I don't have the 6800 but I am sure if you run the FL/FR full range, they will get the LFE signal distributed to them. That's been the case for all D+M AVRs since day 1. In some sense, you won't get all of the benefits of using 4 subs because the two "subs" within the FL/FR's locations are fixed, i.e. same as that of the FL/FR towers. Audyssey, or DL will still integrate them with the other two subs, especially of DLBC is used. I would agree ideally it is better to have 4 individual subs so that you can place them in the optimal positions, that is from the low bass standpoint only though.Denon X6800H 4-sub question
If I simply run the FL and FR as ‘full range’, and only utilise 2 of the four .4 outputs on the AVR, does that then limit what I can do with the ‘four’ subwoofers? Do I still get LFE to all 4 subs? Can the X6800H do LFE distribution? With this setup, I suppose that the sub-bass frequencies in the FL and FR program content will no longer be distributed to 4 subs, in which case, the benefits of having 4 subs will not apply to all the bass content in the FL and FR program content? That seems a bit less than ideal to me, don’t you agree?
Alternatively, I could utilise all four of the .4 outputs, by powering the FL and FR active bass drivers from two of the AVR’s subwoofer outputs, and designate their crossover point at 120 Hz. Do you see any big problems with this idea? Does it actually provide any benefits in terms of subwoofer benefits, or flexibility, or utilisation with Audy or Dirac? The only real negative that I thought of, is that I am stuck with the standard AVR crossover slopes at the (120 Hz) XO to subwoofer, whereas using them as a full-range speaker allows me to apply a digital XO and slope of my choice to the next drive unit.
It would then make a difference, but in my opinion, I just can't see much audible difference, assuming you run RC correctly, such as follow instructions to the letter.
I am not sure the second alternative would work (I highly doubt it would) in terms of setting two different crossover to HP the FL/FR's mids/tweeters and LP to the active bass drivers). In the past, ie. before the X3800H through A1H, you can set crossovers on per speaker channel pairs, and center, not per subwoofer as such, but again, with the new 2022-23 models such as the X6800H, you should ask Denon, and Marantz (better ask both as one may give you better and/or quicker response) for a more reliable answer to your specific question. I would imagine the active subs of the FL/FR have their own DSPs, that you could play with, don't they?Can the X6800H handle both of the above alternatives? Any limitations that would apply? If so, are there any other AVP/AVR units (excluding Storm/Trinnov-like budgets) that could do it better?
What if I try to implement a Multi Sub Optimiser setup? Is one of the above configurations better for this? Is the X6800H suitable?
thanks