Following on from a previous thread on crossovers, what’s your opinion on the use of lowpass filers? Do they help or detract?
It seems that the lowpass filter for the lfe channel filters out and discard any material above the set frequency. So if you set it to 80hz you will lose anything in the recording sent to the LFE (.1 channel) above this frequency. As far as I can tell it is not redirected.
It is interesting as it only effects the LFE channel and not re-directed bass from satellites, so it implies that there is a valid use for this. But (big BUT), information above the cut off will be completely lost.
There seems to be two schools of thought:
1) Set it to 80hz (or other depending upon room acoustics). Sounds above this point are easy to localized in the room, so your sub may become a point source IF the sound mix contains info above 80hz. It is considered that if there is sound above this point then it is a mistake on behalf of the sound mixer and therefore should be discarded.
2) Set it to 120hz. If there is bass there above 80hz then it is intentional and there for a reason.
Does anyone know of any films that are good testers to hear the difference? If the first school of thought is correct then there shouldn’t be many as film shouldn’t be mixed like this to begin with.
What’s your take?
I like the idea of ensuring the sub is not easy to localize as well as reducing its load, but I don’t like the idea of throwing away information that was put their intentionally by the sound designer. On the other hand the fact that so many AV receivers have a lowpass filter option shows that many AV technicians believe it’s an important part of the setup.
I’d love your opinions, cos I’m going round in circles on this...it’ll be easier if I knew which films were mixed this way so I could do A-B comparisons.
It seems that the lowpass filter for the lfe channel filters out and discard any material above the set frequency. So if you set it to 80hz you will lose anything in the recording sent to the LFE (.1 channel) above this frequency. As far as I can tell it is not redirected.
It is interesting as it only effects the LFE channel and not re-directed bass from satellites, so it implies that there is a valid use for this. But (big BUT), information above the cut off will be completely lost.
There seems to be two schools of thought:
1) Set it to 80hz (or other depending upon room acoustics). Sounds above this point are easy to localized in the room, so your sub may become a point source IF the sound mix contains info above 80hz. It is considered that if there is sound above this point then it is a mistake on behalf of the sound mixer and therefore should be discarded.
2) Set it to 120hz. If there is bass there above 80hz then it is intentional and there for a reason.
Does anyone know of any films that are good testers to hear the difference? If the first school of thought is correct then there shouldn’t be many as film shouldn’t be mixed like this to begin with.
What’s your take?
I like the idea of ensuring the sub is not easy to localize as well as reducing its load, but I don’t like the idea of throwing away information that was put their intentionally by the sound designer. On the other hand the fact that so many AV receivers have a lowpass filter option shows that many AV technicians believe it’s an important part of the setup.
I’d love your opinions, cos I’m going round in circles on this...it’ll be easier if I knew which films were mixed this way so I could do A-B comparisons.
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