Audyssey says HTM-200 is 90 Hz

[M3_Pete]

I have an Onkyo 876 with a 5.1 system. I used Audyssey and used all 8 measuring points around my couch. I'm using 340 classic as the LCR. I 'm using the HTM-200 as surrounds, mounted 6 feet high, about 3 feet above and 9 feet to the side of the listening position. They are mounted upside down (vertical orientation), but I don't see how that's an issue.

When Audyssey went through the "chirps" at the first sampling position to the side of the primary listening area, it increased the volume of the chirps on the HTM-200 twice. And at each subsequent sampling position the HTM-200 chirps were SIGNIFICANTLY louder than the LCR chirps.

At the conclusion, Audyssey says the HTM-200 should be crossed at 90 Hz. But they should be good down to at least 80, the spec sheet shows 74Hz.

Is this due to the off-axis falloff?

I've decided to use 80Hz anyway.

[davef]

I have an Onkyo 876 with a 5.1 system. I used Audyssey and used all 8 measuring points around my couch. I'm using 340 classic as the LCR. I 'm using the HTM-200 as surrounds, mounted 6 feet high, about 3 feet above and 9 feet to the side of the listening position. They are mounted upside down (vertical orientation), but I don't see how that's an issue.

When Audyssey went through the "chirps" at the first sampling position to the side of the primary listening area, it increased the volume of the chirps on the HTM-200 twice. And at each subsequent sampling position the HTM-200 chirps were SIGNIFICANTLY louder than the LCR chirps.

At the conclusion, Audyssey says the HTM-200 should be crossed at 90 Hz. But they should be good down to at least 80, the spec sheet shows 74Hz.

Is this due to the off-axis falloff?

I've decided to use 80Hz anyway.

I am not sure how Audyssey determines what the crossover setting should be (I believe this to be a proprietary algorithm). However, in my experience, it is prone to errors as Audyssey measurements are not time domain based and are thus impacted by various room modes. This is good for flattening out in-room frequency response but Audyssey can not determine, with accuracy, what the actual bass capabilities of a loudspeaker are. To do this would require removing the room response from the measurement and that would require a considerably more advanced measurement system.

Change your speaker location and Audyssey might recommend a different crossover point...

That being said, there is very little difference between 80Hz and 90Hz - you can use either. There is really no possible way to determine which of these crossover points would yield the better overall in-room response without taking advanced room measurements and I am quite confident in stating that you would not hear a difference between the two options.

Hope this helps!

[monomer]

Here is a quicky exerpt from Chris over at Audyssey that might help to explain it...

"The placement of the speakers in the room and their proximity to walls greatly influences their low frequency response. For example, surround speakers hanging on the wall may show a lower roll-off than identical speakers on stands away from walls. The whole point of measuring and not going by the published spec is to find out what each speaker is doing in your room!"

"Audyssey doesn't set crossovers in any product. It finds the low frequency roll off point of your speakers and reports that to the AVR. Every manufacturer uses that information differently. "

[indulger]

When I ran Audyssey, it set my Sierra-1's to cross over @ 40hz and the HTM's to cross @ 80hz. I'm sure everyone's is different just like they said. It all depends on the speaker placement and the room response. However, no one says you have to keep them set at what Audyssey says. It just gets you close and then you can tweak it from there to what sounds best to you. Once set, just sit back and enjoy!!

[DougMac]

I have an Onkyo 876 with a 5.1 system. I used Audyssey and used all 8 measuring points around my couch. I'm using 340 classic as the LCR. I 'm using the HTM-200 as surrounds, mounted 6 feet high, about 3 feet above and 9 feet to the side of the listening position.

I'm sure that the room plus a lot of other factors will come into play, but I have a similar speaker setep: 340 SE's L/C/R, 170's as side surrounds and 200's as back surrounds.

My current HT receiver, an NAD T-762, doesn't have any EQ. That's making me look long and hard at replacing it and right now the Onkyo 808 is my choice.

I was wondering if you had a noticeable improvement in sound after running Audyssey? There are enough compelling reasons to upgrade, such as HDMI, 7.1 (my back surrounds are now dormant, I was future proofing), easier control of components. Improved sound through EQ would be icing on the cake.

[curtis]

Doug,
My Parents just did some remodeling to their house. The biggest change was going from carpeted floors to hardwood.

The have a classic Ascend setup...340's and 170's, and used to use an older HK 525 receiver. The receiver was starting have issues, so we got them a Denon. I don't remember the model, but it was $400 at Best Buy, and has Audessey.

The hardwood floors in the big living room certainly were not acoustically friendly, but Audessey did help....I was impressed. But I have also been in a couple of situations where I didn't like what Audessey did.