Set LSIM707 to "Small" or "Large" for 2-channel stereo

I have a pair of LSIM 707s deployed as fronts in my main 5.2 HT system (Center : 706c, surrounds 702 fx). I also have two Power Sound Audio xs15se subwoofers deployed in the system, and I have been wondering whether there would be any advantage to setting the 707s as "Large", exclusively for 2-channel stereo music (in which case I shall not use the subs), and set them to "SMALL" for all other HT duties... I do enjoy the Power Sound Audio subs for both music and HT movies, so if there is really no advantage in using the 707s exclusively in full-range "Large" mode for 2-channel music, then I would rather set them as "Small" for both 2-channel music and HT movie duties without doing any further tinkering...

I am powering the 2 fronts with 2 Emotiva XPA-1 monoblocks, and the rest of the speakers with an XPA-5.

Thoughts?

Comments

  • rpf65
    rpf65 Posts: 2,127
    Your amps shouldn't have a problem power wise running them at large. The suggestion for small is because most people run HT systems with an AVR. Limited power, and nobody wants clipped speakers.

    Try different combinations, and whatever sounds best to your ears, go with that.

  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,902
    edited June 2017
    rpf65 wrote: »

    Try different combinations, and whatever sounds best to your ears, go with that.

    This ^^^

    Personally, I like big floorstanders set to large, with or without a sub. They sound too thin to me set on small.
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  • Gatecrasher
    Gatecrasher Posts: 1,550
    edited June 2017
    sahmen wrote: »
    I have a pair of LSIM 707s deployed as fronts in my main 5.2 HT system (Center : 706c, surrounds 702 fx). I also have two Power Sound Audio xs15se subwoofers deployed in the system, and I have been wondering whether there would be any advantage to setting the 707s as "Large", exclusively for 2-channel stereo music (in which case I shall not use the subs), and set them to "SMALL" for all other HT duties... I do enjoy the Power Sound Audio subs for both music and HT movies, so if there is really no advantage in using the 707s exclusively in full-range "Large" mode for 2-channel music, then I would rather set them as "Small" for both 2-channel music and HT movie duties without doing any further tinkering...

    I am powering the 2 fronts with 2 Emotiva XPA-1 monoblocks, and the rest of the speakers with an XPA-5.

    Thoughts?

    I would experiment and see what sounds best but with my AVR and my Polk SRTs, I set the satellites to "small".

    When I have them set to "large" the sound is somewhat muddled sounding where it's as-if the subs are conflicting with the satellites when it comes to the lows and mid frequencies. When I set the satellites to "small" I seem to get a much sharper definition between the lows and highs and a lot more punch from the subs.

    It's not a matter of power as much as what frequencies are directed to each speaker. The SC-09TX has ample power. In Stereo mode it has 269 watts per channel. By setting the AVR to "small", all of the lows are directed to the subs and not to the satellites. They get just the mids and highs. Your speakers might sound better set to high than the SRTs do though because they have drivers that are designed to produce lower frequencies than the SRT satellites probably are. That's why I'd probably use the recommendations from others as variables in your experimentation and then let you ears make the final decision for you. With my set-up it was a pretty-easy decision.

    Here's what the owner's manual for my Pioneer SC-09TX says about the small and large settings.

    "Select LARGE if your front speakers reproduce bass frequencies effectively, or if you didn't connect a subwoofer.

    Select SMALL to send the bass frequencies to the subwoofer."

  • codycatalist
    codycatalist Posts: 2,662
    tonyb wrote: »
    rpf65 wrote: »

    Try different combinations, and whatever sounds best to your ears, go with that.

    This ^^^

    Personally, I like big floorstanders set to large, with or without a sub. They sound too thin to me set on small.

    Yeah much like a tin can to me. Sound is tiny and the personality of the music or movie is taken out. This is at least my experience.
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  • pearsall001
    pearsall001 Posts: 4,981
    Small at 60/80 Hz. The 707's aren't even close to what your subs can do. Your mids will open up, the tweeter will sparkle & the entire presentation will have more weight, body & the feel of the music.
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