Small vs Large speaker setting

villian

Never really thought about this before now, but on my RT2000P's and 1000p's which setting would you guys recommend and why? Running off the signal from a Yamaha RXV667

Nightfall

I'd imagine the built in subs wouldn't be able to do their job very well if you set them to small?

deronb1

Only run small if you are integrating a seperate subwofer(s). Typically, xover is set at 80hz, but that is not written in stone. Depends on gear and room dynamics.

Polkie2009

deronb1 wrote: »

Only run small if you are integrating a seperate subwofer(s). Typically, xover is set at 80hz, but that is not written in stone. Depends on gear and room dynamics.

+1 villian, I run a similar avr, a RXV-663. You can try using small and large setting ,see what sounds best in your system. With that beast of a center, might as well run it large, although I have read before that some male voices can fall into sub 120 hz range and some complain about hearing that out of their center speaker. I noticed it too when I ran my CS400 crossover at 120 hz and above. Decided just to run at 80 hz.

villian

Reason I ask is because the RT2000's are NOT bi-amp or bi-wire able..as far as I know. They have two sets of input wire plugs, but one is a high level input only for the subwoofer section of the speaker. They have an RCA connector input for powering the subs which is what I use, off the LFE port on the AVR. How do you guys think that should be figured into the equation? I'm thinking the small setting would be best given that situation, since the tops half of the speakers are the only part being powered via speaker wire from the AVR. The bottoms are run off the LFE output. Thus, small/large has no effect on the sub, only the top halfs. A small setting would avoid sending bass signals to the top halfs, giving cleaner output and less strain on the top halfs crossovers. Right, or wrong?

Polkie2009

I'm not familiar with the RT2000 speakers but it looks like they have their own power amp built in to power their subwoofer. If the mains are being powered only by the Yamaha AVR 667, by setting the mains, center and surround speakers to small, that would sure help the power section of the AVR to run easier. Any chance you're looking to add a power amp to the preouts to run the mains in the future?

villian

Polkie2009 wrote: »

I'm not familiar with the RT2000 speakers but it looks like they have their own power amp built in to power their subwoofer. If the mains are being powered only by the Yamaha AVR 667, by setting the mains, center and surround speakers to small, that would sure help the power section of the AVR to run easier. Any chance you're looking to add a power amp to the preouts to run the mains in the future?

Sure am, in the future. The subs are indeed powered via a built in plate amp on the speaker. The uppers are powered via AVR.

tonyb

I have personally owned every speaker in your sig and can tell you first hand that even though that option is available to run the LFE input into them, they still won't compete with a decent subwoofer. I always preferred setting them to large, setting the sub to none and letting the receiver reroute that signal to all large speakers.

Polks powered towers I think were meant to augment the bass output of the speaker, not meant as a replacement for a subwoofer. I think in your case, an investment in a good sub would be top priority over an amp right now.

villian

tonyb wrote: »

I have personally owned every speaker in your sig and can tell you first hand that even though that option is available to run the LFE input into them, they still won't compete with a decent subwoofer. I always preferred setting them to large, setting the sub to none and letting the receiver reroute that signal to all large speakers.

Polks powered towers I think were meant to augment the bass output of the speaker, not meant as a replacement for a subwoofer. I think in your case, an investment in a good sub would be top priority over an amp right now.

Oh I agree. I have a homebrew KLH Sub that's not in my sig that's set center rear for true LFE playback. I'm working on building a dual 12 Perfect Kappa setup to replace it as well. That said, augmenting a single LFE sub with the RT series at every corner is simply amazing! Awesome fullness, and not overpowering. I love the full range of sound from everywhere.

Inspector 24

How do you have the 2000's and 1000's hooked up now?

Gatecrasher

I always set mine up as "small" but do not run the RT3000p or SRT bottom subs from LFE. I connect them to "sub out' or pre-amp. I run separate subwoofers on LFE.

Whenever I try the RT3000p or SRTs on "large" they do not sound nearly as good.

I usually end-up setting the x-over to 80hz.

villian

Inspector 24 wrote: »

How do you have the 2000's and 1000's hooked up now?

RT2000s up front, RT1000's in the rear. Speaker inputs set accordingly from my AVR. No jumpers, the amped woofer lower section of each of those 4 speaker towers is running off RCA/Coax inputs from the AVR LFE output.

Gatecrasher wrote: »

I always set mine up as "small" but do not run the RT3000p or SRT bottom subs from LFE. I connect them to "sub out' or pre-amp. I run separate subwoofers on LFE.

Whenever I try the RT3000p or SRTs on "large" they do not sound nearly as good.

I usually end-up setting the x-over to 80hz.

I was under the impression that the LFE output is the "Sub out" or "Pre out". I'll have to go look at my AVR tonight and see if there's actually a seperate output. I use the term LFE out and sub out interchangibly. Just figured it was only a true "LFE" signal when playing back something with an LFE signal.

Inspector 24

villian wrote: »

RT2000s up front, RT1000's in the rear. Speaker inputs set accordingly from my AVR. No jumpers, the amped woofer lower section of each of those 4 speaker towers is running off RCA/Coax inputs from the AVR LFE output.

Id say small is correct hooked up like this. Either way the sub section will only see below 80hz as I believe that is where Polk set the crossover to the subs for both 1000 and 2000 so as it's said earlier why not take some load off the amp powering the upper section.

I would run them large only if you had the jumpers installed and/or if you were running from the 'main' or Left and Right pre outs, otherwise they wouldn't be getting the full range. And the built in subs would t be doing anything.

I was under the impression that the LFE output is the "Sub out" or "Pre out". I'll have to go look at my AVR tonight and see if there's actually a seperate output. I use the term LFE out and sub out interchangibly. Just figured it was only a true "LFE" signal when playing back something with an LFE signal.

Yes, I believe LFE and Sub Out are interchangeable.

Gatecrasher

Inspector 24 wrote: »

Id say small is correct hooked up like this. Either way the sub section will only see below 80hz as I believe that is where Polk set the crossover to the subs for both 1000 and 2000 so as it's said earlier why not take some load off the amp powering the upper section.

I would run them large only if you had the jumpers installed and/or if you were running from the 'main' or Left and Right pre outs, otherwise they wouldn't be getting the full range. And the built in subs would t be doing anything.

That's why the operations manual says to do it that way.

Inspector 24 wrote: »

Yes, I believe LFE and Sub Out are interchangeable.

My receiver has separate "LFE", "Pre-Amp" outputs, plus dual "Sub Out" outputs.

All three operate differently and are not interchangeable.

Here's a pic of a RT3000p. I used to run these with the receiver's RCA "sub out" outputs running to the powered subwoofer with the jumpers removed and then the top satellites were bi-amped. The speakers were set to small and the x-over was set to 80hz.

villian

Awesome answers guys. Gatecrasher..that's the exact way I'm running the 1 and 2k's, with the exception of not being Bi-Amped since they are not bi-amp capable.

Do you guys think you'd get higher quality from..

A. Running a coax/RCA to the dedicated coax/rca sub input on the subwoofer section of the RT series floorstanding speakers and sending a filtered signal to the subwoofer section instead of a full range signal.

B. Running them off the high level (Speaker level) inputs instead of the coax/rca inputs and setting the mode to Large (Full range)

Inspector 24

Gatecrasher wrote: »

My receiver has separate "LFE", "Pre-Amp" outputs, plus dual "Sub Out" outputs.

All three operate differently and are not interchangeable.

So, I got curious as I'd never seen both LFE and Sub Outs on one recievers, only the words used interchangeably for the same function, but it appears both yours and the OP's Recievers only have two 'Sub Out' connections in addition to the standard pre-outs.

http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset/file/?language=en&site=usa.yamaha.com&asset_id=35733
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/StaticFiles/Manuals/Home/SC-09TX_OperatingInstructions0623.pdf

Am I missing something?

villian

Inspector 24 wrote: »

So, I got curious as I'd never seen both LFE and Sub Outs on one recievers, only the words used interchangeably for the same function, but it appears both yours and the OP's Recievers only have two 'Sub Out' connections in addition to the standard pre-outs.

http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset/file/?language=en&site=usa.yamaha.com&asset_id=35733
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/StaticFiles/Manuals/Home/SC-09TX_OperatingInstructions0623.pdf

Am I missing something?

Correct on my end. 7 pre outs and 2 additional mirrored outs both labeled "Subwoofer".