Automatic crossover frequency selection for multichannel home-theater applications

Given a multichannel loudspeaker system, the selection of the crossover frequency between the sub-woofer and the satellite speakers is important for accurate (i.e., distortion-free), reproduction of playback sound. Presently, many home-theater systems have selectable crossover frequencies which are either set by the consumer through listening tests. Alternatively, if the loudspeakers are industry certified, the crossover frequency is set at 80 Hz. A desirable feature is that, besides distortion-free sound output from the individual subwoofer and the satellite speakers, the combined sub-woofer and satellite room acoustical response should exhibit negligible variations around the selected crossover frequency. In this paper, we present an automatic crossover frequency selection algorithm based on an objective measure (viz., the spectral deviation measure) for multichannel home-theater applications that allows better control of the combined subwoofer-satellite response, thereby significantly improving audio quality.