Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Speakers were delivered today.

GT, my view on that is that for the best results from the bass management processing in HT receivers, all speakers should be set "small" regardless of physical size. This allows the sub to handle what it does best and takes some of the low bass burden off the mains, to allow the higher frequencies to be played a bit cleaner. A "plus" type of setting shouldn't be used.

OK, I'll set the M80's to small and leave the sub at yes, no 'Plus'. Thanks guys. As I stated earlier, these are my first towers so there is a learning curve here. I appreciate your help, suggestions, and input in getting the best sound out of my new system.

GT

Just to clarify or confuse, once the mains are set to small you won't be able to use the plus setting anyway, even if it allows it to be selected, my Denon does this, the programming won't allow it to work that way, the small setting overrides the plus sub setting.

I have to disagree with this reasoning (sorry JK :)). Go with what sounds best in your room. The whole purpose in buying towers is that they are capable of handling the extra "burden" of the lower frequencies. That's what the extra 2 6.5" drivers are designed for. If you automatically cut off the low frequencies without even checking out the sound, your are neutering your M80's IMHO. You might as well have saved substantial $$$ and bought bookshelves.

For what it's worth, I have my M60s crossed over at 40Hz, because I want more bass sources to help smooth the response in my problematic room.

Jason, no confusion here, my Pio Elite acts the same way as your Denon.



Ouch, wouldn't want to neuter my M80's. I tend to agree with you on letting the extra drivers handle some of the lower frequencies. I went with the 80's over the 22's because of the extra drivers. Like I said, learning curve for me here. I'll have to play with both settings and see what sounds better to me. Thanks

There is no "cutoff" at the crossover frequency as sweetspot mentions, there is a natural slope or hand off to the sub. The sub, which "moves" more air than 2 6.5" woofers, does a much better job with this "burden" mentioned. Even at a 60-80hz crossover and set to small, the 60's and 80's will still be putting out potent bass. Small has nothing to do with the physical size of the speakers, it has to do more with having a sub in the mix and the speakers ability to play below the crossover point designated.

Here is a fine blog article by Dr Kriakakis which discusses concepts even Dr Holman (founder of THX) has discussed for decades.

http://www.audyssey.com/blog/2009/05/small-vs-large/

Well, it's more like 4 6.5" woofers

That article is very interesting, thanks for the link. For movies, I agree 80 Hz is a a good starting point, not the be all end all. (funny that it is written by Audyssey yet when I run the Audyssey set-up, fronts are always indicated as "large")

For 2 channel (direct/stereo) listening, I find the 40 hz setting with fronts as large and sub set to mains+large works best in my room anyways.

If the Pioneer elite receiver allows you to have seperate settings for stereo and multichannel, I'd recommend giving that a try as I find the soundstage for music is more natural with as much sound coming from the fronts as possible. The towers have an advantage for 2-channel listening over the sat/sub combo I find them easier to integrate with the sub.


Have fun!!

Thanks for the link sirquack.

Audyssey doesn't set the speakers to small or large, that is the receicer mfg decision. Audyssey does look for the -3dB point for each speaker in your room and reports that back to the receiver during setup, which is why my m80's were reported as large, but I still change them to small and use 60hz if I recall.