Rank Newbie Questions
Coolhand
Posts: 1
Howdy folks, you can read this and think back to the old days, back before the war, when you were like me. My wife and I just purchased our first (modest) home theater setup for our small duplex. Receiver and speakers are:
R40 sides
RT25i rears
CS245i center
PSW250 sub
Sony STR-DE945 receiver.
My questions are:
- should I setup the sides and center as "small" speakers and port the low freq. stuff to the sub? The frequency response of the R40s is 40 Hz - 24 kHz and the CS245i is 52 Hz - 26 kHz. The PSW250 freq. response is 30 Hz - 180 Hz although I understand the receiver may regulate the upper end a bit. Is it going to hurt me at all to set them (except maybe the rears) as "large"? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
- could somebody explain crossover freq to me? Remember, I'm a newbie AND an Aerospace guy... so we don't understand things that spark too well. (heh heh). I'm assuming this is the freq where the speaker hands off low frequency signals to the sub. The PSW250 has an adjustable crossover freq of 80 - 160 Hz, but the other speaker manuals don't explicity tell me their crossover freqs..... Instead they give me the "crossover topology" - the low and high pass filter info. My receiver lets me adjust crossover freq from 60 Hz to 180 Hz in 30 Hz steps when the speakers are set to small. Does this mean I don't worry about crossover freqs when they're set to "large"?
Any help is very appreciated. Have a good weekend!
BTW - Us Austinite's get a big welcome home shindig for Lance Armstrong tomorrow night.... if yer into cycling this is pretty cool.
Justin (not the moderator dude heh)
R40 sides
RT25i rears
CS245i center
PSW250 sub
Sony STR-DE945 receiver.
My questions are:
- should I setup the sides and center as "small" speakers and port the low freq. stuff to the sub? The frequency response of the R40s is 40 Hz - 24 kHz and the CS245i is 52 Hz - 26 kHz. The PSW250 freq. response is 30 Hz - 180 Hz although I understand the receiver may regulate the upper end a bit. Is it going to hurt me at all to set them (except maybe the rears) as "large"? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
- could somebody explain crossover freq to me? Remember, I'm a newbie AND an Aerospace guy... so we don't understand things that spark too well. (heh heh). I'm assuming this is the freq where the speaker hands off low frequency signals to the sub. The PSW250 has an adjustable crossover freq of 80 - 160 Hz, but the other speaker manuals don't explicity tell me their crossover freqs..... Instead they give me the "crossover topology" - the low and high pass filter info. My receiver lets me adjust crossover freq from 60 Hz to 180 Hz in 30 Hz steps when the speakers are set to small. Does this mean I don't worry about crossover freqs when they're set to "large"?
Any help is very appreciated. Have a good weekend!
BTW - Us Austinite's get a big welcome home shindig for Lance Armstrong tomorrow night.... if yer into cycling this is pretty cool.
Justin (not the moderator dude heh)
Post edited by Coolhand on
Comments
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You're gonna get a lot of book advice on this, and some of it from some of the guys will be okay. BUT, what could possibly be wrong with taking your favorite piece of music, and messing around with everything until YOU think it sounds the best?
You're interpretation of crossover was correct. The sub has an adjustable crossover freq., but your receiver probably does not. You have to make sure those are not BOTH affecting the end product at the same time.
You do aerospace? You can figure this stuff out.
Which war should we think back to?
George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's) -
I had a similar Sony receiver for a little while (wasn't too fond of it, now have Denon) but mine did let you adjust the crossover freq, which I thought was a pretty neat feature.
While I agree that you should listen and see what sounds best, personally I think that you'd be better off setting all your speakers to small and sending the bass to the sub. I doubt that it would hurt anything to set them to large as long as you don't try to play anything too loud and stop if you hear any sign of distress, but I don't think any of your speakers (besides the sub) are going to do much justice to anything lower than about 50Hz.
If I remember correctly, my Sony receiver didn't output anything from the sub line level out in stereo mode if the front speakers were set to large. That might affect your decision also.
Bottom line, though, is what George said. You should try it both ways and see what sounds best. Sometimes it's easier to get a seemless blend with the sub if the fronts are set to "large". That's my opinion. And remember that you don't want to "double filter" the signal.
