# My speakers large or small??



## Bluedoggy (Feb 8, 2013)

I'm just in the process of calibrating my speakers with Audessy mic which is connected to my Onkyo receiver. I have B&W DS6 rears and B&W 704 fronts. Are these speakers set as large or small when doing the automatic setup?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Well the 704s are good solid speakers and can be set to large however depending on what model receiver and what sub your using It would probably be better to set it to small so the amps in the receiver wont be overloaded and just let the sub do the job it was meant to do.


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## Bluedoggy (Feb 8, 2013)

Thank you for your help
My receiver is a Onkyo TX-SR608 and my Sub is a B&W ASW 650. Hope this helps and thanks again!


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Your welcome. Deffinatly set them to small, The sub will do just fine handling the lows.


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## Bluedoggy (Feb 8, 2013)

I don't understand the theory? Why small? They look sort of big compared to my old speakers that where B&W M-1's. They were tiny! What would happen if they where set to big - just curious....


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The issue is not the speakers themselves its the receivers amps, The receiver is trully rated to output about 85watts per channel and when driving all the channels the power supply is just not big enough to power all the amps to their full rated output. This will cause distortion when your running them full range or "large" by sending the lows to the sub your releasing alot of what the receiver has to send to the speakers.


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## Bluedoggy (Feb 8, 2013)

tonyvdb said:


> The issue is not the speakers themselves its the receivers amps, The receiver is trully rated to output about 85watts per channel and when driving all the channels the power supply is just not big enough to power all the amps to their full rated output. This will cause distortion when your running them full range or "large" by sending the lows to the sub your releasing alot of what the receiver has to send to the speakers.


I now understand. Thanks


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## bkeeler10 (Mar 26, 2008)

Bluedoggy said:


> I don't understand the theory? Why small? They look sort of big compared to my old speakers that where B&W M-1's. They were tiny! What would happen if they where set to big - just curious....


In this case the theory and reasoning are obscured by the naming convention. IMO receiver manufacturers should ditch the small/large designation as it is confusing and often leads to people setting things up in a way that is less than ideal.

Think of it this way: If you set your front speakers to small in the receiver, the receiver will implement a crossover, sending all the bass frequencies below the crossover intended for those speakers to the subwoofer, and all frequencies above the crossover to the speakers themselves. OTOH, if you set those speakers to large in the receiver, those speakers will play everything intended for them, all the way down to 20 Hz and below. So really, "small" could be replaced with "bass-managed" and large could be replaced with "no bass management" or "full-range."

There are very few speakers out there that are as capable as a well-matched subwoofer in the very low frequencies. This is one reason that, in virtually every case, if there is a subwoofer present all other speakers should be set to small and their bass should be sent to the subwoofer. It doesn't matter how "big" the speakers are! If you send their bass to the sub, both the speakers and the receiver will have much more headroom and be able to play louder overall. And, you'll get the additional impact that a sub can provide, when the soundtrack calls for it.

This is why small/large is confusing. In any well-matched speaker/subwoofer system, the subwoofer is better equipped to deal with the low frequencies (below 40-80 Hz, depending on the sytem). Therefore, even if the main speakers are 6 feet tall and have a pair of 10" woofers that can play down to 20 Hz, a subwoofer to go with those speakers will play the frequencies below 40-50 Hz better than the main speakers can. Set those "big" speakers to "small" in the receiver, and let the speakers and the subwoofer work in their most effective frequency ranges!

Okay, two rants in one day should be enough :rant:


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

bkeeler10 said:


> In this case the theory and reasoning are obscured by the naming convention. IMO receiver manufacturers should ditch the small/large designation as it is confusing and often leads to people setting things up in a way that is less than ideal.
> 
> Think of it this way: If you set your front speakers to small in the receiver, the receiver will implement a crossover, sending all the bass frequencies below the crossover intended for those speakers to the subwoofer, and all frequencies above the crossover to the speakers themselves. OTOH, if you set those speakers to large in the receiver, those speakers will play everything intended for them, all the way down to 20 Hz and below. So really, "small" could be replaced with "bass-managed" and large could be replaced with "no bass management" or "full-range."
> 
> ...


Well said mate - that naming convention should really go the way of the dodo IMO.


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