Skull

I'm not sure if I should set my speakers to large or small. I have the Bose Acoustimass 6 Series II. According to the manual it said that the left & right front speakers and surround speakers should be set to large while the center speaker set to small. Also it said to have the Subwoofer off. Am I getting the most out of my system by following this instruction or should I switch all speakers to the small setting?

Note: I know Bose speakers are not that great. Read most of the past posts on Bose.

raytseng

I am not sure how bose works, is there another processing module between the receiver and speakers?

Usually, if you do not have a subwoofer, those are the correct settings-it will pass the full signal to the LR and Surround speakers.

If you do have a subwoofer, you can try setting the speakers all to small, and subwoofer to ON, so your sub can handle the lows, and the (small) speakers can handle the mids and highs and not distort the low signals.

The main thing is just experiment and see what setting sounds better to you.


I've actually listened to some Bose systems, unlike a lot of HT forum posters who just follow the bandwagon. The higher end of their product line actually sounds pretty good. The real problem is it costs way too much for what you get. You could get the same results with 1/3 or less of the Bose price..

Sonicflood

Skull:

Just curious, what receiver do you have?

With the Series I or II, the Acoustimass module is non-amplified (passive) so set as per the manual ~or~ set them ALL to large & Subwooofer to NO.

With the AM6 series III, then set them to small and LFE/Sub to yes. This is because the Acoustimass module is powered (not passive like the series I & II).

NOTE: under no circumstances should you connect the cubes directly to the receiver! There is protection circuitry built into the Acoustimass module and an internal crossover specifically for the cubes.

Good luck & don't mind the Bose-bashers!

Sonicflood

Skull

I have a Harman Kardon AVR-325 receiver.

What's the difference between passive and non-passive? Another thing, I'm interested in purchasing 2 more speakers to make my system 7.1 surround. Should I stick w/Bose speakers so that all my speakers are Bose or should I get different ones?

Thanks raytseng and Sonicflood for your help.

bfrank

If you speakers connect to the sub then set all to large. Because the filtering to the speakers is done in the sub. I you set to small you will lose some bass.

Sonicflood

Passive = Non self amplified bass (what you have)
Non Passive (Amplified) = Self amplified bass

You could add a pair of the Bose 161's ~or~ the Acoustimass 3 for the rear surround in your 7.1 setup. Both are voice matched (same sound quality) as your Acoustimass 6 system that you currently have. 161's are $158.98/pr with mounting brackets, Acoustimass 3 is $299.98 for two cubes and passive bass module.

Sonicflood

Skull

Thanks again Sonicflood and bfrank .