Crossover settings

deicerniauskas

Hello all,

I just ordered S60e and will be buying the rest of the system. I know that the rule of thumb for surround sound setup is 80hz for front channels and then sub out goes to LFE for the sub input...

But then the question rises, whats the point of buying front tower speakers if they gonna be set to 80hz? I mean I want to get bass from them, they should go as low as 26hz...

second question is, it says that LFE input for the sub gets unfiltered sound, it bypass the crossover setting, so if I want crossover to work I just should plug in to other RCA input and just play call it a day?

F1nut

For starters they are putting out pretty much nothing at 26Hz. Polk lists the total frequency response at 26 Hz → 40000 Hz instead of the -/+ 3dB rating, which is what matters. I'd be surprised if the -3dB rating was any lower than 35Hz. What that means is at 35Hz the sound level is 3dB down, which is quite noticeable.

So, the 80Hz cut off is not a sharp one, the speakers still produce sound below that, but at a greatly reduced volume level. Depending on which AVR you get you may be able to run the fronts full range (large) without killing the AVR, but you'll need one of the TOTL AVR's in order to do that. I get the feeling you are not buying or have a TOTL AVR, so set the fronts to small.

If I'm understanding your last question, hell no. Connect the sub to the sub out.

TopperDude

properly set up and calibrated, the 80ish crossover setting is a good thing and will actually give you better overall performance, dynamics, and power handling.

Let the main speakers focus on the frequency range they are designed to and not stress trying to play low bass thats supposed to be handled by the sub anyway. (A 5.25" or 6.5" speaker forced to play 30hz is majorly struggling and consequently, terribly affecting the rest of the range it should have been focusing on. So now you've actually brought down the overall performance of your speakers).

deicerniauskas

Thanks for the answers, I forgot to mention that I am going to hook up an external amp via preouts for the front speakers i.e. s60.

Regarding subwoofer, it has right, left and lfe inputs, but if it is hooked up to lfe, the cut off of the sub wont work

F1nut

With a dedicated amp to your L & R you can run them full (large) range. Until then, run them small. BTW, you still won't get anywhere close to 26Hz regardless of the power.

Hook the sub up via the LFE connection, turn the crossover knob on the sub all the way up, which might be 120Hz or more. The AVR will only send signals below 80Hz to the sub.

txcoastal1

Here are your roll off curves for the S-series. You will see a steep roll off around 50hz so that is where you want your subs to take over for music with sub. For movies I'd run at 80hz crossover

When running 2-channel without the sub then Full

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/polk-signature-s60-speaker-system-review-test-bench

F1nut

The –3dB point is at 44 Hz, and the –6dB point is at 36 Hz.

There ya go, not even close to 26Hz.