The Tower Discussion Thread!

[natetg57]

Hello, this is my first post, although I've been lurking/reading for a while! I see many very experienced people here, and would love to get recommendations.

I've ordered a pair of Sierra Towers with RAAL. I will be driving these, along with a Horizon center (dome tweeter, not RAAL) with a Denon AVR-X6700H. I have a 5.2 configuration with really old Energy rear surrounds, and the subs are a new SVS SB-3000 and an old Energy e:XL-S10. So ya, one sealed and one ported sub, which isn't ideal...

This Denon has Audyssey MultEQ XT32, and I have the MultEQ app on an iPad for additional tailoring.

The system will be used ~70% for movies, 30% for music.

So, I have two questions (for now). First, how to handle bass management?

That is, how best to configure the crossover from the Towers to the subs? The Denon gives me a few options. I could configure the Towers as "small", and direct the bass energy to the subs below some particular frequency. SVS recommends a 60 Hz crossover for these Towers, which is bit lower than the 80 Hz I've seen recommended here.

Or I could tell the Denon to send all frequencies to the Towers, and also send frequencies below the low-bass filter frequency to the subs.

Last, I could forego use of the subs and send all frequencies to the Towers.

I'd suggest not using the Energy sub. If the two subs aren't properly set up, the ported sub might have a negative effect on the overall bass.
Set the towers as small and start with an 80hz crossover. It would be easy to switch to 60hz and see which one works better in your rooms and to your ears.

Regarding the Horizon, the NRT tweeter should be ok but certainly the Raal would be preferable. I think another sub or two Rythmik's would be more of a priority as far as upgrades