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

Hello Everyone,

I'm a new proud owner of the Epic 80/500 system. It only has been a few days but I've already lost lots of sleep. Great speakers!!!

I have a Yamaha Rx-V1800 receiver. What setting do you recommend for speaker settings...small or large? At what crossover frequency should I set the sub on my receiver and do I match that frequency with the knob on the back of the 500 sub?

Thanks,
Stanmanh

Conventional wisdom calls for setting all speakers to small. The crossover at the sub should be turned up to its maximum setting (effectively taking it out of the equation), and set the AVR crossover to 80Hz. You can adjust the AVR up or down a bit to suit your room and tastes.

I agree with this convential wisdom. Definitely let the sub amp handle 100% of the lowest frequencies. Given the M80's bass capabilities, however, do try 60Hz as well as 80Hz (only if your amp or receiver allows different settings for each channel -- 80Hz is what you'll need for the other speakers). Your ears will tell you whether a 60Hz setting for the M80s is better in your particular environment. Your M80s may love that 60-80 range!

Hi Stanmanh,

I also own the Epic 80/500 system and couldn’t be happier with it. The conventional wisdom the Joe_in_Ct cites is a great starting point. This reiterates what he said and expands on the reasoning behind it.

http://www.axiomaudio.com/sub_setup.html

There are many other helpful articles where that one came from.

http://www.axiomaudio.com/newsletter_index.html

One thing I always tell people is that this is your home theater so while following convention is a quick convenient way to get things up and running if you have the time and inclination experimenting may yield you even more impressive results.

For example for 5.1 and 7.1 listening my M80s are crossed over at 60Hz rather than 80Hz. I sit very close to them and like the added feel of the explosions hitting me from the direction they appear on the screen.

Also I’ve found that in my room the L/R surrounds sound better a little farther back than the Dolby standard, even when used in a 7.1 configuration.

Other people have there own experiences and preferences so I say play with your new toys. I’ve had mine for a year and a half and I’m still discovering new things about my Axioms that blow me away.

Cheers,
Dean

All to small with a 80hz crossover to start. If your receiver allows for different crossover settings for each individual speaker, you could experiment a little based on the frequency response of each speaker. Either way, you want the crossover on the sub to be out of the equation, so turn it to bypass, or clockwise all the way.

Don't listen to grunt!! You'll wake up one morning with a big headache and an upside down M80 over your screen.

Are there any thoughts on setting crossover to 60 with M60's?

I'm pretty sure I can't make individual crossover settings on my Denon so I have never tried, but I think an M60 would be well worthy of the experiment. It probably becomes subjective to your tastes until you go so low that the low end starts to be underpowered. I know some have posted lower settings for their capable mains and some even make adjustments based on weather or not the content is movie or music.

I have my M80s set at 40, so I don't see 60 being a problem with the 60s. In fact I think I used to have my M50s set at 60.

60 on the M60 should work very well and allow you to take advantage of the lower playing abilites of the floor stander.

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.