Subwoofer crossover setting

[muncybob]

Is my thinking correct on this??: If the receiver crossover is set at 90 and the subwoofer is set at some extremely high figure(say 200) the subwoofer will get basically all digital sound at 90(rolled off) or lower and the speakers will get the rest? Similarily, if the dvd player has a fixed crossover at 100 for analog connections then the subwoofer will get 100 and below and speakers will get above 100?

If this is true then why even bother fretting over the sub's crossover and just set it to the max basically defeating it's crossover and let the receiver and/or dvd player do the work??

Reason I ask is that I have an entry level universal Pioneer player(563-A)which apparently has fixed analog crossovers and multi channel material seems to lack in lfe unless I do the above and manually increase the subwoofer volume.

 

[nibhaz]

If you are using the bass management in your receiver or the bass management in the player it is correct to turn the crossover that is physically on the sub to its maximum value.

 

[Hi Ho]

Some subs have a bypass for the crossover as well. It is useless when using the bass management in the receiver.

 

[mtrycrafts]

If this is true then why even bother fretting over the sub's crossover and just set it to the max basically defeating it's crossover and let the receiver and/or dvd player do the work??.

Using and setting the sub crossover helps minimizing what high frequency also gets to the sub as you don't want any above the crossover point. But, crossovers have slopes of varying degree and some frequency above the set point will get to the sub and be audible and be localizable.
Hence, by setting the sub as close to the receiver, you increase the slope of rejection steeper in effect as you are filtering twice.

 

[jcrobso]

Xovers,, fun and games.

Is my thinking correct on this??: If the receiver crossover is set at 90 and the subwoofer is set at some extremely high figure(say 200) the subwoofer will get basically all digital sound at 90(rolled off) or lower and the speakers will get the rest? Similarily, if the dvd player has a fixed crossover at 100 for analog connections then the subwoofer will get 100 and below and speakers will get above 100?

If this is true then why even bother fretting over the sub's crossover and just set it to the max basically defeating it's crossover and let the receiver and/or dvd player do the work??

Reason I ask is that I have an entry level universal Pioneer player(563-A)which apparently has fixed analog crossovers and multi channel material seems to lack in lfe unless I do the above and manually increase the subwoofer volume.

Yes, disable the subwoofer xover if you can or set it too it's highest value if your reciver has xover for the sub. If you don't you will get double anttenuation at the xover frequency, and lose that band of frequenices allmost completly. john

 

[johnnybon]

I agree. Disable the crossover.

 

[Totoro]

Crossover may be irrelevant

On my SW, which is an Infinity PS-8, the crossover setting is automatically deactivated when the signal comes from the LFE, because the sub "knows" that bass management is coming from the receiver. At least that is what the manual says.

 

[skizzerflake]

I suggest getting a test disc such as Stereophile's disc, which has samples of lots of different frenquencies. Use the setting that gives you the most even response over the bass frequencies. If you want to get real scientific, you can get a sound pressure meter that measures frequency bands and measure to see if there are peaks or valleys. For either means, use the setting that works best and don't worry about theory.

 

[kenhoeve]

Velodyne recommends stepping down the x-over when using bass management. Specifically for the common 80hz point they recommend placing the receiver crossover at 120hz and the sub at 80 hz.

 

[Seth=L]

That really stinks, I have owned somewhere around 10 subs and only one allowed x-over bypass. It was an Athena Tech. It also bypassed the gain, nice feature for a poorly built sub. I called that sub the "Chuff-Master 2000".

If a bypass is possible do that, if not set the x-over to the max Hz, you will still have to adjust the gain though.

 

[j_garcia]

Reason I ask is that I have an entry level universal Pioneer player(563-A)which apparently has fixed analog crossovers and multi channel material seems to lack in lfe unless I do the above and manually increase the subwoofer volume.

The problem with your setup is not your sub, it is your player. Bass lacks because DD and DTS tracks have a +10dB offset built into the processing while music (including DVD-A and SACD) do NOT. This means the sub channell will be -10dB compared to movies. Some players have a setting to account for this as well as some receivers, so you'll have to check both to find out if either of yours do, but I am pretty certain the 563 does not.

As for the sub x-over, set it to its highest setting or bypass it. Period.