Anyone know where the crossovers are between the 6" drivers and the radiators? I was curious how much I am cutting off from the radiators whenever I cross my sub into the mix (usually @ 60, but sometimes at 80). After running a sine wave sound at 50hz, I was surprised by how full and loud the T 5's where compared to my sub (an SVS sb12)--they were almost indistinguishable (I'm not sure which I prefer). Just curious.

Hi,

Actually not a crossover, the passive radiators are "tuned" as part of the system and become fairly active around 60 Hz or so and then their output goes up substantially, eventually creating the majority of the energy from the speaker at the lowest frequencies. Using an 80 Hz crossover will still result in significant output from the radiators at frequencies between 40 and 80 Hz. Any yes, the Triton Five is absolutely a full-range speaker on its own. Advantage of adding the sub is typically not much more extension but an improvement in dynamic range and playing ceiling (by eliminating the lower frequencies from the Tritons).

Thanks for the answer! So, if I set my crossover on the processor at 80, but the radiator still outputs sound between 40-80ish, is there double bass occurring (i.e., sound from the radiator and sound from the subwoofer)? I have heard people recommend bookshelf speakers instead of towers before because the sub would take over the lower range that the towers would do the work. But from my limited experience, it still sounds fuller when I compare the tower to a bookshelf with the same cross (even if theoretically the crossover should eliminate the lower frequencies to the the tower). I'm not quite sure what you mean by playing ceiling (though I'm pretty sure I understand dynamic range--something like the volume being the same/similar throughout the frequency range).

My pleasure, but I gave you a quick answer that assumed some basic technical understanding of the concepts. Your response indicates that was a mistake, my bad. Pretty much everything you said in response is incorrect/misinformed (no offense, please). So, rather than try to explain it all in detail, could you tell me exactly what your question is in non-technical terms? Maybe than I can give you a non-technical answer that will get you the information you need.

No offense taken! In my original post, I was wanting to understand conceptually at what range the radiators were acting--this was more of a curiosity to me, because I would like to know what I'm hearing (and I wanted to know in essence when the radiators become useless when I use a sub that comes in at such-and-such crossover).

In your answer, you stated that using a crossover at 80, the radiators would still result in significant output between 40-80 (which surprised me a little). That made me think that the radiators were still outputting a lot of sound below 80, even if I set my sub to come in at an 80 crossover (from my bass management system). I think I misunderstood what you meant when you spoke of using a crossover at 80.

I'll try to describe what led me to the question so you get an idea behind my motivation in asking it (besides the simple desire to learn some stuff--even if technical, I'm game). Before I bought my T 5's, I had budget towers for several years (pioneers). What surprised me about the T 5's more than anything was how they dominated my pioneers' bass, even though I used the same subwoofer and set my crossover to 80. So, what was doing the work in the Triton 5's? What in the T5's outperformed them in that frequency region? It couldn't be whatever was going on below 80, because that would be my subwoofer (or so I assume). I assumed it was the radiators emanating sound just right above wherever my subwoofer came in (i.e. 80), but I wasn't sure if it was the 6" drivers (or a combo of the radiators/drivers). If the radiators aren't really audible at, say, 85, then it wouldn't be the radiators that added that bass (when my crossover was set at 80), so then it would be the 6" drivers?

Besides liking to know, generally, what's going on with the sound, I'd like to know why if I compare my Aon 3's with my Triton 5's with a sub at the same crossover, the Triton 5's will still sound fuller in the lower region (and what frequency range that's occuring--I'm assuming it would have to be above 80 if my sub is set at 80). I'm just wanting to know what I'm hearing and what is doing what in the speaker.

Thanks for that - let me do my best to explain a bit further, addressing your questions as they came up.

Setting an 80Hz crossover in your bass management settings means the signal is -3dB at 80Hz and falls off at -18dB/octave, so an 80Hx crossover has little effect at 80Hz, quite a bit at 40 Hz, and a lot at 20 Hz. The passive radiators begin to be a significant part of the speakers' bass output at around 80 Hz, with the passive radiators providing virtually all of the audible output below 40 Hz.

The Triton Five is just a very well designed full-range speaker system with a wide and flat response, how it gets there is unimportant in any decisions regarding setup and use. The Triton Fives simply sound much better than those Pioneer speakers, and that's what you are hearing.

Although different, there should be a combination of Aon 3 + (a good) sub that pretty much equals the tonal balance of the Triton Fives + sub, with the proper different crossover settings and level matchings.

Hope this helps.