[VanillaRice]

In the GUI for my sony reciever I go to SETTINGS > SPEAKER > CROSSOVER FREQUENCY > FRONT


I have a crossover range between 40-200hz to choose from. I play a test tone of 50hz. I can hear the tone with the crossver set to 40hz then set the crossover to 200hz and the tone is still there, just a little bit quieter. All my speakers are set to small.


I want to pass everything below approx 70hz to the sub but hearing 50hz through my 5 1/4" fronts sounds like crap and I want it gone. It's even trying to play 20hz tones and below I can see the drivers moving when I'm playing test tones and it cant be good for them. Can anyone help me out here ? Thanks.

 

[Selden Ball]

If what you hear sounds bad, then you may need to consider getting higher quality speakers and installing appropriate room treatments.


What you are hearing in terms of frequencies is to be expected.


Audio crossover filters are not "brick walls". They have a "slope". Most attenuate sounds by 12dB per octave. (An octave is a difference in frequency of 2x. e.g. 40Hz to 80Hz.) Our hearing is very non-linear: a difference in sound level of 10dB causes an apparent difference in volume of about 2x.


To get more forceful control over the frequency response, you'd need to consider using a receiver (or preamp/processor) with line-level outputs, passing those outputs though a multichannel parametric equalizer, and feeding its outputs to external amplifiers.


Another option to consider would be a brand of receiver with a more advanced form of automated room equalization than what Sony provides. Although speakers and room acoustics have the most effect on the quality of the sound we hear, room EQ software can help with some of their infelicities.

 

[commsysman]

Without knowing exactly what speakers you have it is hard to comment.


In general, the BEST way to do it is set the main speakers to go down to 50 Hz or so, and set the sub to operate only below 50 hz.


I prefer to connect the sub speaker-level inputs to the terminals of the speakers and set the rolloff filter on the sub to around 50 Hz.


That way the sub operation is completely independent and can easily be fine-tuned for best performance.


Also, by using the speaker-level inputs to the sub, it gets the exact same signal as the main speakers, with no processing or filtering.


Your main speakers will not be damaged unless the cones are actually "bottoming out", which will sound awful and immediately be apparent.

 

[VanillaRice]

I have been considering a parmetric eq for my DIY subwoofer setup which is run by a behringer ep2500. I have an old integrated amp which is doing the EQ duties for now but I'd like something like a behringer feedback destroyer which I will use for the fronts aswell. In the mean time I can try running my fronts through my other active sub which has line level outputs.Unfortunately I intend to sell this sub now that I have the DIY setup so the sooner I get a hold of a parametric eq the better.


My fronts are Mission m64i which are not particularly bad quality just not powerful multi-driver speakers intended for low bass. I simply want to run them at the frequencies they were intended for. At these frequencies they sound great. I belive the spec sheet rates them down to 51hz. In the long run I will look to upgrade the fronts as they are only small 2-way floorstanders but they do the job for now.