Hey guys

When I ran Audyssey about 6 months or so ago, it (or my receiver I guess) set the QS8 crossover at 120 hz. I read the other day on here most people have them at 80 hz. I know I don't want to run the crossover lower than what Audyssey suggests as it doesn't EQ below that point.

So, should I re-run Audyssey hoping it goes lower, or should I just leave it? It sounds more than fine to me as it sits now, but I don't want to be missing anything.

If it sounds good, I'd leave it.

I just keep mine at 100Hz..ignoring what Audyssey says...

Likewise. If it sounds good, leave it alone.

80hz is a good starting point, however, I leave mine at 90hz which are the results after running Audyssey. If you have Audyssey engaged, you never want to reduce the crossover settings below which is found by the -3db point "in room" reported.

That does seem high to me unless the QS8's are not near a wall then you loose the boundary effect and they could very well be only playing down to ~120hz. I would rerun Audyssey and make sure the house is very quiet when doing it, I ran mine at 3AM some times.

I always wait until 4 AM, after a big snowfall before I run my calibration routines.

They're against the side walls, but they are out in the middle of the room, which probably explains it.



I will probably re-run Audyssey at some point as I have added a couple beanbag chairs in here (which make great bass traps in corners when nobody is using them ) so it probably wouldn't hurt anyway.

120Hz sounds a bit high to me. I would rerun Audyssey just to see if you get the same results again. You might also want to check that both midrange drivers on each speaker are working. I’ve never had a QS8 set above 100 even when on stands not directly against a wall.

Also, I would generally agree that if it sounds good leave it, however if you’ve never tried it with a lower crossover it won’t hurt anything to give it a listen. So what if EQ isn’t being applied over that small frequency range. It may turn out you find having more of the mid-upper bass actually coming from the QS8s sounds better.

IMO anyone interested in the “best” sounding system to them should experiment since you will never know what you’re missing by following someone else advice. Especially the advice of Audyssey who are after all in business to sell DSP. Same thing you should automatically defer to a speaker manufacture that says never to use it.

Doesn’t hurt to leave Audyssey off for awhile too. Many people love it but some like me find it generally makes my speakers lifeless/boring. It’s your HT do what works best for you.

Cheers,
Dean

Just curious, when you first ran the Audyssey calibration did it make your HT sound...

A. Much better,
B. Somewhat better,
C. Could hardly tell a difference,
or
D. All of the above.

Mixed bag. My first experience was with my Denon 2807 in the apartment. Audyssey made the center (VP150) sound very hollow and tinny, just unbearable. However, it seemed to make the surround sound seem more 3d, but later doing blind A/B tests I couldn’t distinguish the difference in the surround sound with Audyssey on or off. Though I could instantly tell if it was on with the VP150 in the mix. I must have run Audyssey 100 times in my apartment and it never sounded good overall.

Here in my house I got similar but not as stark results with the Denon 2807. When I switched to the Onkyo 3007 things got a little better. Audyssey did seem to “tighten” up the bass a little. Didn’t do much to the VP150 when I tried it out here, but it sounded so crappy by itself in this room it didn’t matter. Blind tests confirmed that the bass got a little better, however even with the Audyssey flat curve I can tell when it’s running with the higher frequencies because it deadens the ambience in some music. I listen to a lot of very ambient music, most regular recordings seem unaffected for the better or worse at higher frequencies.

Sorry there is no short answer as to weather is sounded better or worse right away since I ran it when I first got my speakers. Though when I did turn it off for the first time in the apartment everything suddenly sounded better. I would describe it as more lively, energetic natural sounding.

Note that I find all DSP a mixed bag. Sometimes I find it enhances material and other times not. Hard to define exactly when but generally the better the recording the less I like any DSP while the worse the recording (up to a point) the more various DSP settings help. Personally I think people should try all the settings on their equipment to see what works for them. One of my favorite is “All Channel Stereo.” Now I just need to pick up a few used M80v2s at auction if you people would just start upgrading.

Disclaimer: Yes, I know how to run Audyssey please no more links to “The Audyssey Thread.”

For me it is a somewhat better experience but also is dependent on the source being played, some music sounds better other not so much. Barely notice any difference with movies.

I ran it again tonight, and nothing really changed much. I bumped it down to 100 hz on the QS8's anyway, I'll try that for a bit. I double checked and all four woofers are working.

Edit, 666th post

Spud, please move to Randy's basement for a week as each of us had when we hit the 666 mark.