Just got Polk S15s and S35 not sure what crossover to set?

djdel002

Hey guys,

I had a question about setting crossovers as I'm a bit new to home theater. I have an Onkyo tx-nr656 receiver and the AccuEQ sets my crossovers at 200hz for my S35 and 90hz for my front S15s wich doesn't sound good at all.

My room is 12x12 and I have a PSW10 sub and TL1 rears. which are set 120hz sub, and 180hz for the little rears.

Any suggestions on settings for a more even sound?

Thanks for any help.

mdaudioguy

Go with the standard starting point - 80hz for all speakers.

djdel002

Ok thank you ! I will try the 80 and go from there

Emlyn

The PSW10 is considered a small subwoofer and can only produce clean bass from 40Hz to 160Hz. What you want to avoid is gaps in what frequencies are being sent to each speaker regardless of what the auto calibration in your receiver does. Bass can be difficult for a receiver's auto calibration to get right.

The PSW10 appears to have fixed settings of 80Hz, 120Hz, and 160Hz.

I would also agree with setting the subwoofer at 80Hz on the back switch and manually set each crossover point in the receiver at the same 80Hz setting with all of the speakers set to run as small. You do not want to vary these settings from what the subwoofer is doing. The reason for this is the overall frequency response of the S35 is around 50Hz which is decent for a small speaker. It can produce sound below 80Hz, but you don't really need it to since it doesn't do that as well as the subwoofer does.

If you had the crossover for the S35 at 200Hz in the receiver there would be a sizable low frequency gap in what the receiver sends to the speaker and what the subwoofer is outputting. Basically, at a 200Hz setting the S35 channel would be throwing away any information below 200Hz. This would be lost information and the speaker would sound off.

You could also try the fixed 120Hz setting on the subwoofer and make the crossover points for all the other speakers 120Hz. This would probably not sound as good as the 80Hz settings because of low frequency directionality becoming evident.

djdel002

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation Emlyn,
I was very confused on how the crossover settings work.

I was just nervous as I don't want to damage anything, I know my system is considered
budget but I still want to take care of it cause it does sound pretty good imo.

I will upgrade my sub at one point though, it was $90 so for the money I guess not too bad haha.

TopperDude

Since your already using the crossover on your av receiver for the sub, try placing the crossover on the subwoofer itself to its widest setting (160hz). It should blend much better and smoother with your other speakers.

(using the av receiver at 80hz or 100hz low pass crossover setting for the sub and again setting the subwoofer crossover at 80hz or 100hz sort of doubles the roll-off and makes blending with other speakers much harder in my opinion. Try it out and let us know your thoughts)

pitdogg2

This^^^^^ set it at 80 in the receiver and wide open at the sub

Emlyn

Good suggestion. I looked at the manual for the PSW 10 and it recommends that since the subwoofer is built without a LFE function that it be set at the 160Hz setting as a workaround if the subwoofer is connected to a receiver's subwoofer output. Definitely worth a shot to see if it sounds better that way since it's so easy to switch.

djdel002

Oh that's what I have it on now Emlyn I set it to the 160hz setting. It does sound decent for the price. I will be upgrading sub at one point, and probably get the S60 floor speakers.

I was thinking an SVS PB1000 or 2000? My room is 12'x12' i'm wondering if the 1000 would do the trick. The 2000 is a bit out of my price range but I could stretch a little to get it if you guys think it's worth it.

Thank you for your help guys I will try all these suggestions!

Emlyn

The PB 1000 would be a huge step up and shitable for your room size.

djdel002

Sounds good Emlyn, think I may go for that then