large or small, that is the question

nellis8166

another question about setting large or small speaks on your receiver.
when setting to small am i going to lose any volume or range??? it just seems a shame to me to have those beautiful new LSI's and not use their whole freq response capabilities.
sorry if this is a stupid question, i am relatively new to this game, but i am addicted and can't stop!!!





my setup
LSI9 mains
LSIC center
RTi 28 surrounds and rears
infinity entra 2 sub

Frank Z

Nellis,
It's not a stupid question, lots of people get a little confused about this subject.

Set them to small, this will allow the Low Frequency Effects (LFE) to be sent to the sub. The Lsi9 has a frequency response of 38hz to 27Khz, so leaving set to large will deprive you of the the low-end rumble that you expect from your sub. If your receiver or Amp/pre-amp are capable, set your crossover to 80hz. You will not loose any volume, you'll just be sending the low frequencies to speaker that is better equiped to handle it.

Hope this helps.

nellis8166

frank, that is what i am going to try next. thank-you for the info, checked out your webpage, nice setup!
my amp has a crossover selection with the speakers on small at 80, 100, 120, and 200. do you think 80 is the best? once i set it, should i just adjust the sub's gain accordingly???
i know the best way is to test, but it helps getting advice from somebody who knows what they are talking about. thanks frank!!

RuSsMaN

Frank,

Why would setting his 9's to large deprive him of any low-end rumble, or have anything to do with his sub?

Cheers,
Russ

Dr. Spec

I already posted most of this elsewhere in the forum - so this is a cut and paste job. The following assumes this is for HT with a sub, not 2 channel for music.

First, by taking the bass "load" off both your LSi9'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. Many people are shocked to discover that setting the speaks to small with a good sub majorly improved their treble/mids.

Second, the LSi9 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 LSi9 will suffer in a HT environment even at moderate volumes if it is set to large.

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 LSi9's are not really being wasted at all when they are set to SMALL.

Doc

Frank Z

Dr. Spec,
Another well written explaination. Nicely put.

nellis8166

just wanted to say that after extensive testing i ended up setting everything at small and i was amazed at the difference, it really does improve the mids and high, much warmer sound.
now the only thing is where to set the crossover. 80 was nice, but still a little lacking in the boom department for most things, i think 100 and backing the gain off my sub a little is the way to go.
it's funny because depending on the media source the bass fluctuates. watchin a U2 DVD from the elevation tour almost knocks the walls down, i have to back the channel output off on the receiver.
i wish there was one setting for all but i guess that just will not work.