mstenzel

I have a Sony HT-DDW 840 (HT in a box).

1. Does a subwoofer have to be on the floor? If I put it in my armoire, will it rattle it like crazy? (We're doing an addition and I haven't set up my system yet in case anyone was wondering why I just don't do it myself).

2. The speakers included in my HTIB are mostly tweeter since the sub handles the bass. I have 4 higher quality full range BIC speakers (probably 5.25" woofers).

-Should I use the full range, non-package speakers for my front and surround? If so, do I need the sub?

-If I assign "large" status to the bigger speakers and use them WITH the sub, will the sub put out the same amount of LFE? - or does the sub put out the same amount irrespective of the "small/large" status of the other speakers?


Thanks in advance.

BRAISKI

I have the Sony SA-VE 325 its those small speakers, but with me I did not use the 2 front speakers since they were to small and does not have a woofer in it, I am 2 3way big speakers for my front, the woofer is I think 10" and the mid is 5" and the high is 3" I think anyways the Sub will still work it matches it better, but for your rear suround you don't have to change it, it does not really need a woofer.
The sub preferably placed on the floor so that the LFE can travel better with the armoire, will limit yout LFE and as well as it will shake too much with a rattle sound you don't need
Setting it to "large" on the big speakers will still work with the sub this is just indicates how much power the reciever will provide. This will all work if it is a 5.1
However this will not work on "stereo"

edclem

to answer your questions:
1. No, the sub doesn't absolutely have to be on the floor, although it's highly likely that it will be annoying in your armoire. Also, chances are that it isn't magnetically shielded. If you put it near your television (or other video monitor), it will cause damage. Note that this does not apply to center (or, in many cases left/right main speakers), as they are usually magnetically shielded now. It's usually easiest to put it on the floor unless you have specific reasons why you can't.

2. If you have better speakers, by all means use them. For 5.1 sound you do need to use the sub. The main issue you're likely to notice is that the timbre matching across the front three channels will not be seamless. I.e. when there's a panning effect across the front of the soundstage, there could be a noticeable difference in sound level and possibly quality as the signal goes from L to C to R (or vice versa). Unfortunately, if your front 3 speakers are from different lines, you can't really get around this issue. This is not to say, however, that it's going to be an unacceptable difference. Try it out, and see for yourself.

3. If the other speakers have 5.25" woofers, I probably wouldn't set the receiver to "large" for your front channels. Using the large setting routes less of the low frequency energy to your subwoofer. This also means that your receiver has to provide power for the lower frequency ranges. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It just depends on your speakers and receiver. As a place to start, I'd start with them set to small (for all 4 channels).

cowanrg

there is a wierd misnomer about setting speakers to large...

i have fairly nice fronts and rears (and a nice center too), but i set ALL of them to small. with music they reproduce bass adequately by themselves. why do i set them to small? well, in home theatre, all the speakers are doing a whole lot of work. and the amp/receiver is trying to do it all, and bass tones are the hardest to do. let your sub handle those, and give more power to what your other speakers do BEST. you will find that overall everything is cleaner and more detailed.

when i first heard of doing this, i was skeptical, but i tried it on our reference system at work ($50K+), and it sounded SO much better with the speakers set to small (even though the mains are $4K EACH, and have 2 8" in them...). they sounded much more detailed.

keep in mind though, your sub will be doing more work... if you arent overly happy with your sub now, it might make it worse. but, if your mains sound bad, you might have to decide which is the lesser of two evils.

audrey

Which setting works best depends on a number of factors; e.g. the slope of the crossovers, the low frequency extension of the mains, the high frequency extension of the sub, the power and quality of the amps, etc.

I’m using Def Tech Procinema 80’s (very small speakers) in my bedroom system and have it crossed over at 60hz. Higher settings produced poor integration with the sub. My advice is to experiment; go w/ what sounds best to you. An SPL meter and a disc w/ frequency sweeps helps too.