Why buy tower/floor standing speakers?

ken brydson

cnh wrote: »

4 A9s would to it if there were a lot of beefy amps powering them!

cnh

Geoff definitely had the amps covered...

tonyb

BlueFox wrote: »

My understanding is the .1 information is simply the low frequency from all channels summed into a single channel. It isn't something extra. If speakers are set to large then the low frequency is sent to the appropriate speaker versus being sent to a single speaker.

That is also my understanding. Most modern receivers have better processing ability in them today and can re-route any and all signals including the .1 dedicated channel. Listening to the low end on my speakers with no sub....I have to agree.

However, I can also agree that the better top of the line subs to an extraordinary job at producing that .1 channel....beyond what a speaker can deliver on it's own. That said, the low end I get is very satisfying...even on movie sound tracks. To spend a couple thousand bucks on that last octave or 2 of low end seems like a waste to me.

Phasewolf

OK then let me put it this way. Your speakers are placed in the best possible place to image and have the best stereo sound which is not a lot of times the best place for the best bass they could produce. Where a speaker sounds the best for one thing it may not sound very good for a other range.

Subs are not intended for anything but a single purpose and that is low bass information. The tests on the Legacy Audio Focus SE showed 10% THD at 20hz which is OK but there are subs that can hit that much cleaner for sure.

The LFE channel can on some movies drop down to 5hz not something I want going to my mains and for liability reasons I just can see them doing that as most speakers would puke if pushed 5hz at high power clip clip pop.

I guess I could take a 2 channel scope and see what info is being directed to the sub vs the mains on the sane part of a movie and then turn the sub off and see if it adds the information and reaches as low. Maybe a fun idea.

PolkieMan

Running the powered subs takes the low frequency info, meaning lots of power, load off you AVR amps

Brithon

master1917 wrote: »

On small vs. large and the point of tower speakers with overwhelming recommendations online for settings to small. The debate is ongoing on multiple forums and I finally found the solution for myself while greatly improving the sound by making equalizer adjustments via AVR.

For the last 8 years, I have been using RTi10 front towers with CSi3 as a centre and FXi3 as rears in 5.1 set up. Upgraded to Klipsch SW-110 powered subwoofer from Polk's PSW10 just 3 months ago. Pioneer AVR's (1015 in the past and 1025 currently) with ~80 RMS per channel.

Until a month ago I had not been very impressed with the sound either for music or for movies even though I had been reading great reviews for both polk's and pioneer AVR's prior to buying them. Sound was ok, but flat to my taste. The reviews raved about great bass, etc. but I didn't feel any "greatness" of bass of RTi10. I had just accepted it and thought this is the way the system should sound. I read up about "must set speakers to small or forget about bass.." and so on. Struggled with accepting this as having towers becomes useless. Continued playing around with MCACC, small with 80 crossover, large with 80 crossover, etc. Then bi-amped RTi10 with no apparent difference. No bass on non-5.1 signal was frustrating. Overall issue seemed like dead-end. ...until 1 month ago I simply changed the equalizer!

After 8 years of not having what I believe the full benefit of RTi10 I finally get what I believe a much better sound by simply changing the equalizer settings manually after MCACC auto calibration by Pioneer AVR. I set speakers to large (actually I just kept MCACC settings to large via auto calibration) then manually changed crossover from 80Hz to 50Hz and increased speaker frequencies at 63Hz and 125Hz via manual equalizer adjustment on AVR and here came the bass I didn't know RTi10 could produce. Now I can easily justify having bought RTi10 that take up so much room while before I thought that I didn't share all the hype while still being a proud owner:).

Also have a pioneer AVR and found the same issue with the auto-calibration. The lows on the MCACC were set way too low on the towers after calibration. Was disappointed in the Rti9's until I cranked up bass end on the manual EQ. I am using similar settings to yours, Front's/Center (RTia9's/CSiA6) to "Large" with the 50 Hz crossover with the "Plus" setting on the Sub and found it kicked up the punch on the LFE significantly. Sub is a PSW202 but due for an upgrade soon. I find a great test for that setup is the pod racing scene from SW:Ep 1 or the catapult assault from Kingdom of Heaven. Both of which punch you square in the chest with those settings versus the AutoCal-Fail configuration. I am using FXi3's as surrounds and R50 towers on the rear set to "Small". I have tried both "Large" and "Small" on those speakers and have not noticed much difference either way.