crossover setting???

ddank

Hi. I'm new to the forum and need help with some sound issues I'm having. Bear with me, I'm going to err on the side of caution and give you as much info as possible.

First, here is what I've got.
Speakers: RM75 5-piece Surround Sound System
Subwoofer: Velodyn DEQ8
Receiver: Pioneer Elite VSX 30

The problem I am getting is sound distortion especially with low male voices. (Elliot Spitzer on CNN for example) Sounds like that on very low voice tones it occasionally comes from the sub making the voice sound uneven.

When I set up the system, I ran the Auto MCACC setup. I've adjusted the speaker output levels to where I like them. My sub out level is the same as my front L/R surround speakers (per velodyn instructions). The MCACC set all my speakers to small and the crossover in the receiver at 100Hz.

The subs crossover was initially set at 80 but was getting the distortion. I tried putting the subs crossover to direct to let the receiver takeover but that didn't help. I also tried putting the receivers crossover to 80Hz and then the subs crossover to 90. That seemed to work OK but something still doesn't sound quite right. (maybe I'm just going nuts listening to things over and over.)

I don't think I have my subs volume up to high. It's only set at 43 out of a possible 80 and I get a nice thump and rumble on thunder and explosions and music sounds good although on special effects such as when watching sports and they have graphics zoom in and out ? they sound (for lack of a better term) too "breathy".

I could use some expert advice on where all these setting should be to give me a nice smooth sound.

Thanks for your help.

packetjones

It sounds like right at the cross over point there are some issues. i think that it is the lower limit of what the RM's can do and is at the high point for the sub. I dont know what else to say. Since it is mainly on voices you could try to get a different center that goes lower. then set the crossover on the new center to say like 60 and then see how it goes.

Hope this helps.

nwohlford

You should set the crossover higher. Given the sub I would set at 120hz, but you might even try a little higher. I would start with the receiver setting the crossover for the subwoofer.

ddank

nwohlford wrote: »

You should set the crossover higher. Given the sub I would set at 120hz, but you might even try a little higher. I would start with the receiver setting the crossover for the subwoofer.

When you say "set at 120hz" do you mean on the sub or the receiver? 120hz is the max on the sub. In the receiver the options I have are 50, 80, 100, 150, and 200.

Thanks

nwohlford

I am surprised that your receiver does not have a 120Hz setting as it is pretty common for smaller bookshelf speakers. The best work around that I can think of is to set the receiver to 150 Hz cutoff and the front speakers to larger (all other speakers should be set to small and set to no subwoofer). Then hook up the subwoofer via speaker wire from front speaker terminals on the receiver and then hook up the front speakers to the out speaker terminals on the subwoofer. Set the cutoff on the subwoofer to 120 Hz.
Now what is between the 120 Hz cutoff and 150 Hz cutoff will be sent to the front speakers. You will still have some drop off in volume between the about 100 Hz and 160 Hz, but I would think that this set up would minimize the drop off.

GTB

Can you set the center crossover freq separately?

Going higher with just the center is the opposite of what you want to do.

Go lower, say 60hz on just the center. You are trying to avoid splitting the voice between two seperate sources. By going higher you are splitting it more.......

You may be able to set the LFE out level independantly of the main speakers, too. If so, I'd lower the overall level and then raise the LFE level in the receiver. This could make a huge difference.

Greg

ddank

I can't set the speaker crossover independently. I'm thinking I need a different receiver. One that has a crossover of 120. I've been looking at at few.

Yamaha RXV571BL
Integra DRT20.2
Onkyo TX-SR608 (I've read some troubling things however: excessive heat, hdmi problems)
Marantz NR1601

any thoughts?

gp4jesus

ddank wrote: »

I can't set the speaker crossover independently. I'm thinking I need a different receiver.

I think you're asking alot of a 2.5"* MW. W/an f3 of 130 hz*...

Do you have or can you borrow something larger* to experiment with? If the distortion goes away using the same settings, bigger speakers may be the answer. Other wise it could be the receiver.

ddank wrote: »

Onkyo TX-SR608

My brother-in-law has this AVR - I'm quite impressed w/the SQ.

cheers tony