Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Speaker setting to small or large?

I don't run 5 channel or a sub but I have a question. Isn't it better to set the speakers to large if you have M60's or 80's? Wouldn't the sub blend better that way? If you have large speakers and you tell the receiver they are small is that wasting low end? It reminds me of Bose with little cubes and a sub.

Lampy, the basic idea behind bass management is to allow the sub to handle the very low frequencies which it does best(at least if it's good enough)and to relieve the mains and other speakers set "small" of part of the bass burden so that they play the higher frequencies more cleanly. This also relieves the receiver driving the speakers from having to amplify the demanding very low frequencies. So, the point is to get the best overall sound, not to be concerned about wasting part of the frequency range of the mains.

Hey Lampy,

John pretty much covered everything. Keep in mind the terms "small" or "large" have nothing to do with the physical size of the speaker. It is more about its ability to play bass below the frequency crossover setting efficiently.

Yes the 60's and 80's can pump out some potent bass, however, the subs larger driver can move a lot more air within a room, especially when you get down to the lower Hz. Also, anything below 80 Hz or so is non-directional, meaning you can't tell the direction the sound is coming from, you just feel it all around.

Also, keep in mind when you set a crossover to say 80 Hz, it does not just cutoff at that frequency. There is a gradual slope or blend between the speakers and sub.

It is also a THX recommendation.

You can set your mains to a lower crossover point as well and still have them set to small, with most of the newer avr's out there. I have my M80s at 40 or 60 and set to small, this will direct anything at 40 hz and lower to the sub and leave the M80s to do the rest making full use of the ~35hz rating of the M80s and then some days I will try the LFE + Mains setting just for fun, sometimes I think it sounds better.

Randy do you remember why THX chose 80hz as the crossover point? No looking it up either.

I have my m80's set at 80 hz for movies and 40 hz for stereo mode.

I am about due for some more tinkering and calibration... maybe I should play with sub placement some more!

Ummmm Google, Ummmm, no not sure, may have to think about it.