Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater VP150 small or large?

Hi,
I have a not so hot sony reciever, but my question is can this center channel be set as large (capable of bass reporduction) or should it be set as small?? Will I loose a lot of the fidelity if it's small?

Set it to small and let your sub handle the low frequencies. This will alleviate a lot of the strain on your receiver. Play around with crossover points to find the smoothest transition. Low frequencies put the most strain on receivers and amplifiers. If you can use the amp in the sub to drive the bass for all speakers your receiver will thank you. Especially if it is small.

Set it to small.

Small!

thanks guys!

I would say set all speakers to small, and a crossover on your receiver of 80hz, and turn the sub crossover all the way up, so it is out of the way...

What do people do when listening to 2 channel music that doesn't send anything to the sub?

I rarely listen to music, but I am just curious. I think that I have mine all set to large since the speakers seem to be able to handle the workload of the frequency range, but I will try small and see what happens.

Nick, my H/K lets me choose different size speakers for each input. For movies I set the speakers to small and use the sub, and for 2 channel music I set the speakers to large and do without the sub. My bookshelf speakers offer enough bass to satisfy my ears.

For 2 channel, I have my speakers set to large, and the sub on. Best o' both worlds.

Actually, I have no idea whether it sounds better or not. I just like being different.

And I run ALL speakers to large, the sub on, AND the x-over at 60.

I like being even differenter

When I listen to CD's or FM, I get sound from the sub at these settings, you don't?

Yes Nick, as Randy has pointed out, when you set your speakers small and a suitable crossover, probably 80Hz, in your 54TX, the sub will have plenty to do with 2 channel sources in stereo mode. You paid good money for your sub so you might as well let it do the job which it can do best in the low bass. Another point is to also put your surrounds to work with 2 channel material by using DPLII.

On my Denon, I also enjoy 5-Channel and 7-Channel stereo modes for something different. Otherwise, I use Direct mode most of the time. Now on some CD's the low freq's are more abvious then others....

Holy crap... I've been missing a lot of low end sound!!!! I switched things to small, and whammo... Now my sub plays even when just listening to the radio! I love bass, so this is really cool to me. The sound is definately better for movies if you ask me. Personal preference, yes, but that's what matters.

Thanks for the tip.

You need to find out at what freq. your Sony cuts off between the Small and Large setting. I don't know if there is an industry standard for this. Does anybody know?

Remember the role of a Center Channel is mainly for voice. Male and Female. Its the male voice you need to be concerned with. The VP150 can go down to 85 Hertz. That should be low enough for most, if not all male voices. One thing I hate is having a low male voice be picked up by a subwoofer or even the Fronts because the center can't go that low. One of the reasons "Home Theatre In A Box" from Wallmart doesn't sound so good. It all depends on where the Sony cuts off the freq. from small to large. If you set your Sony to "Small" for the center, you may notice this. So now its a trade off between taxing your amplifier or sacrficing natural center sound.

Eventually you need to get a good amp for the center and run the VP150 as Large.

I would like anyone's elses thoughts on my logic here.

I wouldn't reccomend ever running the VP150 as large, since it doesn't go below 80Hz. By the specs it is 85Hz, but it does extend deeper so 80Hz is probably a good crossover for it.

Since it does not go down to 20 Hz (or lower), set it to small and let the sub fill in the rest. Certainly dialog isn't in this range, but the center will also be asked to handle music, engine sounds, explosions, etc.

Just my opinion, but you can have it your way.

I do things just a little bit differently, but it works for me(then again, I run M50s, so I'm expected to be somewhat eccentric)

I run an M3 for center, call it large, and cross it at 60hz.

I prefer a more full-range center, and the M3 is fairly happy down to around 60. I would be more than just a little excited if Axiom would come out with a dedicated center using the 6.5" mid woofs, but if it don't happen......well, the M3 is doin just fine.

I know I've mentioned it before, but having a voice component sneaking thru my sub when I cross the center at 80 is most anoying. So I keep the voices in the center and gain a little more in the effects regime thru the center as well!

Hey.....it works pretty well if you use an M3 as center

After a tedious search I found out that my Sony receiver crosses over to the Sub at 120Hz when small speakers are selected in speaker setup. I don't have an Axiom setup....YET, but most forum responses to my setup questions said go with 'small' speakers selected. You just may be able to localize your sub because it's getting crossed at a higher frequency than ideal.
Sips

That usually isn't a big problem... just keep the sub near the TV (behind or just to one side) and most of the voices will be coming from that area anyways.