Quote:
Originally Posted by oakley36
Should paradigm monitor 11's be set to large or small during speaker setup? If set to large should sub be set to yes or plus? |
I'm not personally familiar with the Monitor 11s. The specs on Paradigm's website says they'll go as low as 48 Hz with only a 2 dB loss. They should do fine on Large.
Personally I'm not a big fan of extra bass, I like as flat response as possible across the board. So I never even considered using the Plus setting. There is also the possibility of the sub being out of phase with the front speakers and the sound waves canceling each other (this is less of a chance with the new phase correcting MCACC).
In the past I had usually left my front speakers as Large, thinking they could handle what ever bass was sent to them. It wasn't until I was going through the test tones on the Avia DVD that I heard the difference of setting all the speakers to Small and letting the sub pick up the slack down low.
I don't agree with THX on everything, but I think that 80 Hz is a good crossover point for most speakers. If you have a test disc that indicates the frequency of the test tone on screen while it sweeps. You can play the tone on your smallest speaker while it is set to Large, listen for the volume to decrease and make note of the frequency. Set the crossover to just above that point and change the speaker to Small. The tone should now seamlessly continue down below the natural range of the speaker as the sub takes over.
I wish Pioneer had allowed separate crossover points for each speaker. If it turns out that your surround speakers need a crossover point that too high that you feel you'll be sending too much musical information to the sub then it may be a good idea to set your fronts to Large, or even Plus if you happen to like bass.
I've been skirting around telling you what to do, because I don't belive there is one "right" way to set things. I like to explain what settings do, so they can be adjusted knowledgably. In the end it is what sounds right to you. I found myself agreeing with what THX found: 80 Hz/Small all around seemed the most seamless to my ears.