RT600i - Should I set to large or small?

cstormes

Using these as my front speakers -- should I set the receiver to "large" or "small"??

Dr. Spec

For a HT set-up - SMALL.

Doc

cstormes

Thanks Doc!

RuSsMaN

Large, or god forbid, use your ears and decide.

cstormes

Alright so now I'm getting conflicting reports!! Okay, you say let me ears decide? I'm not an audiophile. What, exactly, should I be listening for? Any help/suggestions appreciated.

RuSsMaN

A lot of people are in the 'small' camp, even with a good-sized speaker like yours. The RT600 is more than capable of handling full-range output, so I would take advantage of it.

Neither answer is right or wrong, if you can, take a few moments and try it on small and large, and see which one sounds better to you.

Cheers,
Russ

cstormes

Will do--and thanks Russ!

petrym

cstormes,

I would set them to SMALL if you already have a subwoofer to handle the bass duties. If you don't have a sub, you'll need to set them to LARGE.

The receiver uses the large/small settings to figure out where to send the low frequencies.

Does that help?
Mike

cstormes

Mike -- Definitely helps... thank you!

Dr. Spec

This following assumes this is for HT with a sub, not 2 channel for music.

Part of this response was also paraphrased from another poster over at SPOT, because I'm too lazy to type and he deserves some credit for it because it was well written and made a lot of sense. Consider this a "joint" reply from him and me.

First, by taking the bass "load" off both your RT600i's and the amplifier/receiver that's driving them, you make it much easier for your mains to handle the treble and the mid-range. (I've read many people's reports that have said they were shocked to discover that getting a sub improved their treble/mids as well as their bass.)

Second, the RT600i with it's single 6" driver can hardly be considered an "air mover" despite being classified as a "full range" speaker. Sure, it might hit 40 Hz, but how loud? Many DVDs have a full range, full strength, bass signal going to the mains channel. Unless this is redirected to the sub via setting the mains to small, the comparatively tiny driver in the RT600i will definitely suffer even at moderate volumes if it is set to large.

Even if your mains are quite capable bass-wise, in order to get the best bass out of them, positioning is an issue. You obviously will position your mains to get the best stereo imaging. To get the best bass from your mains, you'd probably have to put them next to each other in a corner! Also by throwing all bass responsibility to the sub, you can adjust its level seperately from your mains (useful if you like to run your bass "hot").

If the "small" crossover is set to 80 hz, that does NOT mean the sub only gets 80 hz and below. What that means is that at 80 hz, the receiver sends half the sound to the sub and half to your mains. ABOVE 80 hz, it ramps up what it sends to the mains and ramps down what it sends to the sub. Vice versa below 80 hz. Because of this ramping down process, your mains will still be getting bass WAY below 80 hz. A lot of people say that ideally, your mains should be able to go down to 40 hz if you have an 80 hz crossover......so the mid-bass capabilities of your RT600i's are not really being wasted at all when they are set to SMALL.

Doc and Trilogy over at SPOT