Newbie- BigvsSmall Speaker Setting Help

[Matt14701]

From thouroughly browsing this website (forums & articles) over the last several weeks, it appears that this is a subject that's been covered before. However, I'm still confused about what setting might be best starting point for my particular setup, and looking for any recommendations. In general, I'm confused about "Big vs. Small" speaker settings, as well as what Crossover frequency to set the back of my subwoofer to.

My equipment:
1.Yamaha HTR-5550 AV Receiver ("entry level" home theater receiver, Crossover Frequency 90Hz, NOT adjustable)
2.Main speakers: Paradigm Mini-Monitors (rated Low Frequency extension to 40 Hz, Frequency Response +/-2dB rated from 56Hz)
3. Center Channel Speaker: Paradigm CC-370 (rated Low Frequency extension to 57 Hz, Frequency Response +/-2dB rated from 100Hz)
4. Subwoofer: Paradigm PS-1000 (adjustable crossover from 50-150Hz)
5. (No Surround Speakers yet)

My basic question involves whether to set my Main & Center channels to "Big" (thus sending ALL frequencies, including those below 90Hz) or "Small"? Also, where should I adjust the Subwoofer crossover dial to with a specific setting?

Some other things I don't quite understand: 1. What is the harm of sending ALL frequencies to a Center Channel Speaker, when- from my understanding- little Center Channel audio contains low frequencies? 2. Mini-monitors- SMALL size, but seem to me to have decent bass; so what would be the advantage of using them vs. "letting the subwoofer do the work"?

While I'm really looking for "fresh" opinion, here are my current settings: Ctr Channel set to SMALL, Mains set to BIG, Sub set to BOTH. IMO, there seems to be alot of "muffled" mid range, especially when listening to stereo music with this setting. My subwoofer volume is actually set very low (2 of 10 in a very larger room with 22' ceilings)

I'll stop here in hopes that someone reading can make it this far & offer some advice. THANKS IN ADVANCE.

 

[surveyor]

I think you should definetly set the Left, Right and Center to the the small setting.
It should work and sound excellent.

Cheers, Kelly

 

[Unregistered]

Small vs Large really refers to the ability to play low bass, rather than physical speaker size. For your setup, 'small' for all speakers would probably be best. If you use the sub-out of the receiver to connect to the sub, then you automatically get that 90Hz fixed crossover - so turn the crossover on the sub all the way up to get it out of the way.

Even if main speakers can do low bass fairly well, its still usually better to set them to small. The small setting relieves them of the burden of producing low bass, which requires alot of power, and puts the burden on the sub which is better equipped for the job.

There is no 'harm' in sending a full frequency range to each speaker because the speakers internal crossover will filter out frequencies below its crossover point. The idea is that if they can't really handle those frequencies, why send them there in the first place? It just wastes power that could be used to amplify the frequencies they can handle well.

Mains large and sub set to 'both' is sending all the low frequencies, including LFE if there is any, to both the mains and the sub. This 'double bass' might seem cool for awhile but is likely the reason the mids sound muffled - they are being masked somewhat by the excessive bass.