Q. What's the deal with the "LFE" setting in the Advanced Crossover menu? For example, my speakers were set to a 120Hz crossover and the LFE crossover is 80Hz, does that mean I am going to miss some content between 80 and 120Hz??
A. The first thing to understand is that the LFE setting in the crossover menu is NOT a crossover!! For some reason, receiver manufacturers stuck this option in the crossover menu, and it is a huge source of confusion for many users.
A "crossover", by definition, involves two speakers -- the frequencies above a certain "crossover" point are given to the satellite speakers, the frequencies below the crossover are sent to the dedicated subwoofer. The "LFE" setting, however, is not a crossover, it is simply a low-pass filter (LPF) on the LFE channel of a surround mix. All it does is put an upper-limit on the LFE channel, and it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the crossovers and "bass management" taking place in the receiver.
It is important to understand that the “LFE” is not the same thing as the “bass” channel. Many people are concerned that they will “lose” bass if there is a mismatch between the LFE setting and the crossovers. However, again, this LFE setting has absolutely nothing to do with the redirected bass from the other speakers. The LFE channel is a totally separate channel and contains “supplementary” bass effects.
The LFE setting should be turned to 120Hz and left there, regardless of any of your other speaker settings. This is the correct setting and is recommmended specifically in the Audyssey setup guide. So set it to 120Hz and forget it!!