Questions on setup/bass management/lfe+main

[WolfgangJT]

Hi all. New here but have been watching videos from Gene for a few years now and have some general questions to see if anyone can help on a few things or give some ideas.

Currently running the following set up:

Marantz SR6015
Def Tech BP9020 front towers
Def Tech DM20 center
Def Tech SR8040BP side surrounds
Def Tech ProMonitor 1000 back surrounds
Def Tech DI 5.5BPS in wall Atmos (mid of room)
2x Klipsch Synergy Sub-12 subwoofers

I've ran Audyssey and been dialing in my settings and so far am pretty happy running things as follows:

LFE+Main
L/R Bypass (seems to open up the powered towers for better full range sound)
Front Large...All rest small.

Fronts 110hz
Center 90hz
Surrounds 110hz
Rear Surrounds 100hz
Atmos (top middle) 60 hz
Subs LFE +Main, 120 hz

The question I have is.. within my recent adjustments, I started playing with the crossovers on the speakers. Initially, I had all at 80 hz, going to the "THX recommended" though Audyssey initially had them different. I've now moved the center, surrounds, and back surrounds to where Audyssey initially set them, as seen above.

However, one thing I noticed as I started playing with the front crossovers is if I went down in the hz, bass got less... in range and loudness. And if I started going above 80hz, I seemed to get more even sounding bass across the spectrum, with music especially....as in, hearing a more even sound between the kick of a drum vs low notes of a bass guitar vs mid and high notes of a bass guitar. 110hz seems to be the sweet spot without getting too much vocal going into the subs too...but I am curious why going up in the front crossover Hz had this effect. And is that OK?

Anyone that's experimented with this, would be neat to see others perspectives and outcomes....or any knowledge. This is in a great room with a one side vaulted ceiling (low right, high left in seated position)....45 degree lean. Going from 8 foot on right to around 23 ft in the left.)

 

[lovinthehd]

When using LFE+Main and L/R speakers set to large the crossover is just acting as a low pass filter for the sub, so you're basically doubling up/overlapping in the lower frequency range between sub and your speakers. Some like that, some don't.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi all. New here but have been watching videos from Gene for a few years now and have some general questions to see if anyone can help on a few things or give some ideas.

Currently running the following set up:

Marantz SR6015
Def Tech BP9020 front towers
Def Tech DM20 center
Def Tech SR8040BP side surrounds
Def Tech ProMonitor 1000 back surrounds
Def Tech DI 5.5BPS in wall Atmos (mid of room)
2x Klipsch Synergy Sub-12 subwoofers

I've ran Audyssey and been dialing in my settings and so far am pretty happy running things as follows:

LFE+Main
L/R Bypass (seems to open up the powered towers for better full range sound)
Front Large...All rest small.

Fronts 110hz
Center 90hz
Surrounds 110hz
Rear Surrounds 100hz
Atmos (top middle) 60 hz
Subs LFE +Main, 120 hz

The question I have is.. within my recent adjustments, I started playing with the crossovers on the speakers. Initially, I had all at 80 hz, going to the "THX recommended" though Audyssey initially had them different. I've now moved the center, surrounds, and back surrounds to where Audyssey initially set them, as seen above.

However, one thing I noticed as I started playing with the front crossovers is if I went down in the hz, bass got less... in range and loudness. And if I started going above 80hz, I seemed to get more even sounding bass across the spectrum, with music especially....as in, hearing a more even sound between the kick of a drum vs low notes of a bass guitar vs mid and high notes of a bass guitar. 110hz seems to be the sweet spot without getting too much vocal going into the subs too...but I am curious why going up in the front crossover Hz had this effect. And is that OK?

Anyone that's experimented with this, would be neat to see others perspectives and outcomes....or any knowledge. This is in a great room with a one side vaulted ceiling (low right, high left in seated position)....45 degree lean. Going from 8 foot on right to around 23 ft in the left.)

I would trust your ears on this. You are confirming my impression that those speakers do not have the bass output they are advertised to have. They are not a speaker I would recommend at all. So the fact they need more help in the bass is what I would expect. To my ears those speakers have had somewhat of a "false bass." So I would set to what sounds best and not worry about it.

 

[WolfgangJT]

I would trust your ears on this. You are confirming my impression that those speakers do not have the bass output they are advertised to have. They are not a speaker I would recommend at all. So the fact they need more help in the bass is what I would expect. To my ears those speakers have had somewhat of a "false bass." So I would set to what sounds best and not worry about it.

Agreed (guessing you mean the towers). Bass wise, they definitely don't do what they advertise (they say it's rated to go into the 20s... but it's actually more of a side woofer, not a subwoofer, and if they do that low, I would be shocked if they didn't blow the amp trying. It does add to give a fulll sound, but IMO, they do need subs to have a true full sound with proper bass (I used to be into major car audio in my youth, so being a bit of a bass head doesn't help..lol.)

Sub wise, might eventually shift to SVS subs, but trying to get the best out of my Klipsch's and the receiver and bass for now after all the rest of my upgrades. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Trebdp83]

To be clear, you are connecting the front speakers with just speaker wire and are not using the LFE input?

 

[WolfgangJT]

To be clear, you are connecting the front speakers with just speaker wire and are not using the LFE input?

Correct. I've seen the videos from Massimo/Def Tech where they explained to not use the LFE connection, so I only have them connected via wire to the red/black connections from the receiver, nothing going to the LFE input of the tower. The Klipsch subs are the only things connected to the Subwoofer outputs of the receiver.

 

[Trebdp83]

The reason you noticed bass fall off when using a lower crossover on the fronts playing two channel music is that a lower crossover there means less bass is sent to the subs when playing two channel signals and the fronts just aren't going to do as good a job of it.

I'd experiment and run the Front Small and cross all of the speakers at 110Hz and connect the Front "subwoofers" using their LFE port and manually try to mix them in with the Klipsch making sure the Klipsch do most of the heavy lifting by turning down the Bass Control knob on the Def Techs.

The ceiling of the LFE is 120Hz. So, don't stress over a 110HZ or even a 120HZ crossover being used on the other channels. If localization was that big a deal, the LFE channel would not go that high. Some swear by an 80Hz crossover for the other channels but it isn't the optimal setting for each and every speaker setup. Play with it and have fun!

For Dolby Atmos, you might try another set of the monopole ProMonitor 1000 for the surrounds as well instead of the bipole SR8040BP speakers. The atmos speakers should also be monopoles for optimal object placement processing.