[JeffGrimes]

I just received an interesting response from Onkyo's customer service regarding the Small/Large speaker settings on my 575x receiver.


I specifically asked...what does the large setting vs. small setting mean in terms of crossover frequency to the subwoofer...


Here is Onkyo's response...
The settings are small is 120 Hz and large is 80 Hz.


Am I reading this correctly...that if I set my speakers to small, then everything below 120Hz goes to the subwoofer....and if I set it to large, everything below 80 Hz goes to the subwoofer???


I was under the impression that Large sent full-frequency range to all Large speakers (no information to the sub)...and that "typically" small sends frequencies below 80hz to the sub....


Any ideas?

 

[WanMan]

Jeff, I think the idea is that when you set a speaker to Large rather than Small you are telling the receiver that the speaker in question is more capable of handling the additional responsibility for bass reproduction below 120Hz (in fact, down to 80Hz).


And, if you set a speaker to Small from Large you are telling the receiver that the speaker in question is less capable of handling the additional responsibility for bass reproduction above the 80Hz level.


So, who is responsible for the bass reproduction when a speaker is not being held responsible (when it is set to Small)? You subwoofer takes on that increased responsibility.


Let me know if I confused you, or if I made a mistake, but I do believe that is how it works.

 

[JeffGrimes]

Wanman, I think your saying the same thing I did...?


Small
Large

 

[WanMan]

Yup. And I hear you about your main loudspeakers, too. My paradigm's are also full-range and go down to 39Hz. I leave my main loadspekaers set to Large and everything else to Small. No reason I can see why I should throw away four 8" bass drivers.

 

[JeffGrimes]

I was ALWAYS under the impression that if a speaker was set to LARGE...NOTHING was routed to the Subwoofer, except LFE specific information on DD and DTS tracks..


What a mindblower....

 

[loopy]

Jeff: it all depends on the surround mode in question. in 2 channel mode, no LFE is likely to be sent to the sub. But, most newer receivers have a main+lfe or l/r+lfe, so if the surround mode supports it, such as 5 channel stereo, logic7, etc etc, both sub and l/r will play bass.

 

[JeffGrimes]

The LFE Channel only exists in Dolby Digital and DTS mixes...Its a specific channel...and is not used in regular mixes...unless the crossover is designed to use it....


But this response is talking about the crossovers...So in ALL modes...Stereo, 5-Channel Stereo, DD, DTS, etc...Below XX is sent to the Sub...


I have pretty big speakers (29Hz for the fronts...) So I am going to try some things...


This could explain why I'm seeing a huge dip in frequency repsonse around 100Hz...


or it may all be room interactions...We'll see

 

[David_Larkins]

Jeff,


On my 676, in addition to having a speaker setting (large/small), I also have a subwoofer setting (yes/no), so my take on this issue is that if you have your subwoofer setting at 'no' and speaker setting at 'large' THEN all of the frequencies go to the speakers and not the sub. Does this sound right?

 

[JeffGrimes]

I played around a little bit...So the only way to play the Fronts full range ONLY is to say no-sub. But then, I'm not getting any reinforcement for the other three channels (which cannot handle below 80 with volume and control)...


Not sure if this is an Onkyo thing, a 575x thing, or if this how bass management works....



Guess I have more to look into.

 

[WanMan]

Jeff, that is really strange, but maybe just specific to your receiver's manufacturer's design. I can have yes/no to my subwoofer regardless of what my mains are set to (large/small). Actually, if I set my mains to Small, I can set the sub to no/yes/extra.