Large or Small Speaker Setting??

[june]

Hello All,

I'm a 80% movie / 19% music person. Which setting is the best for 2 channel sound for:

PARIDIGM STUDIO 100 V2
PARIDIGM PS-1000
ROTEL RSP-1068

[Hdale85]

Large I would say. Those are pretty large speakers

[PewterTA]

I'd run them in large for 2ch and for mult-channel (movies mainly) I'd set them to small. You seem to get a little bit better clarity with the small setting during movies I think.

[Ovation]

Try each one, but there is no inherent reason why "small" is not a good choice--especially if you have flexible xover settings for the sub. Best imaging and best placement for flat bass response are RARELY identical, so decoupling the lower octaves, even from a capable pair of speakers, for two channel audio is not a bad idea.

[greenhorn]

Large or Small

Interesting timing. I was just exploring this aspect of setup last night. Both my video and audio were set to small. My manual (Anthem AVM 20) suggeted setting suggested small for both unless your fronts have very strong bass, set the fronts to small and let the sub handle the bass is the idea. One comment I've read a few times about my speakers (B&W CM7's) was they were a little light bass wise.

The preamp also had a sub setting called "Super" where it copies the bass from the front and also routes it to the sub. Through a couple of reviews\replays of some songs I found that for music I liked the fronts set to large with the sub set to super. It gave the fronts a little larger sound and nice strong bass. Haven't monkey'ed with the speaker setup for video, but I really, really happy with the audio performance on the video side.

[gc8ej25]

I don't think my receiver allows you to set all your speakers to small if you don't have a sub. I tried playing with it last night and I couldn't figure it out.

[Chris D]

This had come up many times before. I HIGHLY recommend everyone except owners of the most exotic speakers (i.e. none of us) use small speaker settings for all speakers, and a good subwoofer(s).

[bigburner]

This had come up many times before. I HIGHLY recommend everyone except owners of the most exotic speakers (i.e. none of us) use small speaker settings for all speakers, and a good subwoofer(s).

I HIGHLY agree.

[David Meek]

Chris, I might have to disagree with you on this one.

At least 90% of the time that set up will be the right one but, I'm running my Aerial Acoustics 7Bs set to large with my Velodyne FSR-15 taking over for the last octave or so. I love my Aerials but I don't consider them exotic. They play extremely well down to about 35-38 Hz with (evidently) a fairly steep roll-off on bottom that allowed me to cross over to the sub without an audible gap (or one that showed in SPL readings with white noise) in the presentation.

I guess what I'm saying is that you need to try both, adjusting the cross-over and volume settings until you find out what's best for your individual system and tastes.

[Chris D]

Ah, but David, if you're using ANY crossover with speakers, regardless of if it's set at 80Hz or 35Hz, isn't that by definition "small"? Large speaker settings would send all frequencies, full-range, to that speaker.

I agree that some speakers do better than others on lowering the crossover frequency.

[DL86]

Right now with my setup im sending all the bass to the main speakers (studio 100v3) including subwoofer bass and sadly I can say that they do bottom out on extreme bass sequences THX intro scene in star wars is the number 1 culprit for torturing my speakers. I would suggest setting probably a lower x-over like 40 or 50 hz since you have a subwoofer. You wouldn't want your speakers playing lower than 40hz this would introduce more THD, 40hz and above is where most of the punchier bass lies which is ideally the range you would want your speakers playing to minimise distortion.

[David Meek]

Ah, but David, if you're using ANY crossover with speakers, regardless of if it's set at 80Hz or 35Hz, isn't that by definition "small"? Large speaker settings would send all frequencies, full-range, to that speaker.

My apologies as I wasn't clear. I'm not using a crossover. I'm using the low-pass filter on the FSR-15 to stop the sub's output above the point that the main's are outputting at their lowest frequency.

I would suggest setting probably a lower x-over like 40 or 50 hz since you have a subwoofer. You wouldn't want your speakers playing lower than 40hz this would introduce more THD, 40hz and above is where most of the punchier bass lies which is ideally the range you would want your speakers playing to minimise distortion.

Nope. Going to small and setting the cross-over at 40 or thereabouts doesn't work as well sonically as my current set up. These speakers have never "bottomed out" as you put it. The dual-cone woofer set up on the Aerials keeps the bass in the 40-50 Hz range clean and clear.

[DL86]

Im talking about my setup. My speakers are most certainly bass capable down to 30hz, but trying to get over 100db of the LFE channel on my speakers is not possible and they do "bottom out" by that I mean they make a weird noise. If your speakers can handle this kind of stress well thats a different scenario. Just giving some advice to someone with almost the same speakers as mine albeit little more bass capability.

[whoaru99]

I use Studio 100v2 with a Servo 15v1 sub in my HT/music system.

For both movies and most music, the speakers are set to small. However, I use the AVM 20 dual configuration. For HT, I have the crossover at 80Hz, for music I have the crossover set much lower to 40Hz

I occasionally run them full range with no sub for music, but not too often.

[N2siast]

Hello All,

I'm a 80% movie / 19% music person. Which setting is the best for 2 channel sound for:

PARIDIGM STUDIO 100 V2
PARIDIGM PS-1000
ROTEL RSP-1068

What happened to the other 1% :lol:

[Chris D]

What happened to the other 1% :lol:

Listening to White Noise?

Watching Oprah?

[dknightd]

Which setting is the best for 2 channel sound for:

PARIDIGM STUDIO 100 V2
PARIDIGM PS-1000
ROTEL RSP-1068

For 2 channel music the 100v2 should be fine run full range (unless you
listen to music with a lot of energy below about 38hz). But you
might like it better with a sub.

For HT - you probably need to use the sub. For 2 channel music, maybe not.
You've really got to try it both ways and see what works best for you in your
room with your music and your ears - there is no right answer.

[David Meek]

What happened to the other 1% :lol:

Due to statistical aberrations that will show up in estimated ranges, you want to leave a small percentage open to accomodate these aberrations and "other things". Like listening to white noise.... :B

[june]

Hello All,

I'm just a person that thinks nothing is 100%.

I'm on vacation starting on Friday. Saturday is my 45th birthday. No wife on Friday from 7-4pm. I can do my my "large / small testing. I'll let yall know the results.