JBL S-38II's and receiver settings (1 Viewer)

[Matthew-K]

I have a pair of JBL S-38II's as mains and wanted to know if the receiver setting should be on the "large" or "small" option. I have a yamaha receiver w/5.1 sound and jamo rears and a velodyne subwoofer. Any thoughts?

 

[Natelabo]

I personally use the S38II's for my mains too powered by my Sony DA1ES. I would definately (and do right now) set these speakers to large because they are very capable of handling the lower frequencies and due to being sealed have a very flat response in those frequencies. But you should switch between large and small and find the sound that you like and that matches your room.
-nate

 

[Frank Carter]

Most on this forum(including myself), set all speakers to small and let the sub handle the bass. Do a search, to find out more info on the topic.

 

[Frank Carter]

Here's something I copied from Klipsch's subwoofer forum. I was just too lazy to type in my above post, but it's exactly the reasons I prefer setting all speakers to small and letting the sub handle all the bass.

a) most speakers really don't do ALL that well with bass below the 50hz point, probably, although there are exceptions. By routing the bass away from the mains, it gives them to a device meant to handle it. Plus, bass below 80hz is "typically" non-directional so should not affect the listening experience.

b) by routing all the bass to a single speaker, you can minimize the possibility of cancellation from multiple sources playing bass notes

c) by freeing up the mains from handling bass chores, they will be able to better handle the upper reachs that the woofer has to handle above 80hz, or whatever the crossover point is.

Of course, all of this varies depending on the specific speakers in question, room acoustics, placement, etc... I believe these are just general guidelines.

 

[John Pine]

Another vote for large, but let you ears make the final call! Regardless of the main capabilities, setting everything for "small" appears to be a "knee jerk" reaction on this forum.

 

[Robert James Clark]

This was also discussed here...

 

[Lee Carbray]

The S38's only extend down to 45Hz, definitely no where near a full range speaker. Set them to small or you are going to lose a lot of low frequency sound. If it was a full range speaker then there may be a debate to set it to one or the other but in this case it should be small all the way or you are throwing away sound.

Natelabo, since when are the s38II's sealed?