Choosing receiver's crossover vs. Surround speakers bottom end

P163s seem to be a good match with a crossover of 80 Hz.

I need to keep harping on the point that sound quality is not about how low a speaker will go, but rather how low it will go cleanly at gratifyingly loud and useful SPLs. In this day and age it is possible to build a speaker with a 4 inch woofer that "goes down to 40 Hz", but it will not sound good there if you play it loud.

In your case your AVR seems to only have one crossover frequency. Given that P163s can be had for $100-150 a pair, I see no reason to go cheaper if it means raising the crossover frequency which means running the risk of having bad bass imaging.

80 Hz is a generally safe crossover frequency for obtaining good bass imaging, but if your subwoofer isn't close to the mains and near the center of your front speakers, you're going to hear some bass sounds coming from off to the side at 100 Hz.

too add to what arny posted, it is also not uncommon for speakers to measure lower in room as opposed to the manufacturer's stated measurements on the spec sheet. I have a pair of bookshelf speakers that are rated to only go down to 57hz but depending on location in my room where they are set up, my receivers auto-cal program will measure the -3 low frequency response at 50 or 40hz.

I'd say get them and experiment with placement and crossovers.

Leave it set to 80 Hz for all.

The fact that the other satellite speakers won't quite get down that low is a non-issue.

It would be better, perhaps, if you did get some satellites that have the capability to go down below 80, but it is not a real big deal.

I will add some .

The right answer for the crossover is almost always 80 Hz. The decision has little to do with your speaker response. 80 Hz is picked so that you can' tell the location of the sub. As you increase this, the risk of you thinking your bass is coming from one place and the rest of the sound from another (i.e. where your main speakers are) increases. Also the P143's don't stop at 100 Hz. They simply have -3 db point at that frequency. They will most likely have output below that.