ".1" LFE Channel. It is generally accepted that this should be left as is, at 120Hz.

 

[Pogre]

When singling this out, are you talking about the separate LPF for LFE? If so, you want this set at 120Hz. 120Hz is the maximum frequency content of the ".1" LFE Channel. It is generally accepted that this should be left as is, at 120Hz.

Yes. The LFE setting is separate from the crossover settings and should stay at 120 hz. I had a lot of confusion over that one myself.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Yep. What these guys said…

 

[Trebdp83]

Yeah, what that guy said about those guys...

 

[lovinthehd]

Plus it isn't Audyssey making that recommendation for setting speakers to use bass management (i.e. setting speakers to small),or other than 80 hz as a starting xover point, rather that"s the avr manufacturer overriding the general Audyssey recommendation.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Yeah, what that guy said about those guys...

And what you said about me!

 

[Trebdp83]

H

And what you said about me!

Hey, that was said in confidence.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

H

Hey, that was said in confidence.

 

[Teetertotter?]

Thank you for setting the record straight and readjusted the LFE to 120HZ. It was a huge subwoofer performance difference, having the other speaker crossovers set to 80HZ. The mains and center channel perform so much better, too.

 

[Pogre]

Thank you for setting the record straight and readjusted the LFE to 120HZ. It was a huge subwoofer performance difference, having the other speaker crossovers set to 80HZ. The mains and center channel perform so much better, too.

In my opinion I think taking directing a little more bass to the subs allows the mains to play a little bit cleaner too.

 

[Heimkinoberatung]

Hi guys,

just found this thread and like to bring in one view as I just start experimenting with different sub crossover frequencies.

I run a big Single Bass Array as Subwoofer solution to get as much as possible rid of the room modes and get a even distribution.

So I am questioning the 80 Hz crossover in this case for 2 main reasons:

1. The array will for sure bring better results in base frequency as the main speakers. So I see a clear benefit in increasing the crossover frequency as high as possible / as high as the array properly works and crossover to the rest of speakers still works good. Depending on the distance and wavelength maybe up to a octave higher at 160 Hz

2. Avoid crossover in kickbase area. 80 Hz is more or less middle of kickbase area, so might be better NOT to crossover here and leave the playback to the subwoofer alone. So either crossover much lower or higher.

Have not yet finished my experiments as also acoustical treatment of my Theatre is not yet finished but will keep going on in this direction and also share my results with you

Greetings from good old Germany

 

[Pogre]

Hi guys,

just found this thread and like to bring in one view as I just start experimenting with different sub crossover frequencies.

I run a big Single Bass Array as Subwoofer solution to get as much as possible rid of the room modes and get a even distribution.

So I am questioning the 80 Hz crossover in this case for 2 main reasons:

1. The array will for sure bring better results in base frequency as the main speakers. So I see a clear benefit in increasing the crossover frequency as high as possible / as high as the array properly works and crossover to the rest of speakers still works good. Depending on the distance and wavelength maybe up to a octave higher at 160 Hz

2. Avoid crossover in kickbase area. 80 Hz is more or less middle of kickbase area, so might be better NOT to crossover here and leave the playback to the subwoofer alone. So either crossover much lower or higher.

Have not yet finished my experiments as also acoustical treatment of my Theatre is not yet finished but will keep going on in this direction and also share my results with you

Greetings from good old Germany

The problem is, above 80 hz is where we can start localizing the source and quite a few of us co-locate multiple subs for a more even response through the room. Aside from that tho, yes a higher crossover may indeed be beneficial depending on sub placement, your main speakers and room acoustics. There's lot of "it depends" in there tho.

*Edit: your bass array sounds interesting. Got any pics?

 

[Heimkinoberatung]

Here some impressions during construction phase

 

[Pogre]

Here some impressions during construction phase

View attachment 52103
View attachment 52104

Looks like you're locked and loaded for bass and speakers in there!

I see you also have your subs up front with your main speakers so a higher crossover wouldn't be an issue at all for you. If it tightens things up and sounds better I'd do it too.

 

[lovinthehd]

I've used crossovers of 120 well enough (with multiple subs, with a single I can localize too well). To really see what's going on you should get a measurement mic and something like RoomEQWizard software, tho if it sounds good to you at 160....

ps Nice work on the speakers!

 

[Heimkinoberatung]

Hi,

measuring is one thing, of course I do that using REW. But the other aspect is , how does it sound?
How does on setting e.g. with a lower crossover sound compared to a higher? What is the effect e.g. on kickbase or human voices? Deep male voices already start at 100 hz region.

I am looking for real world experience

 

[lovinthehd]

Hi,

measuring is one thing, of course I do that using REW. But the other aspect is , how does it sound?
How does on setting e.g. with a lower crossover sound compared to a higher? What is the effect e.g. on kickbase or human voices? Deep male voices already start at 100 hz region.

I am looking for real world experience

I think you need to judge for yourself, with different listeners, various speakers/subs/setups/rooms it's going to vary somewhat.