Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Question about speaker settings

I know that I'll get some different thoughts but I need some advice on speaker settings. I have M60s, VP100 and QS4s and an HSU STF-2 sub. I set my center and surrounds to small, 60s to large, bass out to both and crossover to 60. It sounds good to me but I want the best sound possible so these settings may not be the best. I just saw another post with these settings which are quite different:
M60's small
VP150 small
Qs8's small
Bass out- Sub (not both)
Crossover 80hz

Is there really that much difference? Is it all a matter of preference and what sounds goood? or are there actual optimum settings that are better for certain speakers?

i think the standard that everyone starts with is everything set to small, and crossover at 80. but, there is no crime in adjusting it from there.. if you prefer fronts to large, and xover at 60, then go for it.

thats whats cool about having versatile receivers.. they allow you to tweak it to your preference. i would just play with it for a while, and find the setting that you like, and then stick with it.

bigjohn

Charles, my view would be to set all speakers small and send the bass from the mains channels to the sub alone, rather than duplicating it in both the mains and the sub. Regardless of whether you do that, however, the 60Hz crossover you now have doesn't seem to be a good idea. With the M60s set large they get a full-range signal, so it doesn't affect their response whatever the crossover setting is, yet the small speakers(VP100, QS4s)would be crossed over at 60Hz to the sub, which is really a little too low in view of their frequency response limits. So, I'd suggest that even if you make no other change, you cross the VP100 and QS4s at 80Hz.

In reply to:

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Is there really that much difference? Is it all a matter of preference and what sounds goood? or are there actual optimum settings that are better for certain speakers?

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There can be.
Yes.
In a sense.
With bookshelf speakers i would always cross them higher if a sub is present but i have the M60s and prefer the tighter bass of those units over a larger sub driver. Hence, i have my M60s set to large and cross them at about 50Hz on my EP350 subwoofer. The sound blends very nicely.

Appreciate everyone's input. I played with them some last night but really couldn't tell that much difference in the various settings. However, I had the tv on so that's probably a no-no!! Guess I need some good music to really tell the difference in each setting. Any good recommendations??

Yeah, you're not going to see much difference with TV, or even with good DVD movies. Just set everything to "Small" and enjoy.

The only place you're going to see a difference is with your favorite exquisitely mastered music, where you know every note and exactly how each instrument is supposed to sound... with lots of detail in the bass, and fairly pure (not a lot of harmonics) bass notes so you can hear subtle differences in how loud a single instrument is playing and where the sound seems to be coming from.

If you don't have any music like that tell us what you like and you will probably get some good recommendations

OK. I guess I'm totally confused. It seems to me that with the M60s I would want my settings to be "Large, bass out to both" to take advantage of the power. Obviously, my thinking is wrong. Setting everything to small, bass out to sub only and a crossover at 80, will I get any bass with my sub off?

Charles, this does seem to be getting a bit tangled-up. First, why would you want to turn the sub off? If you did set the sub to no, off or whatever, you couldn't set the M60s small; they automatically are "large" so they handle their own bass and the bass of any of the speakers set "small". We may not be on the same page on this, so if you want to describe what you're wondering about in more detail, do so.

Sometimes with music, I turn the sub off and just listen to stereo through the mains so I want to make sure I'm getting whatever bass is available. With HT I turn on the sub so that's not an issue. I'm sure this isn't as complicated or technical as I'm trying to make it. I just like to understand everything and want to understand how all these settings impact the sound.

Okay, you haven't said exactly how you turn the sub off, but if you either set whatever your receiver is to sub no, or if you use a mode such as "pure" or "direct" or whatever your receiver calls it,instead of the stereo mode(which uses the sub)then there would be no place for the bass from the CD to go except to the M60s.

Makes sense. I turn off the sub by actually turning the switch off on the back of the sub. Guess I thought that the bass would just drop off and be non existent if the settings weren't right and the sub was off. Sorta in a black hole!! I'm new to all this technical talk, as you can undoubtably tell.... Thanks again.

No, just turning the switch on the sub off might do what you suspected, i.e. lose the bass. You still haven't identified your receiver, but you have to set it so that there's either no sub or a "pure" etc. mode which sends nothing to the sub. If the receiver is sending bass out to sub, but the switch on the sub itself is turned off, there's nowhere for the bass to go.

My receiver is a Yamaha 5740 6.1. It has these options + more: Bass out-mains, sub, both; front-large, small; crossover-40, 50, 60, 80, 100. It has a 2 channel stereo and direct stero mode plus lots of other modes. I always play music CDs in 2 channel stereo.

Okay, on your 5740, the mode that I referred to as "pure" is the "direct stereo" mode. If at times you wanted to listen in stereo without the sub the most logical setting would be the direct stereo as described on p.30 of the manual. It bypasses everything(including the sub)except the master volume control. If, as you mentioned, the M60s were set large, bass output "both"(p.46)and you then manually turned off the switch at the back of the sub, the M60s would still get bass. In my view this would be an awkward way of doing it and my thought would be to use all "small", bass "SWFR" rather than "both", crossover 80Hz and then simply choose direct stereo if you'd want to listen to stereo full-range through the M60s alone. Also, disable the internal crossover on the STF-2.

Wow, thanks to everyone for all your input. I am finally beginning to understand the hows and whys of different settings and how they integrate and impact each other. Also, I'm sure everyone here already knows this, but the folks at Axiom are excellent. I just hung up with John and he really helped me understand the whys of different settings. I'm one of those people who wants to understand the "behind the scenes" and what is happening when mains are set to small or large, etc... All of your input and John's explanation have been very helpful. So now I'll go do what everyone has been telling me to do from the start because now I understand why I'm doing it!!!!!