Speaker Settings (1 Viewer)

[Keiwana]

I was reading an article,Setting Up a Hometheater on Liquidtheater.com. The author states that when setting speaker size, you should always set the all of the speakers to small unless you have 200 watt seperates. His reasoning was that most receivers are not equiped with the wattage to handle full range floor standing speakers in multichannel setting. As a result the all of bass frequency should be sent to the sub to allow less strain on the receiver, therefore allowing to reciever to give a better sound.

Is this true, or should I set my speaker setting based on their size?

 

[Lew Crippen]

I am not familiar with that article, but although I agree with the recommendation (with plenty of exceptions), I do not agree with the reasoning (at least as I understand the reasoning).

Setting speakers to ‘large’, will result in only the Low Effects Channel (LFE) being sent to the subwoofer. All of the bass that is not LFE will be reproduced in the main speakers. Now while ample power is desirable for reproducing low frequencies there are plenty of other variables as to power requirements. Speaker efficiency is the first that comes to mind. Not all speakers require that same amount of power to reproduce the same sound at the same volume. The size of the room where you have your speakers is another. Large rooms are going to require move power to produce the same volume levels. And how loudly you listen to movies and music is yet another variable. Those that normally listen below reference levels will not require as much power as those who do.

For the author to state that separates (in addition to the 200 watts per) are a requirement smacks of elitism to a reasonably high degree.

In the end, though his advice to set the speakers to small is for the most part, sound and one with which I would agree. Sending the bass below a certain point (say 80hz–100hz) allows even speakers with good, large drivers that are amply powered to reproduce a narrower range of sound than it would otherwise and does not ask the subwoofer to do anything that it is not already doing. For many systems this results in better performance all the way around.
The best way to determine what is best in your case is to experiment, listen, measure and decide for yourself.

 

[Keiwana]

thanks for the information. Lew or anyone else. I have another question. I am considering purchasing 2 pair of the floor standing Athenas (front & rear) that Best Buy sales. I am able to get them for 5o% off of retail as the result of my employee discount. I think these sound great for the money, but center channel fall short of adequate. Should I look at purchasing a center from another manufacture or should I go with the book shelves as my center. They really sound good. I am going to power my system with a Pioneer Elite 45.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I have not heard the Athenas, Keiwana, but trust your instincts (and hearing) if the center speaker does not sound adequate. The center channel is the most important in HT, 5.1 sound as this is where almost all of the dialogue is reproduced. So make sure that you get a good one.

Try to make sure that you get a center speaker that sounds like your other speakers (most importantly the front speakers) because you want sound to sound the same as they pan from side to side (and across the center). This usually means getting speakers from the same model line.

Which sort of puts you up against it with the Athenas. If the bookshelf you mention is from the same model line, it might be worth giving it a try. Listen and if it is OK, then consider that as a possibility.

Would your budget include JBLs? Although I am not a big fan of the speakers myself (I don’t like their looks among other things), they have a very large following and there are very sound reasons why so many people like them. In particular I think that the S-series has good sound.

 

[Keiwana]

Jbl is out of the questions. There center is to harsh or "bright" for me. After listening to demos at meduim to high levels, my hears hurt, and I get a slight head ache. I can listen to paradigm, athena, energy etc. center channel at extremely high levels and I am okay.

 

[Dean-P]

I have the asb-2s as my fronts and the asc-1 (of course as my centre)The centre took a bit of a break-in to get it sounding good. I thought also when I got it that it kinda sounded flat but now it sounds awesome! Probably about 50 hrs or so on it when the break though happened.
I plan on getting the asf-1s this xmas to put as the fronts and firing the asb-2s to the rear.
I listened to the Paradigm and Energy centre with the Energy being only better than the Athena.(it should as the Athena is the younger brother!)
my two cents