Miscellaneous setup questions

[rabbit]

I've been upgrading the speakers around one of our TV setups and am looking for any advice/suggestions.

I've got a HTM200SE in the middle and two CBM170SE in the front. They're about 8 feet apart and all about 5 feet from the viewing area which is a couch. I've got a couple of old Optimus LX-5's for surrounds behind the couch.
Immediately behind the couch I've got a Hsu STF-1 and about two feet behind that is a wall.

I was using a SPL meter to try to even out the volume and have about +5db on the center and +4db on the surrounds using the test tone on the receiver set to the volume that we usually listen to (about 70dB). Does that sound about right? Any suggestions for improving the sound in front? My receiver is pretty old so it doesn't have a lot of adjustments - the crossover is fixed at 90Hz and I've got the crossover on the subwoofer set at 80Hz.

By the way I really like the sound out of the HTM200SE. Dialogue sounds much clearer and understandable compared to what I've been used to. Kudos to Ascend on such a great and inexpensive little box.

I don't really have a good idea about how to set the volume on the subwoofer. The instruction say to adjust it until it "blends in"... but I'm not sure I know what that's supposed to sound like I've just been tweaking the volume control while watching the movies since it's right next to the couch. Any suggestions to figuring out the right volume setting?

[Mag_Neato]

First off, welcome to Ascend, Rabbit!

Second thing: since the receiver is fixed at a 90Hz crossover, and regardless of that fact, turn the crossover on the sub all the way to it's highest setting. If there is a bypass on the sub use that. The receiver is not outputting a full signal below 90hz to the speakers, so by setting the sub at 80hz you are creating a small hole in the response between 80-90hz, theoretically. The sub will not get anything significant over 90hz from the receiver.

As for setting the volume, it is usually tweaked to taste from a reference starting point. Play it by ear, so to speak.

Happy tweaking!

[rabbit]

Thanks for the reply! I turned off the crossover on the subwoofer and there's definitely a difference. It does sound more "full bodied" if that makes any sense.

We're now re-watching the entire pixar collection with the kids as an excuse to keep tweaking

One more question - I have some old mono movies that we've been playing a bit of recently. What's the best way to configure the speakers for that? I've just been setting the receiver to stereo which I'm guessing just sends the same sounds to the left & right front speakers.