1056 Crossover settings - Help!

[drsiebling]

I'm a new 1056 owner and have been doing some experimenting with the receiver's crossover settings. I'm a bit curious as to how others have theirs set. I am running B&W 602s3s all around with a M&K MX-125 sub. This is a 5.1 setup and all of my speakers are set to small. I am using high-quality custom silver speaker cables. Obviously, with the 1056, I am unable to bi-wire the front speakers. Part of my concern lies in the fact that I seem to get a much more robust sound with the crossover set at 100Hz. This seems like to high a setting to me. Whenever I switch over to 80Hz, I feel like I'm losing a significant amount of bass. I'm concerned that setting the crossover at 100Hz will under-utilize the bass performance of the 602s. Even though 100Hz seems to give me the best performance I've yet found, I'm still not quite satisfied with the overall dynamics of the system. I had a much better bass/treble/mid-range balance with my previous Pioneer Elite receiver in this same room. Would anyone recommend a particular setup for this kind of system? I think part of my problem might be that my room is irregularly shaped with a high, sloped ceiling and hardwood floors. I have a large area rug that hopefully provides some dampening for the sound and, of course, all the standard furniture to help in this manner.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

-Ben

[Kevin D]

No reason you can't bi-wire with the 1056, but whether you will hear an improvement is another story.

Are you playing with both the speaker and sub crossovers? You can overlap them if you need a bit of a boost or spread them out to take care of boomy sounds. Keep in mind that the crossover's are not brick walls, it's a gradual slope downwards. So when setting them to 100hz they will still play down low, just gradually softer.

You've also stepped up to a new level of quality, what you are not hearing might be how it's supposed to sound! How old is the 1056 anyway?

Kevin D.

[drsiebling]

How would one go about bi-wiring the front speakers with the 1056?

I have played a bit with both the sub and the receiver crossovers. I think I have that pretty effectively tweaked. Would setting the speakers to the "large+sub" setting offer me any benefit? Will that setting allow the 602s to play at full range while still sending the same amount of info to the sub as if the setting was at "small"?

I bought my 1056 second hand, so I believe it is about a year old. Would updating the software be of great benefit? Will that offer me any sound improvements or simply make the receiver more stable?

I am definitely very pleased with the massive improvement in sound clarity of the Rotel over the Pioneer Elite. I'm just in that picky audiophile mode where I'm analyzing every last detail to perfect the sound as much as possible.

Thanks for your reply!

[Kevin D]

To bi-wire, take two speaker cables and run them from the front speaker outputs to the separate terminals on the speaker. That's all bi-wiring is. You might have been thinking about bi-amping which would require an additional amp.

Most people do not recommend the MAX sub setting. It creates a double-bass scenario that rarely helps solve anything. You will also use up the power on the fronts trying to reproduce frequencies they aren't capable of. Bass is a strange character and having it come from multiple locations is extremely hard to tame.

Hold down mute and see what version you are at now. Chances are the only updates were fixes to issues you may not have.

Kevin D.

[drsiebling]

V.1.1.5 is what I'm running now. Is that an older release?

[Kevin D]

Yeah, that's pretty old. There was some pretty good updates between it and the current. I would update it, as long as you are comfortable with it.

V1.1.5 to V1.1.7 - Corrected a discrepancy between the front display and the OSD when displaying the Dolby Digital 2CH mode. - Corrected the Dolby Digital EX flag indication when using RS232. - Changed the default surround mode method to remember the last used surround mode by disc type - i.e. separate default modes now available for Dolby Digital and DTS. The exceptions to this are auto-detected surround modes such as DD EX and DTS ES discs. - Corrected a bug causing no progressive component video passthrough on initial powerup when OSD is set to off.

V1.1.7 to V1.1.9 - Added Dolby Pro Logic II Game Mode. - Dolby Pro Logic II Emulation changed to Dolby Pro Logic. - Improved volume speed in both main Zone and Zone 2 via remote control. - Added User Default Password feature. - Added Factory Default confirmation screen to the OSD. - Corrected a bug to allow Zone 2 control via RS232 when the main zone is in standby. - Updated 7CH Stereo DSP mode’s center back channel outputs from mono to stereo (requires EPROM flash for this update. If you do not use 7CH stereo this EPROM flash is not required for further updates.)

V1.1.9 to V1.2.1 - Fixed an intermittent problem of units locking into “Standby” mode until the rear panel power toggle was engaged. - Improved digital input sensing and format detection. This improvement fixes any problems with no audio when changing channels with some Scientific Atlanta HD digital cable boxes.

V1.2.1 to V1.2.2 - Corrected an error in V1.2.1 which caused very low center channel output when switching between DD/PLII to PLII modes.

Kevin D.

[drsiebling]

Well, I just completed the software update. I'm now sitting pretty with v1.2.2.

Thanks again for all your help! Time to do a bit more experimenting!

[drsiebling]

Well, now that I've installed the new version of the software in the 1056, it seems as though the dynamics of my system have changed again. Pro Logic material is much louder than Dolby Digital material so I'm constantly having to make large volume adjustments when changing channels.

Any advice?

[Kevin D]

A couple of things, some of which you may not like..

1) A factory default is usually a good idea after an update, write down your settings
2) Make sure you are in PLII mode, not old Pro Logic
3) Dolby Digital is always a lower level then stereo/PCM sources. This is an across the board issue with almost every thing out there. Not really a lower level, but increased dynamics which makes the normal passages 'normal' but the louder passages louder and the softer passages quieter. Most likely you are like everyone else and 'finding' things after an update that were always there. You can use the 'DYN' button to compress the digital signal if you want.

Kevin D.

[drsiebling]

That's kind of what I was afraid of. I did restore the factory defaults last night before I connected any devices to it, so that's taken care of. I'm probably just needing to do some more tweaking to get everything perfect.

Thanks again for all your help! This is a great board!

[Paul51]

I would like to let you know that I have a 1056 with a software version 1.2.3-0505 12.
Its about 3 months old and I love this unit. What I did in set up, I used a DSP and dialed it in according to the Rotel tech on their web site. I am using BW 603's in front and 602's as surrounds with LCR 60 center.Infinity sub with crossover at 80, my room measures 15x12 with hardwood floors ,so far everything is what I expected. Just so you know I too am new to this and so far this site gives a lot of great info so thanks to everyone.Hope this info is helpfull and don't be affraid to let us know how you make out.
Paul

[drsiebling]

Paul,

Thanks for your response. I've just posted another thread over in club B&W about this issue. My latest problem is that the 602s3s are now sounding extremely bright. You can view the thread here.

If you have any suggestions, they would be much appreciated. To clarify even further, 5.1 sound is fantastic, but the brightness seems to be a problem in 2 channel + sub mode.

Thanks!

-Ben

[Paul51]

Ben,
One of the problems I first had and didn't know was my front speakers were too close to the wall.B&W recomends .5meter so I corrected this, second was to select speaker set-up to large.I find by adjusting things and experimenting with the adjustments hear changes. Also the old system I had couldn't produce the real clear sound that come from upper end equipment.Another thing that I noticed when playing CD's the recordings are different from each other. When I listen to XM radio that sound different from channel to channel.
Paul

[drsiebling]

Paul,

The brightness problem I'm having is exclusively in 2 channel mode. Is there a way to set a RSX-1056 to leave the front speakers in large mode for 2 channel but to automatically revert to small for 5.1 applications?

Ultimately, I have a mental block that keeps making me thing that I'm missing out on some soun when using the crossover setting at 100Hz. 80hz seems like it would be a better fit for my setup, but it just isn't sounding that way.

How many users out there are using the crossover set at 100hz?

[Kevin D]

If you go into the speaker setup and then choose advanced, you can set the sizes different for Dolby/DTS/stereo/etc. MASTER equals whatever the main speaker menu is set to.

As far as the crossover, when I set up new systems I start at 80hz and go to where it sounds better.

Kevin D.

[drsiebling]

Kevin...

Thanks so much... that was exactly what I needed!