Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Crossover Point

I have a pair of M22s hooked up, via two sets of speaker wire, to a polk sub. The crossover switch on the sub goes from 60 to 120. Where should I set it? And also, will my speakers still get a full range signal regardless of where I set the crossover switch? Thanks.

Hi Dlo,

Try about 80 Hz, which usually is ideal. As to whether your M22ti's will continue to get a full-range signal, it depends on whether the Polk sub has a built-in high-pass filter to the satellites. Some do, some don't. A high-pass passes the highs and rolls off the lows. Look in your Polk sub manual.

Regards,

Alan...now that you mention it, do the Axiom subs use a built-in high-pass filter? I'm running my M22's from my EP125 since my current receiver doesn't have a sub out. So I'm curious about this.

Hi SpockT,

The EP125 does not have a high-pass on the output to the satellites. . .I'll check with the lab, but I think it's a full-range signal.

Regards,

DL, as Alan points out, the complete answer to your question would depend on information that you haven't given. First, you may be using a 2-channel receiver or amp that doesn't have a sub output and bass management, but if you do have those features, you should use them rather than the speaker wire connection to and out of the sub. Next, your Polk sub(which you don't identify)may or may not have a high-pass filter on its outputs to the speakers. As I understand(but Alan may update), the Axiom subs just feed a full-range signal through to the speakers when that type of connection is used. Also, if you wind up having to use the crossover control on the sub, you should note that they're typically quite inaccurate and that setting the 60-120Hz control 1/3rd up is unlikely to actually give you 80Hz.

I'm using a Polkaudio PSW303, hooked up to a Sony STR-DE595 surround sound receiver, which does have a sub out, but which does not have an adjustable crossover--hence the speaker wire connection. The default crossover is, I believe, 120hz, which is too high for my tastes.

After taking Alan's advice and reading the Polk manual I've discovered that there is no high-pass filter. So I guess that means I should set the crossover control somewhere around 60hz, since that is how low the M22's are rated. Is that right? Or am I missing something? Thanks again.

DL, if your 595 manual shows a 120Hz crossover, you're correct that this is too high for best use with M22s. Again, as to a probable inaccuracy on the 303's crossover dial, on simply a guess I'd say it's more like 70-90Hz and that you should set it at the lowest setting, nominally 60Hz. Unfortunately this type of connection doesn't relieve the M22s of any of the low frequency burden that a receiver with a 80Hz crossover would allow.