Large Or Small

[cam]

Very interesting Sir Terrence! I may just give that a try as it would lessen the load that my receiver must output. This is actually a good time to try it since I have just rearranged my living room. Now it's setup more like a HT environment. I also have 5 matching speakers which will be done hopefully in the next few weeks. All this mean breaking out the SPL meter again and adjusting everything again which I really enjoy doing anyway. Nice post. Paul.

I'm the same way, every now and then I break out the sound meter just to see if eveything is still tickediboo. I just recently bought new appliances, so I spl'd my old dishwasher and oven hood and went to sears and I said I want appliances way quieter then what I had. Hey, I gotta use my toy somehow.

[ksing44]

I will try setting my Main speakers to small, but I feel like I am wasting something by not using the FULL capabilities of speakers. As I remember, the last time I tried it, I thought the sound was a little THIN when I changed to the "Small" speaker setting. In addition, I can't believe that my Sub can really produce the higher base frequencies as accurately as my mains. I have been setting the Mains to "Large" and then setting the crossover on the Sub, so that it would only handle VERY DEEP sounds. I think my Sub is awesome. It recreates very deep sounds that shake my walls and sofa. It also seems musical with regular music, but it cant possibly be as quick and accurate as my Mains. Can a Sub, with dual 12-inch speakers, really create the rich, but quick, higher frequency bass? I have to admit that I don't really know what number frequencies are associated with any particular sound that I hear. Are you guys saying that my main speakers will use all of their power to create the midrange, so they will actually sound better, if I set them to small?

My HT Layout


Photo of my HT Set-up (Did you see my HUGE Lava lamp? )

[VRDUB]

Sorry guys, I have another question. Should I set my Tone Defeat on or off, and what exactly does this do? I haven't really played around with this much other than setting my Bass and Treble both at "0".

[ksing44]

My manual says that Tone Defeat ON is the highest quality sound, because the information does not have to pass through the additional circuitry of the tone controls. I think the sound is a little bit flat or muted, however, without going into the mode where I can adjust treble and bass. The sound seems to brighten up if I slightly tweak the tone controls. I typically use +2 treble and -2 bass. At the same time, if you hold your ear directly against the tweeter, during a totally silent passage of a song, there is a very slight humming sound that disappears if I bypass the tone controls with the Tone Defeat. I can't really hear the hum from my listening position, unless the room is absolutely quiet and there is no music playing from the stereo. It doesn't make the sound during track changes or dead time between telecasts. The sound is only present during a song or dialogue when there is a pause in sound being played from the source. I have a line conditioner and dedicated circuit for my stereo, so I don't think the small hum is from dirty power. I am not sure what the little sound is, but there is more of it when I don't use the Tone Defeat. By the way, as it says in my signature, I have a Denon AVR 5700 5.1 receiver.

[poneal]

I will try setting my Main speakers to small, but I feel like I am wasting something by not using the FULL capabilities of speakers. As I remember, the last time I tried it, I thought the sound was a little THIN when I changed to the "Small" speaker setting. In addition, I can't believe that my Sub can really produce the higher base frequencies as accurately as my mains. I have been setting the Mains to "Large" and then setting the crossover on the Sub, so that it would only handle VERY DEEP sounds. I think my Sub is awesome. It recreates very deep sounds that shake my walls and sofa. It also seems musical with regular music, but it cant possibly be as quick and accurate as my Mains. Can a Sub, with dual 12-inch speakers, really create the rich, but quick, higher frequency bass? I have to admit that I don't really know what number frequencies are associated with any particular sound that I hear. Are you guys saying that my main speakers will use all of their power to create the midrange, so they will actually sound better, if I set them to small?

My HT Layout


Photo of my HT Set-up (Did you see my HUGE Lava lamp? )

Ya, I seem to recall that my system sounded thinner too. Since I have remodeled and will have my DIY speakers done in a few weeks, I will try small again and see how it works out. If not it's back to large for all of them.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Gentlemen,

The bass probably does sound thin to your ears after you have heard bass coming from everywhere, with varying degrees of boost and cancellations. Bass that is smooth and even does not have a emphasis in any frequency, so it would therefore sound alot thinner than a system that had bass irregularities all over the place. Especially if the irregularities were boosts at certain frequencies.

I can't believe that my Sub can really produce the higher base frequencies as accurately as my mains.

It doesn't have to. If you choose a 80hz crossover point, then it won't be producing the upper bass at all.

Are you guys saying that my main speakers will use all of their power to create the midrange, so they will actually sound better, if I set them to small?

That is exactly what I am saying. If you bass driver in your mains has to reproduce both the midrange and deep bass too, one is going to suffer. Either the midrange becomes cloudy and indistinct as the driver makes long excursions for the deep bass, or the deep bass will sound thin and less pronounced if the driver is good at midrange frequencies, but cannot produce the deep bass. By moving the bass to the speaker that reproduces it best(the sub), you will relieve your mains of double duty, allow it to go louder and cleaner which reduces distortion. Imaging also improves.

Give it a try. Set everything to small, recalibrate the system with the subwoofer about 4-6db HIGHER than the mains(I use my center speaker as that reference instead). If you do not do that, you will experience the thinness that you had previously heard.

Ksing, where in the heck did you get that big lava lamp, I am green with envy!!

[ksing44]

Gentlemen,
Give it a try. Set everything to small, recalibrate the system with the subwoofer about 4-6db HIGHER than the mains(I use my center speaker as that reference instead). If you do not do that, you will experience the thinness that you had previously heard.

Thank you for the careful explanation of LARGE and SMALL. I will give it a try.

Gentlemen,
Ksing, where in the heck did you get that big lava lamp, I am green with envy!!

The lava lamp is from http://www.lavalites.com. When I bought mine, you could actually get a lava lamp that was 5 feet tall, if you were willing to pay $5000.00. Mine is the Lava® Brand Grande™ Motion Lamp, although they seem to have discontinued my version with a black base, yellow lava, and blue liquid. It actually looks like it is green and yellow, when it is running. I use it instead of a fire, to provide a kind of dancing flame of molten lava. I only turn it on the weekends for my movie nights with special appetizers prepared by my wife.

Lava Lamps