Oh my gosh...this is weird. I've owned my HK 630 for several months now and I just went back to do some large/small testing. The results were shocking! I didn't really do "stereo" testing. Mostly movie tests. 5.1 and 7.1 tests. Okay...bizarro but true. I tested the other night doing tons of A/B stuff with small vs. large. For the most part I focused on the center channel signal.
The test material was Lord of the Rings: Fellowship EE set to DTS-ES Discrete played in 7.1.
For a long time I had my center channel set to 80 Hz. I found that the sound was clear when set to this. But you know, the Axiom VP150 can go lower than 80 Hz...so I thought I'd test it at 60 Hz. My M60s (front mains) were set to 60 Hz...so why not balance the front end Hz cut-off. Seemed to make sense to me. Well...needless to say, the sound DID indeed change. The sound was a little fuller...on the low end. But again, we're talking dialoug...not something that should really be heard in the 60-80 Hz range. What took me a while to catch on to was that when I changed the crossover from 80 Hz to 60 Hz, for some odd reason, the high end of voices were getting cut off. Now, I don't know what the Hz range was...but it was well high enough that going deeper shouldn't change anything. So that's when I said...let's try large. Let's hear what an "untampered" signal sounds like. Whoa...not a huge change...but when you're being maticulous...it's a huge change.
There was just more subtle detail I was hearing in peoples voices. It was as it all should be heard. I tested these sounds with four peoples voices in the movie just to be certain. Bilbo, Gandalf, Galadrial, and Frodo. All utilizing different spectrums of sound. Each one had just a little bit more clarity and soundscape when set to large. Untampered. Now...needless to say this is depressing because my final analysis is that my receiver is compressing the sound in order to run it through the crossover. I'm obviously approaching this from a very analytical standpoint, but I feel when you spend thousands of dollars...you want to get the most of out of that investment.
Now, one might read this and say...if you like the large setting so much, just use that. Ahh...that's the biggest downfall. If you have all speakers set to large it considerably cuts down on subwoofer activity, which is very exciting in movies such as LOTR. So, it's a lose-lose situation, though setting the speakers to small is the best compromise as you get "most" of the sound out your main speakers and much more activity out of your subwoofer. But, compromise just doesn't sit well with me.
Harman Kardon definitly lost points with me when I found this out. I did everything I could think of even down to a factory reset (reboot). Same results.
So, what's my conclusion? I'm receiver shopping. Currently looking at the Denon 3805. Looking for a receiver that won't "mess" with the sound.
Sad
It's a sexy looking receiver if anything, but not a pure one.
