which speakers can be regarded as "large"

[wireseeker]

I have two systems I am setting up, both rotel and boston combo. The first has a set of VRM-90 boston speakers, top of the line, can these be regarded as large speakers in the speaker set up? Amp is 200wx5. Using a small setting and running all bass throgh the sub just sounds weak. Turn them to large and these speakers come to life, but I assume very little is now coming out the sub.

The second system uses the boston VRB's. I assume that these would be regarded as small in the settings? If I turn all speakers to small, what would the proper crossover settings be for the sub? And does it make a difference what the crossovers are set to on the speakers under advanced if they are set to small.

I guess I am asking some in depth answer on what exactly small and large settings do, and what they allow you to change for the bass settings.

Thanks

[chachi]

Large fronts can handle lower frequencies with their larger and/or additional cones, whereas Small fronts (generally lacking a third cone and using smaller magnets) do not reproduce the full low-end of the spectrum properly, so small vs large determines how much is redirected to the sub channel.

I'd think you would want the VRM90s set to large, and then if you wish raise the crossover slightly to shift a bit more to the sub.

The VRBs would be set to small, and, if you wish, this time lower the crossover slightly to shift a bit more to the VRBs.

[H.Donald]

Hmmm,I'm totally confused now....

Here's what I've done....recently,I purchased a pair of Paradigm's 100s,moving from the 40s.When I was using the 40s,I had them set to small and the crossover set to 80...after getting the 100s,I crossed them over at 60.

The larger the speaker,the more bass you want it to handle...the lower the crossover...at least that's was my interpertation.

I have since changed the settings to large on the 100s,and feel they perform better this way and I am happy with the overall bass.Also when you use the large setting...the crossover setting to those speakers become null and void.At least that's what I thought.

[chachi]

You've got it right ... I was basically just stating the OP could if he wanted 'go the opposite direction' and feather a bit more/less to the sub.

Only just realised the 'crossover' defeat on Large (mea culpa!) so ...

He'd want to run in small and set the crossovers individually if the 90s in Large do not give him the soundfield he is seeking ...

But, given the VRBs bottom end is quite low, he may want to run in small mode on these but lower the crossover a bit and let the VRBs be a bit fuller

[Kevin D]

While the correct answer is "whatever sounds good to you", my personal opinion is there are very, very few speakers that can be considered LARGE.

With the strange nature of getting even bass output throughout the room, a properly setup sub will have better bass then any pair of speakers where they need to go for good stereo.

But as others stated, keeping them on SMALL and dropping the crossover down to 40hz or so can usually be a good combination too.

Kevin D.

[Audiophiliac]

Yes it all depends on your listening preference and habits. If you regularly play movies and music very loud, you might bottom out smaller speakers that cant handle the bass if you set them to large. But if you rarely crank it that loud, most well built speakers can be set to large without issues.

THX requirements are all set to small with 80Hz xover I think. Not that that means much, but just an observation.

I had Paradigm Studio 60 v.2 front and rear, and the CC450 center, and I had them all set to large. I didnt have a sub at the time, and I had plenty of bass in my little apartment. The center did sound a bit cleaner on multi channel music when it was set to small, but that could be done in the DVD player settings, so.....

Pick what sounds good.

[ICEMAN70]

I have the Paradigm Studio 60's V.3 and they are set at SMALL. The cross over is set at 60 for the speakers and 80 for the sub. This works great with my setup.

I tried LARGE for the fronts and did not like the BASS it produced. The BASS from the 60's tried to over power my Sub. So I let my Sub do all the work and works great. If you have a Sub i would recommend settings the speakers to SMALL.

[aud19]

To be considered "large" a speaker needs to be able to play full range which includes sub-bass frequencies. In other words, 99% of speakers are "small". A "large" speaker pretty much needs to have a built in (usually powered or "active") sub woofer in the tower. So unless your speakers have a built in sub, set them to small and lower the crossover to your liking/the speakers capabilities. Most large towers start dropping their usable output below 30hz so a 40hz or higher crossover will generally work best.

[wireseeker]

This makes sense. To recap, even though these are VRM-90's we are talking about with amazing capability, I will still set them to small. I am thinking then to set the crossover to around 40 or 60 on the advanced tab for front speakers.

How does the setting on the sub affect this? If I set the sub to 80, does that then just set the master crossover for all the other speakers while the advanced front setting will over ride this sub setting? May sound ignorant, but I get a little confused about the sub crossover and the individual speaker crossovers.

[WI Rotel]

Here's the skinny on my system. The XT 4's extend to 40Hz. thus originally I had set them to large. Mistake! the other night I was listening to Chesky's adudio spectacular DVD, it has a section where tones in the 50, 40 30 and 20 Hz range are produced. My sound level was significant but not truly high. On the 20 Hz tone, the woofers in the XT 4 were driven to distortion. With this hindsight, I have set them to small with a crossover at 50 HZ. Problem solved, now I have limitless bass without ever worrying about overdriving my XT's woofers. Although this was a harsh and unusual test, that would probably not occur during music reproduction, during video it's possible, thus leading to possible speaker damage. My opinion is to follow Rotel's advice and set them all to small unless your mains are of sufficient caliber to reproduce the lowest of frequencies without any effort. In BW that pretty much limits the large setting to the largest of the 800 series. Not even the 802, can reproduce the below the mid 30hz range. So finally, set them to small :later:

[DL86]

Apparantly the paradigm studio 100's have been regarded as a true full range speaker by many reviews. I have mine set to large with a rb-1090 amplifier I woudn't say im getting the slightest hint of distortion. Very dynamic sound during movies with plenty of bass, enough to hold me back from buying a subwoofer for a while. The rest of my speakers are set to small.

[WI Rotel]

Apparantly the paradigm studio 100's have been regarded as a true full range speaker by many reviews. I have mine set to large with a rb-1090 amplifier I woudn't say im getting the slightest hint of distortion. Very dynamic sound during movies with plenty of bass, enough to hold me back from buying a subwoofer for a while. The rest of my speakers are set to small.

I never had any distortion till I did my little pure test tone maneuver at 20Hz. That, and rotel's advice were what made me change my mind. See if switching them to small makes any difference. I'm not familiar with your speakers but I would definitely check its frequency response, if the bottom end is more than 30hz it might not be a bad idea to set them to small. If you experiment, let us know how it went.