Setting the crossover with my new loudspeakers & sub

[Fredhizzle]

I read a few articles on this but it only confused me, If you can help me get that perfect blend between my loudspeaker and my sub-woofer by accomplishing this I also read it minimizes distortion and brings the loudspeaker to its full potential. I recently got my Sony SSF7000 floor standing speakers which have a frequency response of 35-50,000Hz and my 230 watt Onkyo SKW-204 sub has a response of 50hz-200Hz what should my crossover be on my Onkyo reciever? 40,50,60,80? By the way if my sub lowest note is at 50hz and my floorstanding at 35 that means my floorstanding can take on the LFE right??

 

[Exit]

I would recommend a crossover of 80 Hz as this keeps all the vocals out of the subwoofer. In addition, if you go by published specs. which often are exaggerated your main speakers go deeper in frequency response than you subwoofer. Therefore I would set the mains to large and the center and surrounds to small. If there is a setting for LFE I would set it to both mains and subwoofer

 

[Fredhizzle]

Thanks allot, I'm a beginner as you can tell , but what do mean by over exaggerated?

 

[no. 5]

...but what do mean by over exaggerated?

It means manufacturers specs are mostly lies. Usually not big ones, but still.

Also, I recommend setting all speakers to 'small', just because it will be easer to get good bass.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Exaggerated means they are able to reach those #'s in an anechoic chamber with very expensive equipment. Kind of like the walkie-talkies you had as a kid that had a 1/4 mile range. Remember, they barely reached across the street.

I'd second the small speaker setting with a 80hz crossover to start. But experiment to see what sound is to your liking (try a different crossover or lg setting).

Jack

 

[The Chukker]

Exaggerated means they are able to reach those #'s in an anechoic chamber with very expensive equipment. Kind of like the walkie-talkies you had as a kid that had a 1/4 mile range. Remember, they barely reached across the street.

Great analogy

 

[Exit]

I recommended the mains be set to large because supposedly they go to 35Hz, so you would gain the bass region from 35 Hz to 50 Hz. You just want the bass, it does not matter if it comes from the mains or subwoofer.

 

[no. 5]

You just want the bass, it does not matter if it comes from the mains or subwoofer.

But it can matter where it comes from, having three low frequency sources may cause undesirable interaction between them if they are not positioned properly.

I get what you're saying though, one does always want the best low frequency extension possible.

 

[Exit]

Who doesn't want the lowest bass possible? That would be unaudioholic wouldn't it? Extension to 35 Hz still isn't covering the full music spectrum let alone a good bit of special effects in movies, but you still try to go as low as you can with the equipment you have and the money you have. As far as cancellation with stereo speakers themselves, I have not seen that brought up as an issue before and they both play into the same low frequencies. I don't see that adding a sub to the mix would be a problem, but you could always experiment with subwoofer placement as in crawling for bass.

 

[Alex2507]

I read a few articles on this but it only confused me, If you can help me get that perfect blend between my loudspeaker and my sub-woofer by accomplishing this I also read it minimizes distortion and brings the loudspeaker to its full potential. I recently got my Sony SSF7000 floor standing speakers which have a frequency response of 35-50,000Hz and my 230 watt Onkyo SKW-204 sub has a response of 50hz-200Hz what should my crossover be on my Onkyo reciever? 40,50,60,80? By the way if my sub lowest note is at 50hz and my floorstanding at 35 that means my floorstanding can take on the LFE right??

Your speakers' spec's out class the sub. That makes a recommendation kind of tough. Asking your speakers to put out low frequencies at high volumes can lead to distortion which makes everything sound like crap. Setting their crossover higher allows them to play the higher frequencies louder without distorting. So the higher frequencies at least can sound good and loud.

I think you're gonna have to play around with this and see where it takes you. I looked the speakers up and they are pretty sharp looking. I'm honestly thinking that the sub really belongs in different system with small speakers that don't go all the way down to 35hz.

-Alex

 

[no. 5]

As far as cancellation with stereo speakers themselves, I have not seen that brought up as an issue before and they both play into the same low frequencies. I don't see that adding a sub to the mix would be a problem, but you could always experiment with subwoofer placement as in crawling for bass.

It would only be an issue if the mains and subwoofer were all playing the same thing (mains and sub both getting the LFE track, for example).

 

[Fredhizzle]

but you could always experiment with subwoofer placement as in crawling for bass.

Oh I have crawled around to find the lowest note .. to bad the bass from the corners of the room are not as strong as the center of the room.

 

[Fredhizzle]

Your speakers' spec's out class the sub. That makes a recommendation kind of tough. Asking your speakers to put out low frequencies at high volumes can lead to distortion which makes everything sound like crap. Setting their crossover higher allows them to play the higher frequencies louder without distorting. So the higher frequencies at least can sound good and loud.
-Alex

The bass response from these speakers are pretty good (compared to the Onkyo HTIB system, its a major upgrade for me )there is not a problem when I turn them up but the midrange distorts so I ither have to put down the treble to 0db and when I set like this the bass takes over and the movie is not as clear so I have to set the bass and treble around the same level usually bass is always up by four db. I really need to replace the sub though I need a job so I can get a Velodyn mini v 8 or one of the dls woofer then I won't have to worry about the mains being the LFE factor. Yous nows what I'm sayin

 

[jcPanny]

Sub upgrade

If you "sub" only plays down to 50 Hz, you should think about a sub upgrade. Look for something with a 10"-12" woofer that plays down to the 20-30 Hz range. If you listen to a lot of music, your mains are probably fine without a sub.