Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater "large" vs "small" setting with M40ti?

ok, the more i read and prepare to set up my system with the subwoofer, the more confused I seem to get. The general consensus seems to be set all speakers to small (M40ti, QS4, VP100) and let the Marantz crossover send everything below to the sub. The Marantz crossover is 100hz, which seems high to me with front speakers that conceivably go down to 40hz.

So, I am wondering if any other M40ti users set there speakers as large or small on thier receiver. Could I set just the fronts to large and activate the sub crossover at 50hz or so? Any thoughts?

I set all my speakers to small. I have the exact set-up you have except fot Yammie receiver instead of Marantz and SVS sub. For the first two weeks (before the sub arrived) I had the forty's set on large. Although the bass was good the speakers seemed a bit strained. After I got the sub and took the burden of low freq. away everything sounded better to me.

Un, this was one of the reasons that in your earlier M22/M40 thread I suggested the M22s, since the VTF-2 did the bass so well, and the M22s had a bit better midrange. In your present setup although the M40s do the midbass around 50-100hz well, the VTF-2 should be even a bit better in that area. So, as Steve does, I'd still suggest that you set the speakers "small" and bypass the crossover on the VTF-2. Have the sub in the corner and the woofers in the mains positioned at unequal distances from the floor and nearest walls. Yes, of course you can set "large" and use the sub cross with a low setting in the 50hz area, but I suspect that the overall result will be better the other way.

Johnk -

yeah, I was very close to the M22ti for the same reason, but my wife did not want speakers on stands with kids running around, so my next choice was the M40ti. I guess I will go with the small setting (like you and steve)first and see how that goes, I'll let you know.

Thanks for your responses guys, I appreciate the help.

Un,
chek out this post for info on the 2 methods for setting up subs and 'large' vs 'small' fronts.
They can be done both ways.
the link

I have my M40's set to "Large" or "Small", depending on what I'm listening to at the time.
When I listen to music, I don't like to use my subwoofer since it gets a little "boomy" at times, so I run the 40's full-range. When I first tried this out I kept switching between "Small" w/sub and "Large" w/o sub, and decided that to ME it sounded better without the subwoofer. Maybe it's 'cause I have a low-budget sub.
But when I watch DVD's, I set the 40's to "Small" 80Hz. Again, I experimented and chose what sounded best to ME.
Bottom line is I don't think there are any hard and fast rules on speaker settings. Tinker with your stuff and find out what sounds best to you.
Good luck.

On the money Big L.

CAV104