Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Cross-over recommendations for HT set-up

This question was spurned on by a comment that, when usign the M60s, some of you set your subwoofer cross over to around 60, instead of 80.

I was wondering - in a HT set-up, with QS8s and a a pair of M2s in the rear, a VP100 and two M60s up front, what should I set the cross-over at?

I want to get all the delicious mid-range and bass that I can from the M60s, but my fear is that if I set the cross-over too low, then the center and the surroudn might struggle, and I'll lose some fidelity in this area.

Any suggestions?

I generally leave the setting at the usual 80hz for HT. It's only when listening to music (generally 2 channel) that I tend to set the cross-over lower.

I don't think setting the cross-over lower is going to strain your center or surrounds anyway. They simply can't reproduce those lower tones. They're not going to strain trying, they simply won't do it.

Ok - I get it. And having the C/O set at 80 (I'm not going to be tinkering with the sub much, if at all) is optimal for both HT and Music?

If I switch my Yamaha 1400 to just play the M60s in a stereo setting for music without effects or DSP, will the M60 reproduce sound in the speakers full bandwidth, or will I lose everything below the 80 HZ C/O? In other words, will I have to keep my sub in the loop for everything if the C/O in my amp is set to 80?

And a follow up - if this is so, and I'm not going to be tinkering - should I opt for the M50s or the M22s since the lower end of the M60s won't ever see the light of day?

The "midrange" will not be affected if you set the crossover at 80hz or 60hz. Midrange frequencies are much higher.

Setting the crossover point will adjust how much bass is sent tot he speakers vs the sub.

Adrien, the M60s could certainly be set on the 1400 to reproduce the full range, including bass, when you play in stereo. The general procedure should be to set YPAO to skip setting the speaker sizes and crossover and instead manually set all speakers "small" and the crossover at 80Hz. YPAO should then be allowed to set equalization, levels and distances. Then, if on some occasions you'd want the M60s instead of the sub to handle the bass, you could temporarily manually reset the M60s to large, and/or set the bass to front rather than subwoofer. This of course would then bypass the 80Hz crossover. In my view however, there's no good reason to do this. A good sub, properly located and calibrated, will give better overall results in the lowest bass than even speakers such as the M60s which have good bass. Stay with speakers small and the 80Hz crossover for both HT and all types of music.

As to whether M22s with the good sub would be just as good as the M60s, opinions have varied. Some have reported that the sound above the low bass was essentially identical; others have said that the M60s sounded "fuller" even above the low bass. The M60s would be able to play somewhat louder in very large rooms.

Thanks, John. That makes perfect sense to me now. I'm just a real amateur about this stuff. I just want to make sure that I'm getting what I'm paying for, and not paying for something that I just don't need.

I just re-read some comments from above. What is the consensus with the M60's?

Do I set them as "Small" and make my cross-over at 80Hz and just leave it? I'm looking for a one time fix (not a tinkerer).

Also, it was mentioned that mid-range frequencies are much higher than 80Hz. Just to give me an idea, how low is 80Hz? Any examples from movies or music that might help me understand how low or high a frequency is?

(E.g. where in the spectrum to normal voices fall? How about high hat cymbals, and what about bass notes on a piano - Or explosions in movies?)

This might help. It's not the best chart, but it was the best I could find quickly. The very bottom of the chart gives you an idea of "bass," "midrange," and "treble" ranges.

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=tech&Number=35304&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=

This thread also deals with crossover setting, see Alan's comments.

In reply to:

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Just to give me an idea, how low is 80Hz?

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Try this link - http://www.mts.net/~dgl/downloads/80hz0dbfs.wav

WARNING - THIS FILE IS AT 0dBFS - ie: freakin' loud

That's an 80Hz sine wave.

Bren R.