SurroundBAR Setup

rlsills

I'm trying to maximize the potential of my SurroundBAR and have the following setup question. Page 13 of the Technology White Paper gives instructions for setup that differ significantly from those in the manual. The former suggests setting the front speakers to large and the rear and center speakers to small (there are no rear speakers, only surround sound speakers) for one configuration and all speakers to small for the other configuration. The manual instructs that all speakers should be set to large. Which is correct? Also, if all speakers are set to large, what is the correct crossover setting. Any other tips would be apprciated. I have the SurroundBAR attached to a Yamaha RX-V659. Thanks.

dudeinaroom

I would set them all to small if you are using a sub, and set the crossover to around 100hz(as it is the f3 of the suroundbar). You might have to play with the sub woofers phase, and placement as well as the level(gain) to get it all to sound just right.

Good luck,
dude

p.s. it doesn't hurt to play with settings, just use what I gave you as a guide line and adjust to your liking.

dorokusai

rsills - The SurroundBar has an internal filter for high-pass frequencies so setting it to Large is acceptable per the actual product documentation. This is also the case for the HTIB systems.

Set the SB to Large and X-over @ 120hz. If you don't have that kind of flexibility, set the SB to Small and X @ 120hz. I would not suggest a X @ anything less than 100hz for the SB.

rlsills

OK... I'm confused, two responses, one saying set the speakers to small, the other suggesting large. Isn't there a right answer? Clearly a rhetorical question.

MikeC78

In most cases set the crossover in your AVR to small, especially if you run a subwoofer.

Alot of AVR's will not send LFE to the sub in a "large" setting, unless there is a "plus" setting for the sub of some sort. The best is to set the AVR crossover to small. I really don't know why anyone would set the crossover to large?

EDIT: Dudeinaroom, pretty much answered your question.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
There are two main goals when setting up a satellite/sub-woofer system (the SurroundBar can be considered a satellite/sub-woofer system even though it is a single fairly large speaker). The first goal is to allow the sub-woofer play high enough, in frequency, to match the low frequency capability of the satellite speakers. This blending frequency is somewhere between 120Hz and 150Hz depending upon the height of the satellite speakers off of the floor and if they are wall mounted, or not. But, the easiest way to do that is to simply give the sub-woofer a full range audio signal and use the variable low pass filter, on the sub-woofer, to raise and lower the sub-woofer's low pass filter (it's upper frequency) to blend with the low frequency capability of the satellite speakers. Setting the receiver's front speakers to "large" gives a full range signal to the sub-woofer if it has been connected to the front channels.
The second goal is to not interfere with the built-in high pass filter that is part of the satellite speakers. The problem would be that if "small" were chosen, which means introducing a high pass filter, this filter frequency could be similar to the one built into the speakers, 120Hz. The result of this "double filtering" would be to push the high pass filter point, of the satellites, to 240Hz. So, now the sub-woofer would play up to 120 or 150Hz, but the satellites wouldn't play down to match them.
If you tend to be a moderate listener in terms of playing volumes leaving the center and surrounds set to "large" is fine. The built-in high pass filter should prevent any overdriving of the mid range driver. If, on the other hand, you tend to play your system at fairly high volumes you could choose the "small" setting and select the lowest offered frequency, say 40Hz to not interfere with the built-in high pass filter.
I hope this is helpful information.
Regards, Ken

dudeinaroom

Ken you have a PM

rlsills

Thanks Ken, that's very helpful. Is there an optimal db setting for the speakers and sub? What's your opinion of increasing the DB of the surround speakers to give them more prescence than the front and center units in increase the effect? What about the sub? I have a Yamah RX-V659 Receiver and a Polk PSW10 sub. Because of the constraints of the AV cabnet, the SurroundBAR is on top of the unit, angled down toward the couch, approximately 11 feet away. It'a about 30" above the top of the TV.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Good, I'm glad it was helpful. I have the SB and use it with the original RMDS1 system. I increased the surround channel setting on the RMDS1 processor by 4 dB. I have a Radio Shack SPL meter (which was recently tested in Audio Amateur and found to be very accurate, this is for the older version) and used 75dB as the reference level for matching all of the levels.
I hope you enjoy your's as much as I have mine.
Take care, Ken