Floor-Standing Speaker Question? Overall advice wanted as well... (1 Viewer)

I have recently purchased a pair of older YAMAHA floor speakers, each have a 12" Sub, 4" Mid and 1" Tweeter in them. As soon as I bought them I tested them out on a friends receiver and they sounded great, overall sound was very well balanced. In order to use them I proceeded to buy a Pioneer VSX 552-k receiver.

When testing them on my new receiver they sounded less balanced, like I had lost a lot of the lower end (even when I adjust the overall equalizer lower), and with a 12" sub in there I would hope they have a little more to give...so what I was wondering is if there is a way to adjust the sound of a certain speaker in the cabinet through the receiver? i.e. Just the sub woofer

I am planning on buying a low-price sub woofer (Dayton Audio Sub-1200) anyways to have that deal with the extremely low frequencies but I would still like to hear some more response from the floor speakers. These all will be paired with a sound bar I am using as the center channel with the help of a High to Low Converter to round out an entry level 3.1 surround sound system.

Thank you all for your time and consideration! Any suggestions would be appreciated as well! thanks!

Do you have a stand alone sub hooked up? If you do, and the floor speakers aren't set as LARGE, the floor standers aren't getting sent the full signal.

I just read again and saw that you don't have a stand alone sub, you should still check to make sure that the floor standers are set to large.

I'm not sure I'm getting the overall concept. You have a new pioneer 5.1 receiver, some floor stander speakers and you're wanting to use the soundbar as the center channel? I don't know that you'll ever get everything matched up to really sound good. How do you have your components hooked up right now? I guess I'm confused because the soundbar is a pseudo receiver and speaker combined. I don't see how you're going to use it as just a center with the new Pioneer receiver. I would just rock the floor standers with the Pioneer in stereo. I'm willing to bet they sound better than the soundbar by a good margin. Once you get that sorted go for the remainder of the 5.1 when you get the cash to do so. In the mean time move the soundbar to a bedroom tv where it will make an impact. As far as adjusting the speaker with the receiver I think you're going to be limited to tonal controls.

What soundbars is this?Powered? Passive?That might be the issue.

Wayne_j said:

Do you have a stand alone sub hooked up? If you do, and the floor speakers aren't set as LARGE, the floor standers aren't getting sent the full signal.

I just read again and saw that you don't have a stand alone sub, you should still check to make sure that the floor standers are set to large.

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I dont have a stand alone sub at the moment no, but the Dayton Audio Sub-1200 12" 120W sub is on its way. So just to clarify, even when I do get the sub I should still set the floor standers to LARGE? According to the owners manual there is a 100Hz default X.over between the LARGE and SMALL selected speakers...maybe I should lower the default a little bit and then set the sub's X.over somewhere below that?
Thanks again!

yup, the main speakers won't play anything lower than the crossover frequency.

I'd return the Pio for a Denon/ Marantz or an Onkyo with multiple crossovers.Or, at least move up to a Pio with Direct.

So just to clarify, even when I do get the sub I should still set the floor standers to LARGE? According to the owners manual there is a 100Hz default X.over between the LARGE and SMALL selected speakers

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No, when you add the sub the speakers should be set to small. But without a sub, if they are set to small you are losing all the low end.

100hz is probably too high. With a built-in sub, the cross-over would probably be down near 60. But run the auto-calibration first and try it at that setting for a little bit.

walker-rutledge said:

I have recently purchased a pair of older YAMAHA floor speakers, each have a 12" Sub, 4" Mid and 1" Tweeter in them. As soon as I bought them I tested them out on a friends receiver and they sounded great, overall sound was very well balanced. In order to use them I proceeded to buy a Pioneer VSX 552-k receiver.

When testing them on my new receiver they sounded less balanced, like I had lost a lot of the lower end (even when I adjust the overall equalizer lower), and with a 12" sub in there I would hope they have a little more to give...so what I was wondering is if there is a way to adjust the sound of a certain speaker in the cabinet through the receiver? i.e. Just the sub woofer

I am planning on buying a low-price sub woofer (Dayton Audio Sub-1200) anyways to have that deal with the extremely low frequencies but I would still like to hear some more response from the floor speakers. These all will be paired with a sound bar I am using as the center channel with the help of a High to Low Converter to round out an entry level 3.1 surround sound system.

Thank you all for your time and consideration! Any suggestions would be appreciated as well! thanks!

Click to expand...

That's a woofer in the Yamaha, not a subwoofer. Yes, on the outside, it may look like a simple 12" sub but it is designed to play higher frequencies and not as low as a sub.

schan1269 said:

What soundbars is this?Powered? Passive?That might be the issue.

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Its a 2-3 year old iLive soundbar, powered. I was planning on buying a high to low level converter so I can use it as the center channel, but people have been suggesting a different route.

Al.Anderson said:

No, when you add the sub the speakers should be set to small. But without a sub, if they are set to small you are losing all the low end.

100hz is probably too high. With a built-in sub, the cross-over would probably be down near 60. But run the auto-calibration first and try it at that setting for a little bit.

Click to expand...

So I just left the speakers on SMALL and lowered the crossover to 60Hz, so I'm getting a lot more low end response out of the floor standers now, and the sub I have ordered will take care of the rest of the low frequencies. When I add a center channel though if I set it to SMALL will that be too rough on it sending all the way down to 60Hz?

Robert_J said:

That's a woofer in the Yamaha, not a subwoofer. Yes, on the outside, it may look like a simple 12" sub but it is designed to play higher frequencies and not as low as a sub.

Click to expand...

Would you say 80Hz + is an appropriate range? or could I go down as low as 50?
Thanks!

Al.Anderson said:

No, when you add the sub the speakers should be set to small. But without a sub, if they are set to small you are losing all the low end.

100hz is probably too high. With a built-in sub, the cross-over would probably be down near 60. But run the auto-calibration first and try it at that setting for a little bit.

Click to expand...

So I just left the speakers on SMALL and lowered the crossover to 60Hz, so I'm getting a lot more low end response out of the floor standers now, and the sub I have ordered will take care of the rest of the low frequencies. When I add a center channel though if I set it to SMALL will that be too rough on it sending all the way down to 60Hz?

Click to expand...

You're currently losing all the frequencies below ~60hz. There's really no reason to leave them at 60. If it's because you have to change each one, just turn the sub off (in the receiver); this should automatically set them all to large.

As for the center, it depends on the center. Most decent speakers have a matching center that can be set identically.

Trying to make this ILive soundbar function here will cost more, and sound worse, than buying a Yamaha center.

Until you get the subwoofer, make sure the sub setting in the receiver is set to off and the two main speakers are set to large.

The xover point for the center will be depend on the type, size, and quality of the speaker. My current center was set at 40Hz the last time I did an audyssey setup on my receiver. So I don't think 60 would be out of the question for a quality center speaker at all.

schan1269 said:

Trying to make this ILive soundbar function here will cost more, and sound worse, than buying a Yamaha center.

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The cost isn't going to be anything more than $10, all I need is a high to low level converter like this one to be able to run it from the receiver inputs to the RCA inputs on the soundbar

http://www.amazon.com/Boss-Audio-Systems-Converter-B65N/dp/B000LP4RMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398308368&sr=8-1&keywords=high+to+low+level+converter

But you still think the quality will falter? It just has a couple 3 or 4 inch woofers and a couple tweeters as well...all input is appreciated, thanks.

Those things suck in car audio.So your going to use it on the most critical speaker in the system...

schan1269 said:

Those things suck in car audio.So your going to use it on the most critical speaker in the system...

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At my previous job I had a boss who LOVED those little things. I never got the hype for soundbars. I admit my system isn't top of the line (mid-fi at best) but soundbars sound so crappy.