surrounds - what frequency range? (1 Viewer)

[ThomasL]

I posted this in the main hardware forum but it probably belongs here and I'm not getting much of a response there
I purchased a pair of Cambridge Soundworks Newton S300s for surrounds. This speaker has a 1 inch tweeter, a 4 inch woofer (both on the front) and 2 2.5 midrange drivers on the sides. It has 3 modes: direct, bipole, dipole. The specs list that the frequency range for direct mode is 80Hz - 22Khz but for dipole/bipole the range is 80Hz to 15Khz. I assume from this that for bipole operation, the tweeter is not used. The manual states that in bipole mode, sound is directional out the front as well as out the sides. Is it possible that it is not using the tweeter at all in this mode and that directional sounds are only handled by the 4 inch woofer? If so, it seems to me that this would limit the frequency range of directional sounds. Does this make sense? Also, does not having "support" up to 20Khz for side surrounds make a big difference? I may end up running these in direct mode anyhow but I'm curious exactly how the bipole mode works.
cheers,
--tom

 

[StevieC]

I too am interested in hearing the replies. It is cool that your speakers have the option to switch to different modes. I have been told not to worry about the specs and just listen and go for what you like.

What about the low end as well ? For bass management, not all processors/reciever are set to cross at the same frequencies, right ? (When setting the speakers to the large vs small setting)

 

[ThomasL]

Steve, my receiver allows for the crossover setting to be set manually. I currently have it set to 100Hz (the lowest option) since the surrounds and center go down to 80Hz and my front bookshelfs go down to 70Hz. But that is also an interesting question. I read that the official Dolby spec on all channels is that they can handle 20Hz to 20Khz - i.e. information encoded for these channels can fall anywhere in that range. If this is true, then I think, unless your receiver supports individual crossovers for each channel, it makes sense to have all speakers handle the same range in the low/bass range. In addition, it seems that all speakers should handle up to 20Khz which was the thrust of my original question regarding the 15Khz spec rating for the dipole/bipole settings on my surround speakers.

cheers,

--tom

 

[ThomasL]

Hi, does anyone else have any thoughts on this subject?
thanks