Speakers set to large or small

pmckeealaska

I have been very confused by this for some time. I have LSi25's as my mains, LSiC as my center and LSiFX's as my surrounds. Right now, I have my mains set to "large" and everything else set to "small". Is this correct? I assume it is since the 25's have a powered subwoofer and so have the full frequency response range. However, others have told me that ALL the speakers in my setup should be set to small. PLEASE HELP!

dekuda

In my opinion on the LSI25's having the 10 inch powered sub I would set them to large. But I strongly believe that with any tower not having a powered subwoofer to set the Fronts to "small" especially if you have one or two good subs. I have my fronts which are RTI12's. It took me two years to believe this but here are my main two points in doing it.
1. No tower speaker is going to put out better bass than one or two good subwoofers with their amps driving that bass.That is what they are designed to do.
2. Sending low bass say below 100hz to your fronts takes more power from the amp to produce that bass. When I diverted the low bass from the fronts to go to my subs not only did all my bass sound better but my midrange and highs opened up better on my fronts. And my fronts are running off a Parasound 1500A amp . I switched my fronts from large to small listening to a variety of music and I finally conluded that everything including bass sounded better with my fronts as small. I would suggest you try it out but I believe the LSI25's might be better to set to large because of the powered sub. But never hurts to test with your own ears.
There are many articles out there about this but here is a article that made me try it and changed my mind:
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/128214.html

But I suggest that you just try it yourself and leave it at whatever setting sounds best. Good Luck!

pmckeealaska

Thanks. I was kind of thinking I should have the 25's set to large. I'll try setting them to small just to see how it sounds but it's good to know I was on the right track all along. Thanks!

djperez81

pmckeealaska wrote: »

I have been very confused by this for some time. I have LSi25's as my mains, LSiC as my center and LSiFX's as my surrounds. Right now, I have my mains set to "large" and everything else set to "small". Is this correct? I assume it is since the 25's have a powered subwoofer and so have the full frequency response range. However, others have told me that ALL the speakers in my setup should be set to small. PLEASE HELP!

I have also been confused about whether to set it to large or small. I found that i prefer large for my front stage and small for my surrounds, but thats my opinion others will disagree. Im pretty sure your LSI's can handle the lower frequency sent to them. Are you running your rotel amp for your R/L channels?

pmckeealaska

Yep, my Rotel powers my LSi25's. That made a huge difference in the quality of sound when I bought that bad boy. The Rotel and the NAD are what make my system really sing IMO.

djperez81

dekuda wrote: »

In my opinion on the LSI25's having the 10 inch powered sub I would set them to large. But I strongly believe that with any tower not having a powered subwoofer to set the Fronts to "small" especially if you have one or two good subs. I have my fronts which are RTI12's. It took me two years to believe this but here are my main two points in doing it.
1. No tower speaker is going to put out better bass than one or two good subwoofers with their amps driving that bass.That is what they are designed to do.
2. Sending low bass say below 100hz to your fronts takes more power from the amp to produce that bass. When I diverted the low bass from the fronts to go to my subs not only did all my bass sound better but my midrange and highs opened up better on my fronts. And my fronts are running off a Parasound 1500A amp . I switched my fronts from large to small listening to a variety of music and I finally conluded that everything including bass sounded better with my fronts as small. I would suggest you try it out but I believe the LSI25's might be better to set to large because of the powered sub. But never hurts to test with your own ears.
There are many articles out there about this but here is a article that made me try it and changed my mind:
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/128214.html

But I suggest that you just try it yourself and leave it at whatever setting sounds best. Good Luck!

Dekuda is right its what sounds best to you and your ears

aboroth00

Set all to small. LF should be redirected to your sub which should be optimally best placed for bass as well as taking the load off your speakers and amp to perform better.

Your subwoofer and mains reproducing the same freq band can cause phase cancellations.

Set it to small and don't look back (for HT).

Of course this all applies if your sub doesn't suck. If you need to run your mains large then you need to replace your sub.

pmckeealaska

For my LSi25's setting them to small doesnt make sense to me since they both have powered subwoofers.

djperez81

pmckeealaska wrote: »

For my LSi25's setting them to small doesnt make sense to me since they both have powered subwoofers.

Are you running a sub in your setup?

tonyb

leave 'em on large and don't look back. Play with the crossover in your receiver to blend in with the sub.

aboroth00

pmckeealaska wrote: »

For my LSi25's setting them to small doesnt make sense to me since they both have powered subwoofers.

I have powered subs in my fronts, center and surrounds. So I have the luxury of setting my XO even lower. But those powered subs in the Lsi's cannot go down to 20hz with authority or as well as a quality sub.

Of course this all applies if you have a sub in your setup, otherwise all speakers should be set to large

slammin86

djperez81 wrote: »

Dekuda is right its what sounds best to you and your ears

Yep, play around with different settings and see what you prefer.

dekuda

Let me add that I am not a big fan of towers having subs built in them. One is that I do believe that only a few tower speakers have quality subs built in.
Secondly, it is much easier to position subs in a room than trying to position towers. Usually subs produce better in a areas where you would not place a tower speaker. If you have a sub(s) try setting the LSI's to small and rederict all your bass to the sub. I usually crossover anywhere between 80-100HZ. Give it a try!

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