kef 3005 Crossover ? what to do and what to believe ?

[admin_exported]

hello,

I bought two months ago the kef 3005 se system package. It is combined to the 706 onkyo av receiver.

I want to know what is exaclty the recommended crossover settings for this system (sub AND stas).

Everybody has different opinion. The kef sub manual tells that it is recommended to put the sub xover to 120hz.

But what about the sattelites ? 150?120? 100? I read in some forums that below 100hz you ask too much and could damage the satelittes. i wrote a letter twice to kef support but no answer.

Kef UK recommend 80hz for the sub (yes but, once again what about the satellites). Why 80hz while their manual tells 120 ?

http://community.whathifi.com/forums/t/18101.aspx

I don't wanna break my system.

So i'm asking WHF, could you please help me with that, and for the future, it would be nice to have your xover settings in your reviews.

best regards

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

As a start I would try setting your speakers at 100 and your sub at 120hz that way bass sould go to your sub before damaging your speakers. there is a sound test on the THX optimiser found on alot of pixar or star wars disks which will help you further

 

[Frank Harvey]

For 'normal' volumes', start with about 90Hz and work up. If you want to drive them hard, you'll need to look at setting it near to 130Hz, maybe even 150. For most people, 100Hz is about right - works fine in our dem room, and we normally drive them harder than the average person would at home 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Thx for the answer. I really like to put the volume high.

 

[Anonymous]

Any recommendation from WHF technicians ?

 

[Anonymous]

I've spoken to Kef over the phone about this, and they recommend setting the crossover between 80 and 90 Hz, depending on what you prefer. The 120 Hz in the (admittedly useless) manual is just a broad, rough recommendation, but in reality far too high as you are then asking the sub to handle midrange frequencies which is not ideal. The satellites are more than capable of handling midrange to low (ish) frequencies. In your amp settings, you should set the sub to 120Hz - this isn't a crossover setting, but a 'frequency allocation' setting for the sub. Hope that helps.

 

[Andrew Everard]

I'd agree with the Frank Harvey suggestion of 100Hz for the crossover point on the speakers, and I'd set the receiver's LPF of LFE - which is the upper roll-off of the subwoofer - to 120Hz. Set the crossover dial on the sub itself to its maximum setting, which is 140Hz, IIRC.

 

[Hems]

I was just looking the bottom of the sub and there isn't a crossover dial.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had mine set on 120Hz since I got them almost a year ago, mainly because that's what KEF seemed to indicate in the manual.

After reading this last night I tweaked the cross over in my Yamaha's menu to 100Hz and left the only other option "LFE/ Bass Out" available on the Yamaha set to "Subwoofer" rather than "front" or "both".

I had to readjust the level on the sub a bit compared to what I had, but I must say its made a major improvement overall now. The sound is much fuller and I'm impressed. Cheers for that Gents - much appreciated.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Hems:I was just looking the bottom of the sub and there isn't a crossover dial.

Indeed - my mistake - confusing the HTB2 sub with the Kube versions used in lesser packages. Ignore that bit of my advice!