2.1 setup doubts

ddkalfa

Hi guys, I have some doubts about setting up a 2.1 that will be mostly used for music. My system is composed by Monitor 70s and PSW505. The receiver is Onkyo RC270.

1- I'm streaming MP3 from my PC, Crossovers 80hz for mains and 120hz for sub. I'm getting almost nothing from the sub. I suppose that would be because mot MP3s don't have anything recorded on the lowest frequencies. Is that true?

2- For the cases where I should get low frequencies - between 40Hz and 80Hz (Music DVDs I suppose), the M70s are capable of going down to 40. However, many would say that my receiver is somewhat underpowered for those M70s, so crossing over the M70s at 80Hz and the PSW505 at 120Hz, I would be relieving the receiver on the task of amplifying everything below 80Hz and leaving that task to the sub's amp, thus improving sound quality being output by M70s. How much of that is true?

3- I saw at another post that most drumming happens at 50-60 Hz frequency .. However, crossing over at 80Hz I'm still hearing most of the drumming coming from the mains, and not the sub. Should I suspect something is wrong with the crossing-over? Or the information about drumming at 50-60Hz is not true (remember I'm listening mostly to MP3 right now - just got the system and didn't have time to test musical dvds)

4- If I turn off the sub, will the receiver "know" it's turned off and send full signal to the mains? Or will I lose everything below 80Hz?

Thanks in advance!

TORI3

In regards to your last question, I don't believe your receiver will know when the sub is turned off. It'll still send a signal.

I'm also pretty sure that MP3s can have music recorded at lower frequencies.

I guess my question to you would be whether or not you have your receiver selected to "Direct" or "Pure Direct" mode. If so, then all the frequencies are being sent to your M70s. Ironically, when I played my Onkyo through Direct mode, frequencies would still go to the subwoofer, but they were minimal. I don't know if this was a fluke, but from what I've read usually only your L and R speakers should receive signals -- Then again, I could be totally wrong as I haven't messed around with Direct modes and AVRs that much.

I'm assuming you've tried turning up the gain on the back of the sub.

I'm sure more knowledgeable people will pipe in...

Lietuvis91

Set the sub to 80hz, why is it at 120hz?! You already have everything 80hz and above being played through the speakers and I find double duty btween speakers and sub typically does not sound very good.

dnoyeB

I set my crossover at either 80 or 100 or 120. Since I have a sub, I let the sub handle everything below, and leave the 70s to handle the higher frequencies. This works with the 70s because their woofers are crossover at 2.4KHz.

This wont work with other speakers like RTi A7 or RTi A9 because they have some of their woofers crossover @120Hz. It actually will work, but just seems a waste.

Anyway, Audyssey has a way of turning your sub way down. You might want to jack the sub up a bit if your not hearing enough bass.

inthewoods

I just started running my M70's at full range with the 505 set at 90Hz, and I love how it sounds. Since my sub is in a rear corner the addition of the bass from the M70's really fills out the sound quite nice.

ddkalfa

I re-did Audissey calibration and messed about a bit, and it sounds a bit better now ... I still don't feel much coming from the sub, but what is coming is blending nicely with M70s output.

However, I'm still not sure if it's the best sound I can get, since I'm finding it hard to trust Audissey. When I switch equalization Off, I seem to be getting a fuller sound ...

I?m playing some jazz music (since it usually have some very low frequency bass) to test, and I can hear the bass, but very low, I'm not sure if it's meant to be this way, or if Audissey setup is killing the bass ...

newrival

Many people use the .1 channel on their receivers and let them handle the xover. I, however, have noticed better integration in many circumstances by running the high-level output from the amp section to the xover on the amp of the sub then out from there and into your speakers utilizing the xover on your sub and fine tune the cover point with some listening

try it out and see what you think

dnoyeB

Audyssey will definitely suffocate your bass. It may be flat, but I didn't like it. Just turn the sub up till you like it.

ddkalfa

dnoyeB wrote: »

Audyssey will definitely suffocate your bass. It may be flat, but I didn't like it. Just turn the sub up till you like it.

Agreed, the problem is that turning up the sub to compensate for the Audissey equalization is not going to give me the "natural" and dry sound I'm looking for, the more you turn up the sub, more colourful and "hummy" the sound becomes ...

Seriously considering giving up on Audissey, and maybe trying preset my own equalization ...

ddkalfa

newrival wrote: »

Many people use the .1 channel on their receivers and let them handle the xover. I, however, have noticed better integration in many circumstances by running the high-level output from the amp section to the xover on the amp of the sub then out from there and into your speakers utilizing the xover on your sub and fine tune the cover point with some listening

try it out and see what you think

That is an option indeed, although I'll try to try everything with the receiver doing the crossover first, before I make any more complicated setup ..

Thanks!

Lietuvis91

Come to think about it: why use audissey in the first place?

Just turn it off all together, set the 2 speakers to the same level and blend in the sub on your own. I think audissey is really more useful for surround sound calibration, u dont have surrounds.

ddkalfa

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

Come to think about it: why use audissey in the first place?

Just turn it off all together, set the 2 speakers to the same level and blend in the sub on your own. I think audissey is really more useful for surround sound calibration, u dont have surrounds.

The problem is I do plan on having surrounds in the future .. So maybe I could turn Audissey on for movies and off for music, or smthing like that.

JimAckley

His point is that as of right now there's no reason for you to use it. It's for helping blend your surrounds blend with your mains. Until you actually HAVE surround speakers and have them hooked up, keep it off.

Personally, I'd run speaker wire from your receiver to the speaker-ins of the 505, and from the speakers outs of the 505 to the ins of the 70s. Then I'd cross the 505 over as low as possible and let it handle the lowest of the lows and the 70s take the rest. Maybe slowly increase the xover frequency til you get it to where you like.

dnoyeB

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

Come to think about it: why use audissey in the first place?

Just turn it off all together, set the 2 speakers to the same level and blend in the sub on your own. I think audissey is really more useful for surround sound calibration, u dont have surrounds.

No. Audyssey is not just for speaker distance correction to calibrate a surround sound field. It adjust frequency response as well.

I didn't really notice it doing that much until I turned it off. I have
2xMonitor 70
1xCerwin Vega center

With Audyssey, the center blended perfectly. Now that I went back to my old receiver without Audyssey, I can't get that center to blend no matter what I do. My old receiver is not that much adjustable though.

If your speakers all match nicely, it may do less for you than it did for me.