set RC85i's and CS5i to "Large" or "Small"?

dave42

On my Denon receiver, when I do the autosetup, it sets my inwall RC85i's (both main and surrounds) to small as well as my center channel.
Since these are 8" woofers, and the center channel is 6 1/2", would it be better to set them as large? In the Denon manual, it says I should set all but the largest speakers to small.
I have a Velodyne CHT-15 SW.

Lowell_M

Dave, I would set the speaker size to "large". Setting speaker size to "small" usually limits the frequency range going to that speaker (low frequency gets redirected, that shouldn't, to the sub). For truest sound I would set the speaker size to large and let your Polks shine!!!!

Aaron

Frank Z

Nope, wrong -oh! The speakers should be set according to the frequency response of the speaker.A full range speaker should be set to large, smaller speakers with a limited frequency range should be set to small. This will allow the sub to handle the low end of the frequency range, relieving some of the load on the smaller speaker. Your mid-range frequencies will sound much better, the speakers won't be beating the snot out of themselves trying to reproduce sound that they weren't designed for, and your sub will be happy that it has something to do.;)

Heres a link for more info on Home Theater set up.
http://www.polkaudio.com/home/library/downloads/hthandbook.pdf

asearls

I'm not sure i'm getting exactly what you guys are saying? Forgive me as i'm just starting into all of this. I just got my csi5 tonite and i have rti8's. I have an older kenwood sub, but it does a decent job. should I be setting these as small or large? I know the sub takes care of most of the bass management. so should I set the others to small to maximize the mid and high sounds or should I unleash the beasts that the Csi an rt's can be. thanks for your help guys.

Airplay355

setting your speakers to small will send the lower frequencies and send them to the sub. this will put less stress on your receiver and less stress on your speakers because the sub is producing the low frequencies.

aesearls, i'd set your speakers to small. try them at large also however and decide for yourself which one you like better.

jdhdiggs

I agree with Airplay and FrankZ. Unless you have a speaker rated with a -3 dB of <30 Hz and 200+ watts per channel behind them, I would recommend small and not large if you have a good sub. This all goes out the window if the sub isn't of the same class as the speakers, in which case I'd still recomend small, but a lot more experimenting would need to take place.