# crossover what's best subs or receivers crossover



## I love my sound (May 26, 2012)

My question is what's better for performance the crossover and power from the sub or the receiver's I got the 809 onkyo and aperion spekers with the valodyne dls 10

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## Mike0206 (Jul 14, 2013)

I love my sound said:


> My question is what's better for performance the crossover and power from the sub or the receiver's I got the 809 onkyo and aperion spekers with the valodyne dls 10
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using HT Shack


Typically you should just set the crossover in your receiver at 80hz and your good to go. Of course what aperion speakers you have will possibly make a difference if you are gonna set them as large or small but I would think if your using audyssey, and with your receiver you have that option, then if no individual crossover setting for each speaker is available, set it at 80hz and that should be best. Room layout factors in to though but safe bet is 80hz in your receiver.


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## Mike0206 (Jul 14, 2013)

and to prevent hinderance from the subwoofers crossover you need to set it at its maximum rotation so as to remove it from the circuit. Hope that helps.


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## I love my sound (May 26, 2012)

Thanks for the feed back .but what about power should I use the power of my 809 or the power of my valodyne wen I use my spl meter right now I have my valodyne al the way down and on my onkyo I have it at 6.5 db that's what my spl meter gave me its that the way to go or am I wrong as for the best performance I do got al my aperion 4t at 80 hertz?

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## Mike0206 (Jul 14, 2013)

I love my sound said:


> Thanks for the feed back .but what about power should I use the power of my 809 or the power of my valodyne wen I use my spl meter right now I have my valodyne al the way down and on my onkyo I have it at 6.5 db that's what my spl meter gave me its that the way to go or am I wrong as for the best performance I do got al my aperion 4t at 80 hertz?
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using HT Shack


Your receiver should be between -3.0db and +3.0db on your subwoofer level. You'll have to turn the gain on the sub up a bit so the receiver can be set at those parameters. 6.5db is high on the receiver end so by turning up the gain on the sub it will lower the db level the receiver needs to be at to get the proper reading on your spl meter


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## I love my sound (May 26, 2012)

So its better to let the sub amp do al the job power than the receiver for performance.

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## Mike0206 (Jul 14, 2013)

I love my sound said:


> So its better to let the sub amp do al the job power than the receiver for performance.
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using HT Shack


Essentially your sub does all the work anyways cause its powered. The sub out on your receiver is just for sending the lfe content from the receiver to the sub. Set your sub at like 1/3 volume and using the test tones from your onkyo try to target your desired spl


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## koyaan (Mar 2, 2010)

Don't get all carried away on 80hz being a sacred crossover point, it's merely the level at which most people start to be able to identify the direction from which the sound is comming. If 80hz was always the proper crossover, variable crossover options wouldn't be a feature on better receivers and pre-pros.


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## Mike0206 (Jul 14, 2013)

koyaan said:


> Don't get all carried away on 80hz being a sacred crossover point, it's merely the level at which most people start to be able to identify the direction from which the sound is comming. If 80hz was always the proper crossover, variable crossover options wouldn't be a feature on better receivers and pre-pros.


Very true, hence why it was stated that if his receiver did not have the ability to set crossovers individually for each channel then TYPICALLY, 80hz is, as you stated, a good starting point. My setup has individual settings for each channel and I don't have anything set at 80hz, however, many people without the ability to set crossovers individually do seem to prefer an 80hz crossover point for all channels.


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## musicguy (Nov 28, 2012)

What if your pre amp doesnt have the ability to set a crossover? 

My speakers have a port so i plugged them. Is this a good thing to do? I really dont want to buy an external crossover. I run my sub very low on the crossover settings. Im trying to use REW to set that but still have dips in the 20-20k ranges.

:help:


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## koyaan (Mar 2, 2010)

musicguy said:


> What if your pre amp doesnt have the ability to set a crossover?
> 
> My speakers have a port so i plugged them. Is this a good thing to do? I really dont want to buy an external crossover. I run my sub very low on the crossover settings. Im trying to use REW to set that but still have dips in the 20-20k ranges.
> 
> :help:


Plugging one port in a 2 port subwoofer can sometimes give you more bass extension at the expense of volume. I've never heard of anyone plugging the port in regular speakers. I would expect it would reduce the bass volume.


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## tesseract (Aug 9, 2010)

musicguy said:


> What if your pre amp doesnt have the ability to set a crossover?


You mean it's fixed, as in 80 Hz is all that is offered, or there is no crossover at all? 



> My speakers have a port so i plugged them. Is this a good thing to do? I really dont want to buy an external crossover. I run my sub very low on the crossover settings. Im trying to use REW to set that but still have dips in the 20-20k ranges.
> 
> :help:


My next serious pair of 2 channel only speakers will most likely be a sealed design.

If you amp has no crossover at all, plugging the port and crossing the sub in low works very well. I've been doing this for many years, with several different 2 channel systems in several different rooms. I still own several pairs of speakers and like to cycle them in and out, plugging most of the ported ones. It helps greatly with subwoofer/bass management integration, giving you a nice 12 dB/octave roll off to work with. 

Many low pass filters built into sub amps are also 12 dB/octave, which will sum nicely with the mains. Those that are third or fourth order (18 or 24 dB/octave) can be compensated for by a continuously variable phase (really, it's a delay) control and room positioning.


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