Home Theater/Game Room Thread

forin_sl said:

Typing from the iPhone so I will make this quick, will post more detail later.


Set ALL speakers to small ( allows the subwoofer to take over )

Crossover = frequency that the speaker stops and the subwoofer starts. 80hz crossover means at 80hz the speaker stops playing and the subwoofer begins. Will explain more later.

Set PS4 to PCM (LPCM if the option is available). This sends the raw uncompressed digital data to the receiver and it can do the decoding.

YPAO -I have never used but it should adjust for distance (phase) and level (dB). Unless you have a way to measure the volume (spl) or phase of each speaker I would just use what settings it set them too. Every time you run the program it starts from scratch so running it multiple times won't cause a problem.

Click to expand...

forin_sl said:

I cannot seem to find much on the way of frequency response curves for the Klipsch Quintent V. By looking at them I would set the crossover no lower than 120Hz. Those drivers look to be no larger than 4 inches, maybe 3.5 inches. They will have a lot of problems playing lower than 120hz, I'd let the subwoofer handle everything below that.

Distance and crossover are very much related and unless you have a way to measure the speakers and subwoofer you are just shooting in the dark. If anyone is interested wants an affordable way to measure their sound system purchase this microphone,Acoustic Measurement Tools : UMIK-1Then go and downloaded Room EQ Wizard,REW - Room EQ Wizard Room Acoustics Software

A crossover is a filter used to limit the audio spectrum of a speaker or driver. I would read the wiki article here, it has some decent pictures to help one get an understanding.Audio crossover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Different drivers are more efficient at various parts of the audible spectrum crossovers are used to combine different drivers in a speaker to make sound over a wider frequency band. Subwoofers are difficult to work with due to small room acoustics. Their waveforms are large enough to interact with the room causing many peaks and nulls to be present. This can make properly setting subwoofers difficult. You can look at them as an extension of the room and speaker but the rules of small room acoustics make setting them up properly unique for each room and equipment, so i cannot just tell someone what is best. Small room acoustics are considered rooms under 15,000 cubic feet, so any room in any home, especially a living room or HT room fall under the category of small room acoustics. In such you need to always set your speakers to small no matter how big they are. Getting the low frequency to play right in small rooms requires a good bit of effort. Without measuring gear your really shooting blind. Saying that, most room correction software do an adequate job of setting distance but a poor job of setting crossovers.

Distance is a tricky thing to explain. The distance setting in a receiver or pre-amp is the Phase control of the speaker. Phase is hard to explain but in a rough definition it is the timing of the waveforms. When more than one wave meets they do different things according to when they meet each other. Once the waveform propagates from the speakers you want them to arrive to your ears at the same time (this is called in Phase). If they do not arrive at the same time then they can cancel each other out. These cancellations (nulls) can cover a decent chunk of the audio spectrum. This is very important for crossover settings in subwoofers, because the lower the frequency the longer the wave is and the larger the null at the crossover will be. The proper way to setup distance in a multichannel home theater without room correction is a long process.

If you have room correction such as Audyssey, YPAO, MCACC, DIRAC allow the software to set the distance. If you are curious to how to do it manually read on.

1. Place speakers and subs and measure them with a microphone at your listening spot.
2. Move the subwoofer around the room and measure only it ( not the speakers) until its measurement is as flat as possible ( this is very difficult for one subwoofer), you might even need to move your listening spot back or forward a bit as well, even a few inches can make a difference.
3. Measure the center channel + subwoofer. You will likely see a null in the frequency response centered at the crossover frequency. Now change the Subwoofers distance in the receiver's settings (not the center channel) until you see a an improvement in the null and keep changing and measuring until its as good as you can get it.
4. Measure each of the other speakers alone with the subwoofer and do the same thing except you will need to change the distance of each speaker not the subwoofer ( subwoofer has been time aligned with the center channel)

Hopefully my descrition of the process will help others understand what distance and crossover are.

Click to expand...

forin_sl said:

I cannot seem to find much on the way of frequency response curves for the Klipsch Quintent V. By looking at them I would set the crossover no lower than 120Hz. Those drivers look to be no larger than 4 inches, maybe 3.5 inches. They will have a lot of problems playing lower than 120hz, I'd let the subwoofer handle everything below that.

Distance and crossover are very much related and unless you have a way to measure the speakers and subwoofer you are just shooting in the dark. If anyone is interested wants an affordable way to measure their sound system purchase this microphone,Acoustic Measurement Tools : UMIK-1Then go and downloaded Room EQ Wizard,REW - Room EQ Wizard Room Acoustics Software

A crossover is a filter used to limit the audio spectrum of a speaker or driver. I would read the wiki article here, it has some decent pictures to help one get an understanding.Audio crossover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Different drivers are more efficient at various parts of the audible spectrum crossovers are used to combine different drivers in a speaker to make sound over a wider frequency band. Subwoofers are difficult to work with due to small room acoustics. Their waveforms are large enough to interact with the room causing many peaks and nulls to be present. This can make properly setting subwoofers difficult. You can look at them as an extension of the room and speaker but the rules of small room acoustics make setting them up properly unique for each room and equipment, so i cannot just tell someone what is best. Small room acoustics are considered rooms under 15,000 cubic feet, so any room in any home, especially a living room or HT room fall under the category of small room acoustics. In such you need to always set your speakers to small no matter how big they are. Getting the low frequency to play right in small rooms requires a good bit of effort. Without measuring gear your really shooting blind. Saying that, most room correction software do an adequate job of setting distance but a poor job of setting crossovers.

Distance is a tricky thing to explain. The distance setting in a receiver or pre-amp is the Phase control of the speaker. Phase is hard to explain but in a rough definition it is the timing of the waveforms. When more than one wave meets they do different things according to when they meet each other. Once the waveform propagates from the speakers you want them to arrive to your ears at the same time (this is called in Phase). If they do not arrive at the same time then they can cancel each other out. These cancellations (nulls) can cover a decent chunk of the audio spectrum. This is very important for crossover settings in subwoofers, because the lower the frequency the longer the wave is and the larger the null at the crossover will be. The proper way to setup distance in a multichannel home theater without room correction is a long process.

If you have room correction such as Audyssey, YPAO, MCACC, DIRAC allow the software to set the distance. If you are curious to how to do it manually read on.

1. Place speakers and subs and measure them with a microphone at your listening spot.
2. Move the subwoofer around the room and measure only it ( not the speakers) until its measurement is as flat as possible ( this is very difficult for one subwoofer), you might even need to move your listening spot back or forward a bit as well, even a few inches can make a difference.
3. Measure the center channel + subwoofer. You will likely see a null in the frequency response centered at the crossover frequency. Now change the Subwoofers distance in the receiver's settings (not the center channel) until you see a an improvement in the null and keep changing and measuring until its as good as you can get it.
4. Measure each of the other speakers alone with the subwoofer and do the same thing except you will need to change the distance of each speaker not the subwoofer ( subwoofer has been time aligned with the center channel)

Hopefully my descrition of the process will help others understand what distance and crossover are.

Click to expand...