What could it mean if when I set my speakers to small that I get a way bigger bass response then when I set them to large? Shouldn't it be the other way around!... its makes me wonder if my Onkyo 801 has something backwards or am I totally missing something here like not having my sub configured properly - I'm puzzled

Your not crazy.

Your sub does a better job in the lower bass category, even if your mains frequency response is capable of going lower. A 10-12" woofer will push more air than a smaller 6" woofer. Also, a sub has a built in amp, so your receiver is not required to work as hard.

I have my m80's set to small with an 80hz crossover matched with an ep600sub.

N24, it's as Randy indicated. What you may not understand is that when you set the mains "large", the sub doesn't play the lowest bass from the mains channel; the mains have to handle it. Since a good sub does a better job of it, the natural result of sending the lowest bass to it by setting the mains "small" is to have better bass overall.

Thanks for your responses. I did a test by powering off the sub and then switching back and forth from large to small and it responded correctly - what I mean to say is that the bass response was bigger (bolder) when in the large setting, so I'm guessing that my sub is overshadowing the speakers .. I need to play with the volume and placement of the sub -wow - its all very sensitive

maybe it is your crossover freq effecting the total bass output when mains are set to small.
what is crossover set at the reciever ?
what is crossover set at the subwoofer ?

another thing to consider is the room harmonics. Have you played around with the polarity switch on the sub, or with room placement of the sub ?

hth

Randy

"Overshadowing" may not be a good choice of terminology; the sub is handling what it does best when the speakers are set "small", as was intended.

Just a couple of more things. Make sure you have your sub crossover knob on "bypass" since your receiver is managing the crossover to the sub (80hz). If your sub does not have a bypass selection, just turn the knob clockwise to the highest setting to get it out of the way.

Also, have you calibrated your system so all speakers, including sub, are at the same SPL? This is normally done by running the receivers test tone and using an spl meter to achieve approx. 75dB's across the board.

On my Denon AVR-2105, I have a setting called "LFE+Main". With this configuration, signals below the cross-over frequency are routed to the sub as well as any speakers set to "large". If you also have this setting, perhaps that's why you are getting better bass response when your speakers are set to "large".

I do have the crossover set at 80 most of the time and the sub is in bypass. The sub apparently has been placed in a position where its giving me more of a good thing than I need. Because of that I've been setting the crossover to 60 when in small and 80 when in large...so your advice to move the sub and check the spl levels makes perfect sense. This obviously is a good example of bad sub placement - thanks for the input