New member intro and question

bigmike66

Hello, I got into home theater done years ago on a early twenty something year olds budget, and seeing as i rented, couldn't go too big. I bought an onkyo receiver (think ts-xr 500) a smaller 5 speaker set of velodyne surrounds and a polk psw350 sub. I always thought setup sounded good. I am now a home owner, so I want something better, but with all the money I've been dumping into the house, budget is still limited. A good friend has a pair of polk rt 2000p and a pair of ls f/x bi pole/ di pole rears in mint condition he'll sell me for a great price. For center I've found on craigslist a cs350 and a cs400. Which would be a better center? With the subs in the rt2000p's, will my psw350 be enough? And, will my lower end onkyo handle this set up? Thanks in advance. Look forward to learning lots from this site.

Emlyn

I would go with the CS400 to match the main speakers. The subwoofer would be fine but it is of course better to have one that goes lower. I was not happy in the long run with a PSW450 and a pair of RT1000P speakers, but the subwoofer was free and it did the job for a while. Not sure what the crossover settings are on the receiver, but I would run all speakers as small given that the receiver is 55 watts per channel. Keep the volume down until you can get a higher powered receiver. Used receivers are also inexpensive if you stick with something that is a few years old.

bigmike66

Thanks for the advice. The guy I'm getting the 2000p's from swears by his cs350 and says he'll never sell it. What do man by match? They all are black. Also, why would I need to keep volume down with lower power receiver? Wouldn't I need to turn it up more to get same performance?

bigmike66

I meant what do you MEAN by the cs400 would match the mains.

polrbehr

He means that the cs400 would be timbre matched to the mains, that the sound output from the 3 front speakers (L, C, R) should be similar.

As for the volume, keep it below 11 o'clock or about -20db on the dial. Turning it up
to get more volume will likely result in clipping and/or distortion, which can quickly ruin your speakers, receiver, or both. Contrary to popular belief, you are much more likely to damage speakers by under-powering them than by having more than you need. And welcome to the forum, too.

bigmike66

Wow. Interesting stuff. Thanks. Anyone else feel free to chime in. Always like learning new things.

Emlyn

The CS350 was from an earlier line of speakers than the CS400 and RT2000P. The CS350 is definitely larger and I think they used similar drivers so either center channel speaker would work fine. Another match for the RT2000P speakers would be a CS1000P, which is the larger center channel in that generation of speakers. Those would be quite rare though and really aimed at pairing with the RT3000P system. The CS400 would still be my first choice because it is the right match to the mains in that line and easier to place in or on a cabinet.

bigmike66

So, if I understand this correctly, both centers use the same drivers, so both will sound good with the rt2000p's? The 350, is technically a better center? The 400 is more size friendly? Room isn't an issue. I have a shelf the width of my 50" tv to accommodate the center. I think the wider 350 would look better, but my main concern is sound quality. And the 350 is more convenient to go purchase.

pitdogg2

bigmike66 wrote: »

So, if I understand this correctly, both centers use the same drivers,

no the CS350 uses 4 3.5" or 4" drivers with a tweeter in the middle of them. The CS400i uses 2 6.5" drivers with a tweeter in the middle. I have not heard the CS400i but my CS350 is going nowhere. The CS350 is much wider and deeper that the CS400i but the CS400i of course is taller

teekay0007

The CS400i does a fantastic job on center channel duties paired with either Monitor 10Bs or SDA-1Cs as R/L's across your front. I have said trios set up as part of two HT rigs in my house and I'm very happy with the results.

Both the Monitor 10B and the SDA-1C have 6-1/2" drivers, as does the CS400i.

bigmike66

Well, the guy selling the cs400 was being a dink, so I went with the cs350. My next dilemma is, the wife thinks we should put the home theater in the sunroom, due to we spend more time out there and the living room is open to the staircase upstairs to the kids room. Not great for nighttime movies after the little ones go to bed. The sunroom is about 19'wide and 15'deep. Has concrete tile radiant heat floors, a 6' wide fireplace, cathedral tongue and grove knotty pine ceiling, 9 windows all the way around, a sliding patio door and about a 7' wide french door. I'm not thinking it's going to be ideal. To make it worse the fire place and french doors are on the only wall I can put the tv on. Essentially the tv goes between fire place and doors, but my front rt2000p's will have to go in corners. About 19' apart. Is this too far apart? The other big kicker is the front left is going to have to sit on the fireplace ledge. That is about a foot higher and 28" further out than the wall that the tv, center, and right surround will be. Is it even worth it?

tonyb

Too far apart if you ask me, and having one higher than the other is a no starter also. Can you get them in a corner with the TV....maybe get them about 7 feet apart ?

bigmike66

Would love to, but unfortunately impossible. 3 walls of room have windows all the way around. No more than a foot between them. Only other option is t.v. on the mantel over the fireplace but then I'm essentially cutting the room in half and have no were to put center channel. Plus I'd only have a little over 6 feet width total to work with.

polrbehr

In addition to the odd placements you mention, I think you will have a lot of issues trying to tame reflections off of all those solid surfaces - unless you have heavy window treatments that can be adjusted as necessary? Those concrete tile floors could also benefit from area rugs, thicker the better too.

Even without knowing the dimensions of your living room, I will say that's the better option for your setup.

tonyb

bigmike66 wrote: »

Would love to, but unfortunately impossible. 3 walls of room have windows all the way around. No more than a foot between them. Only other option is t.v. on the mantel over the fireplace but then I'm essentially cutting the room in half and have no were to put center channel. Plus I'd only have a little over 6 feet width total to work with.

You don't need a center channel, you can run the system without one and the center voices will come from the front left and right speakers. I dumped mine years ago and don't miss it one bit.

6 feet is better to work with than having them 19 feet apart. Do the windows have any coverings ?

You can also put the screen over the mantel, and maybe 2 bookies as your fronts on stands on the very edges of the fireplace. LSIM 703's in your future ??

bigmike66

Well, in the month since I've posted, I bought a new(used) receiver. I found a denon 3310ci. It's rated at 120 per channel and much newer and more advanced than my old onkyo. I got that with a harmony one remote for 185 bucks. Ive reached an agreement with the wife that if I put it in the sunroom, I get a new tv. Right now all I own are plasmas, horrible glare with all the natural light in that room. So, I've got about 4 feet between the fire place and french doors to keep my stuff. My solution is to "store" all the front stuff there and when I want to watch a movie I'll have to drag the fronts out to ideal listening position. I'll leave the speaker wire with plenty of slack to do so. I plan on putting the center channel on a shelf right below the tv. Below that will be the rt2000p's with a home made rack for components between them. The sub is going to have to go under the rack. Not sure how that will be. I've also decided to upgrade my sub. I'd like to keep it around 500 bucks. I called my local store and my options are definitive technology pro sub 1000 or supercube 2000, svs 1000 ported or sealed , or they have the klipsch r-112sw on sale in my range. What do you guys think?

motorhead43026

Dump the wife.

bigmike66

If she didn't cook, clean, and be a great mom to my kids, I'd already have done it.

bigmike66

Any input on subs?

Upstatemax

There is a lot of love here for SVS, it's for a good reason.

If you can stretch your sub budget a bit, check out their "outlet" and you can probably pick up the SB2000.

codycatalist

SVS

Theya re having black friday sale on the SB12-NSD! $399.99 hop on their site and don't look back.

Upstatemax

This is also one hell of a deal, IMO:

https://www.svsound.com/products/sb12-nsd

bigmike66

I was leaning towards ported as it'll be almost exclusively for movies and casual music. Will I lose allot with the sealed? Also, what's the difference between that and the sb1000? Will the pb2000 be heads and shoulders better than the pb1000? I can always use my old psw350 as a second sub, although I wonder if it would take away from the quality of the svs.

rpf65

SVS is an extremely good product, and very reasonably priced.

If you want a better idea of the sub you need try Merlin, listed on their site. You can also email them, with room dimensions. They respond pretty quickly, and don't try to upsell their products.

If your mostly HT, a ported sub is a better choice for most people. If you put that 350 against the dB 2000, you probably won't even think of trying to use the 350 in your system. You will probably listed for sale within a week.

Check their outlet center for a discount sub. Other companies you may want to consider is Hsu Research, Rythmik Audio, and if you want big, Power Sound Audio. Their are others, but those are probably best bang for your buck subs out there.

Upstatemax

bigmike66 wrote: »

I was leaning towards ported as it'll be almost exclusively for movies and casual music. Will I lose allot with the sealed? Also, what's the difference between that and the sb1000? Will the pb2000 be heads and shoulders better than the pb1000? I can always use my old psw350 as a second sub, although I wonder if it would take away from the quality of the svs.

Personally, I really like sealed subs. They are a lot quicker and better defined.

Ported will give you a deeper curve, but I find them to be sloppy in relation to a good sealed unit.

bigmike66

Doubt that anyone was curious, but I just ordered an svs pb-2000. Found a smoking deal on ebay. Brand new open box display unit. Just under 620 shipped. So the new to me budget theater consists on denon 3310ci receiver, rt2000p fronts, cs350ls center, ls/fx surrounds, and an svs pb2000 sub. Just have to re cover the grills on the towers because my buddy I bought them from has two mastiffs. The grills look like they spent their lives on the set of an adult film studio. Lol. Build my rack and we'll see how it sounds.

[Deleted User]

I almost know how this is going to sound.
GREAT!