Using the mic to setup up speakers(Large or small)

[ozzman]

I could never understand why my Yamaha Rx-v3800 (when setting up with mic) makes my center,fronts and rears large.

i know other recievers do this.If someone did`t know any better they would normally use the mic and leave it at the setting the reciever made. now i know all about the small ,large discussion.

Do we all know more then Yamaha,Denon,Pioneer,Are those company`s missing something or are we.
If my Dad had my reciever Pretty much all his speakers would be large Because thats what his reciever says to leave it at.Does anyone see my point

[David Susilo]

no I don't see your point because without knowing what your speakers are, without knowing your speakers' true frequency response are, nobody can see your point.

[Uber12]

If I'm understranding correctly, I think the point he's trying to make is that the typical recommendation is to set speakers to small if you have a subwoofer so that all of the low bass goes exclusively to the sub. Even if you have relatively large speakers, very few speakers have the same low frequency ability that a sub does. Once you set speakers to "Large", my understanding is that the low frequency effects no longer go to your sub, or they might possibly go to both the sub and the speakers. Since power from the receiver is limited, you are better off letting the sub handle the low stuff with it's own internal power supply, which leaves more power for your other speakers to do the higher frequency stuff that they do well. Some people consider the large/small designation to be unneccesary and based on what I know of the subject, I tend to agree.

These auto-setup type systems with the microphone will designate speakers as large or small depending on the frequency that your speakers can handle, but just because your speakers can do it doesn't mean that they do it well.

[57]

This is exactly why it's important to understand how things work and not simply to "believe" the setup that an auto-setup does for you. One should always look at the auto-setup configuration after it's done and see if you "agree" with what it's done.

These AVR auto-setup programmes make all kinds of "mistakes", but I guess for people who don't take the time to understand their systems, or who don't understand how these things work, or who don't wish to pay someone for a proper setup, it's usually better than nothing, since it (usually) sets the speaker volumes and distances correctly.

Here's an excellent (although older) thread on the "large/small/sub" discussion.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=12585

[David Susilo]

as far as I know, "large" is considered when the speakers can produce frequencies below 80 Hz.

[ozzman]

57,I think you got what iam saying.

There is alot of people that put trust in there recievers setup configuration(with mic) Sure its up to us to change it but most consumers don't belong to an audio forum to help with the small ,large and crossover thing.

So they leave what ever set up the reciever has decided

David Susilo, Let me give you a fact.For example my paradigm cc-270 (center) is record and spec ed at 70Hz.The reciever makes it large(every time i use the mic)?

This doesn't make sense to me but i know better and change it to small. my point is what about the consumer that doesn't know(and there's a lot of them).
Iam talking about the consumer that puts trust in there $1600 receiver.

Do you understand now what iam trying to say.Does anyone here after useing there mic have to go in to there reciever setting and change any speakers that were set to large and make them small.
Or better yet when change your large speaker to small,shake your head and wonder why your reciever made a set of speakers large when you knew for a fact they were small?

David are you saying if your speakers go lower then 80HZ then your reciever automatically makes them large?Is this a universal thing?does every reciever that uses a mic to set speaker configuration uses this "Rule Of Thumb"?

If this is true then This would make a lot of sense . With the norm being 80HZ crossover to sub ,THX certified
This has been a question that i always wanted answered for a little while(What makes a reciever choose large in setup?).
The 80hz thing does answer my question and makes the most sense (But is it fact?)

Yamaha RX-v3800 Samsung 50"450 plasma,Samsung 1400(B-R),Paradigm cc-270 ,Mirage m-5si(F),Psb 800i(R),Paradigm adp-170(BS),Paradigm Dsp-3100

[Uber12]

The odd thing my receiver did during the Audyssey setup was that it set my main seakers to small (correctly), but with a crossover of 40Hz, which seems too low. I increased the crossover to 60Hz and may also try 80Hz to see which produces a better overall sound.

[ozzman]

With the subwoofer crossover i always play with 60-80hz

[David Susilo]

Originally Posted by ozzman

David are you saying if your speakers go lower then 80HZ then your reciever automatically makes them large?Is this a universal thing?does every reciever that uses a mic to set speaker configuration uses this "Rule Of Thumb"?

I don't know whether this is 100% the same across the board but on the Pioneer 45TX, 59TX, SC05, Yamaha RX-Z11, Yamaha RXV-863, that seems to be the case when MCACC/YPAO using my PSB Image 300 speakers (bookshelf with rated freq response to as low as 50 Hz)