Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo M60s and Recommended Sub Crossovers for 2.1 and HT

Looking for any user feedback on what you may have found as an ideal sub crossover point -- I imagine would be somewhere between 60-80hz -- when running a pair of M60s with a sub (looking at either the EP350 or possibly the Hsu STF-2). I would like the setting to work reasonably well for double duty, either for 2.1 for listening to varied music (Pop, Jazz, Vocal) as well as for HT 5.1 (in which case I also would be running the VP150 center and either (haven't decided) the QS4s or QS8s.

The actual room this will all be in measures about 14x24, but the HT and listening area will in one half of this space (basically a 14x12 area on one end of the room).

If you were only going to be using m60's with a sub, and not other speakers, I would say to go with a lower crossover, since the 60's will handle the lows fine. However, if you throw HT into the loop, then things change a bit. I enjoy music and HT and use an 80hz crossover on my receiver and set all speakers to small in the setup menu. This is a great overall setting for all applications and THX recommends it also. Even at 80hz, you still get killer bass from the m60's.

my setup: m60's vp150 ep500 4 Qs8's
Denon 2805

Welcome, Jrain!

From many recommendations from others in the past when I first setup my M60's, I ended up setting my speakers to 'small' in the receiver, set the receiver's crossover to 80hz (try also 60hz if you have this option), then turned the sub's crossover all the way clockwise to get it out of the way. Then you can set the sub's volume to your liking. I've tried several other options, but I've found this was the optimal setting for both music and movies. Try experimenting though...you might like your sub set to 60hz with your M60's set to large. In the end, it's all up to you! Enjoy!

Thanks folks... I guess try and see!! After I posted, I took a look at the online manual for the EP350, which indicates recommended Crossover freqs of 60 for the M50/M60 or M80; 80 for the M3/M22 and 100 for the M2s.. I think that these are starting points though, and will assume that it will all end up being personal preference.

Personal preference!

Yes. Adjust the toys to your liking.

It depends on the room and how your setup is arranged. If your subwoofer is placed for optimal frequency response (FR), 60 - 80 Hz should be good. In addition to the FR, if you cant tell that your subwoofer is sounding even though you can feel it working, you have done your job right.

If not, you will have to experiment. The aim is to get the flattest possible FR from 15 - 20,000 Hz.

The THX guys recommend 80 Hz as the crossovers and that is what I used with my M80s. Sounds great to me.

JR, welcome. My thought is to not give too much weight to "personal preference". THX and other investigators determined that 80Hz was a good compromise; being high enough to take a significant load off of the speakers and the amps driving them, yet not so high as to be easily localizable. Unless there's a specific problem(e.g. speakers that don't have reasonable response down to 80Hz), the suggested 80Hz crossover isn't likely to be improved upon.

If you haven't already done so you might also read Alan's article on bass management in the Axiom newsletter that came out this afternoon.

Other than email, are the newsletters published on this website? When I click on the "Newsletter" link at the top, I don't find this new article John mentions about Bass Mgmt?

I just got it today in an email. Brand spankin' new.