Running 150 Hz crossover -- any drawbacks?

[pg_rider]

I have Paradigm Studio 10's as my main speakers and a Hsu VTF-3 Mk III. They're quite small and therefore don't put out much bass. I even sometimes think they're a little thin in the lower midrange. To help compensate, I've tried running my Pioneer receiver with a crossover as high as 150 Hz. To be honest it sounds pretty good, but I'm wondering just how "flat" a VTF-3 is up that high, and does it sacrifice any performance at lower frequencies.

Oh, I really haven't had a problem with localizing the sub even with the high crossover. That said, I plan to add a second one later this year to have one in each corner and remove any chance of localizing.

[shadyJ]

The mk3s have been shown to be flat to over 200 hz, here is a FR graph from Ilkka's testing:

[Ryan_Hsu]

Like ShadyJ pointed out the VTF-3 Mk3 is flat to 200 Hz. So with your scenario, if you have smaller main speakers that struggle with higher bass it is best to set the crossover higher.

There are two trade-offs to this approach. The first is that the subwoofer can become localizable, which you haven't been impacted by, possibly because of room acoustics or seating. Second, the subwoofer may struggle with more complex signals containing lower bass and upper bass. With that said, the improvement from stronger upper bass frequencies will probably be more benificial.

[Dr_Hsu]

Correction - the subwoofer would not struggle with more complex signals. When you have strong signals above the normal 80 Hz crossover, the available amplifier power for the lower bass will be reduced since the subwoofer amplifier will be amplifying the signals between 80 and 150 Hz as well. On the plus side, your Pioneer receiver's headroom will increase. It no longer need to reproduce frequencies between 80 and 150 Hz. Additionally your Studio 10s will have lower distortion as well. All in all, if you have no localization issues at the higher crossover point, do it.