Set up Question- Onkyo with Polk

[Buckeyebacker]

Not sure on what to set my crossover settings to. I did the auto calibration and it just doesn't sound the greatest to me. I don't know what to set the crossover to on each speaker setting. I also don't know how to set the crossover setting on the actual sub woofer itself and if I want the subwoofer switch to auto or not. Any help or input would be great. Thanks. This is what I have.

Onkyo tx-sr608
Fronts- Polk towers TSI 400
Center- Polk CS 10
Rear - Polk in ceiling speaker - MC 60
Sub - Polk PSW 10

21x21 room with 18 ft. cathedral ceiling.

 

[nibhaz]

Not sure on what to set my crossover settings to. I did the auto calibration and it just doesn't sound the greatest to me. I don't know what to set the crossover to on each speaker setting. I also don't know how to set the crossover setting on the actual sub woofer itself and if I want the subwoofer switch to auto or not. Any help or input would be great. Thanks. This is what I have.

Onkyo tx-sr608
Fronts- Polk towers TSI 400
Center- Polk CS 10
Rear - Polk in ceiling speaker - MC 60
Sub - Polk PSW 10

21x21 room with 18 ft. cathedral ceiling.

Without doing any research what so ever about you components I'm going tell to start out by setting all of your speakers to small and at a crossover point of 80hz.

Make sure you are using the receiver's sub preout for your subwoofer conection and turn the crossover knob on the sub itself all the way up so that you don't have cascading crossovers.

Setting the sub to auto just means it shuts on and off when fed an audio signal...unless you want to waste power and leave it on all the time or manually flip the switch everytime you use the sub you want to set it to auto.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

I agree - you'll want the center and rear speakers set to "80 Hz" (described on page 41 of the Onkyo manual). As for the front speakers, I suggest that you play around with the settings to see what you like the most. I say that because your towers and your sub have similar low-frequency capabilities, so it's not cut and dry to me if you'd want to set the front speakers to "Full Band" or not.

Because you will be having the Onkyo do the bass management (i.e. determine which speakers play which frequencies), you'll want to effectively disable that on your sub. Do that by turning the "Low Pass" dial on the back of the sub to "160". That means that it will play all frequencies up to 160 Hz, which is higher than what the Onkyo will send to it...so the sub won't be filtering out any of the signal.

 

[Buckeyebacker]

I will change everything to 80hz. Also, front speakers are Bi-amped if that makes any difference? All the crossover settings were set at 40hz when I went in to change it. So what can I expect this difference to be now that I have changed my settings. Also, I made a mistake my sub is a Polk RM 6200 if that makes any difference. Thanks again for the help, I am new at all this stuff.

 

[nibhaz]

I will change everything to 80hz. Also, front speakers are Bi-amped if that makes any difference? All the crossover settings were set at 40hz when I went in to change it. So what can I expect this difference to be now that I have changed my settings. Also, I made a mistake my sub is a Polk RM 6200 if that makes any difference. Thanks again for the help, I am new at all this stuff.

Since adam actually looked at the specs of your speakers 80hz may or may not be the ideal crossover for your front channel. So just keep in mind my first suggestion was merely the lazy man's starting point.

It may behoove you to set the crossover for those towers a little lower or not cross them over at all as adam mentioned. I would suggest a lttile trial and error with your ears to see what works best for your taste in our room.

 

[Adam]

...my sub is a Polk RM 6200 if that makes any difference.

I think that the sub that came with that system is the PSW250 (I'm not sure, though). If so, I think that what I said above still stands. The PSW250 has similar specs and, from what I can find, a similar back panel.

 

[Buckeyebacker]

When you say not to crossover the front towers at all does that mean to set the fronts to "full band" and leave the center and rears at 80hz?? Thanks

 

[Adam]

When you say not to crossover the front towers at all does that mean to set the fronts to "full band" and leave the center and rears at 80hz?? Thanks

Yep. On your Onkyo, "Full Band" means that all frequencies for that channel will go to the speaker. So, setting the fronts to "Full Band" will send bass for the front channels to them instead of to the sub.

 

[Buckeyebacker]

Will the sub continue to get bass from the other channels then? Also, is this how it recommended to be set up?

 

[Buckeyebacker]

I am just wondering how much bass these towers can handle?

 

[Adam]

Will the sub continue to get bass from the other channels then?

Yes, the sub will receive bass from all channels that aren't set to "Full Band."

Also, is this how it recommended to be set up?

Check out my first post. If you had a sub that was a lot more capable than your front speakers, then you wouldn't set them to "Full Band." But, you don't, so I recommend adjusting the settings and seeing what you like the most. Your center and rears can't play low frequencies well or at all, so you definitely want to set them to something other than "Full Band." The center can play down to 63 Hz at -3dB, so "80 Hz" is the best setting for it.

 

[Buckeyebacker]

What would be the advantage of setting the fronts to "full band" rather than setting the crossover at 80hz and letting the sub handle the bass? Wont i get more bass in the room if i set the crossover at 80? Thanks.

 

[Adam]

What would be the advantage of setting the fronts to "full band" rather than setting the crossover at 80hz and letting the sub handle the bass? Wont i get more bass in the room if i set the crossover at 80? Thanks.

Let me say this slightly differently on my third attempt...just try it both ways - that will quickly and easily provide you with the answer to which is better for you. Your towers are rated at -3dB at 44 Hz, whereas your sub is rated at -3dB at 40 Hz. That's not a huge difference. Perhaps set it up to play bass through both the towers and the sub and see if you prefer that.

 

[Adam]

Btw, I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I just think that you need to try it out for yourself.

 

[Buckeyebacker]

Ok thanks