Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Preferred A/V Receiver

Hey Mike
yeah, sorry, I knew that one didn't have the 1400/2400 on it, but I thought that was still what you were talking about. Well you know what thought did...

I'll do my best to explain this and without making too long. When setting up HT with a sub, your receiver allows you to "crossover" the low frequencies to your subwoofer. 1) It does a better job at it and of course goes lower than your speakers and 2)The receiver doesn't have to work as hard. This is what "sub out" is. If your crossover is set to lets say 80hz, all signals below 80hz will be sent to the subwoofer.

Your receiver gives several options for setting this up. (and there are many opinions how to) Usually you have the option of setting your speakers to small or large. I believe most opinions are to set your speakers to small for HT. (No matter what size your speakers really are) Of course when set to small, more bass signals will go to the sub. I have found I prefer my front speakers set to large for music. As well as listen to on only the front two vs all five. It sounds fuller to me. Well, my receiver at least and suspect most, when set to 2 speaker stereo for music (with front speakers set to large) even when set to "sub out", for whatever reason, it does not use the subwoofer at the crossover point. It isn't a real big deal, but would be nice for my personal preference. That leaves the options of having to set my front speakers to small to take advantage of that crossover point or set my receiver to send the low freq's to both the fronts and the sub. at the same time. Which I prefer neither over "front speakers set to large with sub out"

I hope this it explains it well enough. If any one can do it better, please do.

I think it makes sense.

When listening to music, you want to use the two main speakers (no center or surround speakers).... with the sub filling in the 20hz-say 80hz.
The Yamaha using the two main speakers in "large" will not switch over to the sub at all...So you are using the two main speakers alone.

This is how I read it. Hope that is what you meant.

Thanks, Rob

Exactly.

I was going to buy main speakers (probably M60's) and a receiver first, then a sub and may be in the future a center and surrounds.
The receiver will be used mainly for listening to music in the near future. Will I have the same problem for music if there are only the two main speakers and a sub.
It sounds like the main speakers can't get their fullest sound if a sub is also attached.
Rob

IMO, the M60s sound best for music if set to large. Whether a sub is attached or not has nothing to do with their sound. (not considering the crossover) They go low enough on their own, that for most music they are fine without a sub. But if you like that little extra "oomph", a sub can make them sound better. That is where I wish I could set them up the way I want. (large/sub out) I often just play music through the fronts. When I want that "oomph" I just change the setting to have the bass to go to the speakers and the sub. That doesn't sound bad, I would just like the option to at least set it anyway I want. For HT, with fronts set to large, sub out, it does send the low freq to the sub, so I wonder why not for 2 channel music. It's really not that big of a deal. And like I said before, it doesn't affect the sound of the mains. Unless you set them to small, which I feel they lose some of their fullness then.

Rob, features are the factor which should determine your decision. In my view and that of many others, the outstanding feature available on some receivers is automatic room and speaker equalization(note, this isn't merely level setting, such as HK has)which can make a significant improvement in the end result. Pioneer and Yamaha have been leaders in this area and now Denon is featuring it on their new 3805. Don't worry about nearly meaningless all channels driven power tests which have little application in real-world operation. All these receivers have ample power and I would suggest that you give particular consideration to the Yamaha 1400 if it fits your budget.

Thank you!!!!

Btw John, where did you hear about the denon 3805?

Mike, read this , but try to not let it affect you in the way it did woodrow in the second post.

Thanks again John!