what will I be missing?

[patnshan]

Hi,
I finally have my basement HT complete. I have calibrated my RXV-661 and really like it. AVS readers may know I have had some trouble with the autosetup on the unit, namely it is setting my small front towers as large and my crossover too high. It picked 120 three different times! I manually set it to 100 Hz. and the fronts to small. I need to recheck the levels again, I know.

My side surrounds are HTD middies (for asthetic reasons). They sound nice, but only go down to 100 Hz flat. I would like to try out a crossover setting of 80 Hz because I can localize some of the bass behind the couch where my SVS is. I don't want to localize any of it. My rear surrounds and fronts go to 50 or 60 I'd say.

I guess I am wondering how much I'd be missing having the crossover at 80 when the side surrounds don't go that low. Also of note, I do like to apply Dolby PLIIx movie or DTS ES to matrix the rear surrounds on 5.1 tracks, and they will go to 80 easily. Is there really a lot of information I'll be missing from the sides if I set the crossover lower?

What do you all think? Any input is appreciated. I feel I am really close to my personal audio nirvana

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Leprkon]

My side surrounds are HTD middies (for asthetic reasons). They sound nice, but only go down to 100 Hz flat. I would like to try out a crossover setting of 80 Hz because I can localize some of the bass behind the couch where my SVS is. I don't want to localize any of it. My rear surrounds and fronts go to 50 or 60 I'd say.


Thanks,

Pat

Take it down to 80. Surrounds only get somewhat higher frequencies anyway, which are the only one human ears can localize. The only real limiter is your center channel. If it can't get down to 80, you'll be spouting voices out of your sub (somehow that sentence just sounds bad). If the center can take it, the rest of the system will be fine.

 

[patnshan]

Take it down to 80. Surrounds only get somewhat higher frequencies anyway, which are the only one human ears can localize. The only real limiter is your center channel. If it can't get down to 80, you'll be spouting voices out of your sub (somehow that sentence just sounds bad). If the center can take it, the rest of the system will be fine.

I thought it would be OK. Polk says my center goes to 55, so I am sure realistically it can do 80.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[mike c]

I agree. do not sacrifice your mains-sub potential just because of the surrounds

 

[patnshan]

I took it down to 80 and watched The Queen (I know, not the best soundtrack) last night. It sounded great with PLIIx overlay on DD. Thanks much for the reassurance.

Pat

 

[jcPanny]

HTD Middy

Pat,
How do you like the HTD Middy for your surrounds. In my living room HT I will have to compromise with small bookshelf speakers or in-ceiling speakers for the surround channels.

 

[patnshan]

Pat,
How do you like the HTD Middy for your surrounds. In my living room HT I will have to compromise with small bookshelf speakers or in-ceiling speakers for the surround channels.

They sound better than they should for how small they are. I was listening to some music in 7.1 enhanced the other day and had it quite loud (around 0 ) and they held their own. I think the two woofers, albeit small ones, give them a little extra oomph. They look quite nice. I have them mounted on the side walls using HTD's ball and socket brackets, just below the ceiling, tilted down toward the listening area about 30 degrees or so. They include ceiling brackets with the wall one's, in case you want to do it that way. I have them mounted vertically, but the HTD guys said they work well horizontally as well. I have the black one's as they were out of white. They are quite worth the $150 per pair. I'd recommend them if you can't spare the space for real speakers on the sides or rear. I could not, so they are a great option for us.

Take care,

Pat

 

[needaglock]

Take it down to 80. Surrounds only get somewhat higher frequencies anyway, which are the only one human ears can localize. The only real limiter is your center channel. If it can't get down to 80, you'll be spouting voices out of your sub (somehow that sentence just sounds bad). If the center can take it, the rest of the system will be fine.

My center channel (two identical speakers, one above and below my flat panel) and side surrounds go down to 90Hz. I plan on setting the bass management for those channels correspondingly, will I get some voice bleeding through to the subwoofer? How nondirectional are bass frequencies between 80Hz and 90Hz--or are such frequencies not non-directional until about 80Hz?

This has been a point of major concernation for me in laying out my home theatre. I'm using towers for the rears and fronts, but the frequency responce on my center has been frustrating me in regards to proper bass management. The solution I have planned for when I hook this all up is to place the subwoofer directly below the tv (I've found a nice cabinet that will incorporate everything nicely.) This would place more emphasis to the viewing area, which I feel is important since with a 7.1 system you have alot of speakers behind you. Thoughts?

 

[MDS]

80 Hz and below is generally not localizable and I've seen Dolby Labs whitepapers that say even frequencies as high as 120 Hz are often not localizable.

Like anything else it really depends on the content but if you stick to 80 Hz or below as a xover you should really never hear voices in the subwoofer. I think the lowest male voice hits 125 Hz so it's fairly believeable that in most cases 120 Hz isn't localizable either.

 

[patnshan]

I could localize my sub at 100 occasionally during a movie, I cannot at 80.

Pat

 

[mike c]

I could localize my sub at 100 occasionally during a movie, I cannot at 80.

Pat

I can localize mine at 90

 

[dem beats]

80 Hz and below is generally not localizable and I've seen Dolby Labs whitepapers that say even frequencies as high as 120 Hz are often not localizable.

Like anything else it really depends on the content but if you stick to 80 Hz or below as a xover you should really never hear voices in the subwoofer. I think the lowest male voice hits 125 Hz so it's fairly believeable that in most cases 120 Hz isn't localizable either.

only 125.. dang. Something must be wrong with my set up... I have my Xover set to 80 now and in sin city that big guys voice plays to the sub quite a bit.

 

[needaglock]

only 125.. dang. Something must be wrong with my set up... I have my Xover set to 80 now and in sin city that big guys voice plays to the sub quite a bit.

I'm considering replacing the drivers inside my side surrounds and center channels to achieve a lower frequency responce. I'm not a huge fan of that distorted voice through subwoofer type of sound.