Large vs. Small and Could I...... Rotel- RSP1066 (1 Viewer)

[scott cerv]

Lets say I get some full range towers for the front and sep sub for movies. I'm looking into the Rotel RSP-1066 and it seems to me that it has a crossover from 40Hz to ?? at 10dB steps. If I crossed it over at 40 for 2 channel CD w/ digi in, would this also be alright for DVD source?? I don't want a ton of bass for 2 channel, but don't want to go through the menu all the time either to switch back and forth between on and off for the sub. Thoughts???? I guess I could turn the sub level down on that input as well. Anybody use this unit????

SC

 

[Harold_C]

There seems to be a big misconception that you would somehow need a "different" amount of bass for movies and music. That is simply not true.

In a properly calibrated system, the level of the subwoofer matches the level of the other speakers. Anything you play on that properly calibrated system will then have the proper amount of subwoofer output. It doesn't matter if it's music or movies.

This seemingly widespread urge to have some different configuration for stereo music listening and movie playback doesn't make sense to me. It seems that it is some vestigal holdover from the "straight-wire with gain" audiophile days. Unfortunately, in this age of digitally compressed recordings and DSP processing, that notion is somewhat antiquated. Frankly, if "straight wire with gain" is the goal, then Dolby Digital processors probably aren't for you.

If you are planning the future purchase of surround sound components, the clear strategy is:

a) all five main speakers as closely matched as possible

b) all five main speakers set to SMALL so that they operate as high-pass channels maximizing the benefits of bi-amping

c) a crossover somethere between 80 Hz and 120 Hz depending on the capabilities of your speakers

d) a quality subwoofer

This strategy does not rule out the purchase of "tower" front speakers if you prefer. But, purchasing tower speakers doesn't change the basic system configuration and it is not necessary in a properly configured 5.1 channel system.

Get the system right and there will be not need to worry about adjusting subwoofer levels for various types of sources.