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I have an Onkyo HTIB (HT-S3500) and I'm stuck with its original speakers (yeah, I know...

)


I've been struggling with the best crossover frequency for these small satellite speakers, which have a frequency response of 80 Hz-20,000 Hz and small drivers of 3.25".


Default crossover is 120 hz, but the manual presents a table suggesting a crossover frequency even higher: 150 Hz.


But my subwoofer (which is part of the package) has a frequency response of 30 Hz - 150 Hz. When I test it using test tones, I notice that a 150 hz crossover seems to push it too hard.


So it seems that 120 hz is the best option, right? Problem is, I can easily localize bass coming from the sub, which kinda ruins the soundstage.


Can I go at least to a 100 hz crossover with these speakers? Or would I force them too much? I play movies and games on a relatively low volume, so maybe the speakers can work well with a 100 hz crossover...

 

[Otto Pylot]

For speakers like that I wouldn't depend too much on their given specs because you don't know how they were achieved (anechoic chamber, etc). Set the speakers to Small (enables the low and hi pass filters) and your sub x-over at 100 or 120Hz. What that will do is take some of the power requirements off of the sats and give them a bit more headroom for the higher frequencies and if your speakers are setup correctly, you shouldn't hear dialog in the lower registers coming out of your sub. You may have to do the "sub crawl" to find a good spot for your sub but audio localization shouldn't be a problem unless you've got the sub's volume up too loud.