Motion 20i speaker settings

[Davet70]

Hi all. I have a couple of questions regarding the setup of my Motion 20i. Speakers. Since this is my first dealing with tower speakers, I'm a bit confused on a couple of settings that are in my amp, a Denon AVR S970H. First I read some web posts and watched a few videos on whether the speakers should be set up as large or small. I encounter both answers and have become a bit confused as to which is a more better selection.
Also if set to small what would be a good crossover frequency to select.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fidji99]

Those suggesting to go for Small and 80Hz were right.

 

[Robert D]

Are you using a subwoofer too? If yes, then definitely set it to 80 hz and small. Does your AVR have Audyssey? If it does, run that and see what settings it chooses. Then you can adjust crossover pts if you want.

ML site says those speakers go down to 46HZ, so if you're just using them and no sub then you probably want them set lower.

 

[Davet70]

Are you using a subwoofer too? If yes, then definitely set it to 80 hz and small. Does your AVR have Audyssey? If it does, run that and see what settings it chooses. Then you can adjust crossover pts if you want.

ML site says those speakers go down to 46HZ, so if you're just using them and no sub then you probably want them set lower.

Thanks. Yes I am using a sub, and I can redo an Audyessy setup. I will give it a run this weekend

 

[Robert D]

Thanks. Yes I am using a sub, and I can redo an Audyessy setup. I will give it a run this weekend

Yeah, run it and take a look. On my setup, Audyssey sets my Prodigy speakers to large and 40 HZ. I change that to small and 60 HZ. it sounds better that way. Just listen to music and try different crossover points on the mains. What sounds best? My strongest bass was at 60 HZ. The Prodigy speakers have 10 inch woofers. When you set the speakers to small, it routes the bass meant for those speakers through the LFE to your sub.My sub's LFE crossover gets set at 100 HZ and I keep that. I can listen to 2 channel music and get lots of bass though the subs that way.
I'm assuming you're using a RCA cable through the LFE output on your receiver to the sub.

 

[Davet70]

Yeah, run it and take a look. On my setup, Audyssey sets my Prodigy speakers to large and 40 HZ. I change that to small and 60 HZ. it sounds better that way. Just listen to music and try different crossover points on the mains. What sounds best? My strongest bass was at 60 HZ. The Prodigy speakers have 10 inch woofers. When you set the speakers to small, it routes the bass meant for those speakers through the LFE to your sub.My sub's LFE crossover gets set at 100 HZ and I keep that. I can listen to 2 channel music and get lots of bass though the subs that way.
I'm assuming you're using a RCA cable through the LFE output on your receiver to the sub.

I ran the Audyssey set up a couple of times and each time it set my Motion speakers to full range. I went in and manually set it to 60 hz and have been running it for a few days. So far they sound pretty good.
Note: the newest version of my Audyssey no longer gives speaker size in large or small. You have options to set the crossovers to either Full range(ie Large) or a specific HZ setting(i.e small). Took me awhile to find this info but March 2023 update did this.

 

[Robert D]

What is the crossover on the sub set to in Audyssey? You should have the knob for the crossover on the sub turned up as high as it goes and let your receiver set that. That's if you're sending the signal to it through the LFE output. Mine's at 100 HZ.
Did you experiment with comparing the 60 Hz setting to 80 Hz on your 20i speakers?

 

[Davet70]

What is the crossover on the sub set to in Audyssey? You should have the knob for the crossover on the sub turned up as high as it goes and let your receiver set that. That's if you're sending the signal to it through the LFE output. Mine's at 100 HZ.
Did you experiment with comparing the 60 Hz setting to 80 Hz on your 20i speakers?

I don't really have a crossover setting on the Acoustimass module. Only a LFE level and a base level. In Audyssey the sub is set at 120 hz.
I have not gone lower than 80 on the speakers but will give it a try.
Setting crossovers is all new to me so this is defiantly a learning experience.

 

[Robert D]

I don't really have a crossover setting on the Acoustimass module. Only a LFE level and a base level. In Audyssey the sub is set at 120 hz.
I have not gone lower than 80 on the speakers but will give it a try.
Setting crossovers is all new to me so this is defiantly a learning experience.

Oh, above you said you set the speakers to a 60 HZ crossover. I think the 80 HZ will probably sound better, but ita hard to say.

 

[Davet70]

I have set the 20i's to 60 HZ and doing some listening. So far i think its more bassey

 

[Robert D]

I have set the 20i's to 60 HZ and doing some listening. So far i think its more bassey

Ok. That can be good or it can be bad. Depends on if there's distortion, and how you like it to sound. Since the woofers are 5.5 inches big, its probably best to have them set to 80 HZ, but its worth trying out. I always test it out with some drum tracks and bass heavy music. Pink FLoyd's the Wall is one I like to use.