New to Polk and New to home audio help!!

124

Comments

  • mrloren
    mrloren Posts: 2,454
    I got two AVR's from A4L, no problems. A couple of coworkers got theirs there too, no problems. guess it's a coin toss though.
    When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
    Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
    Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
    Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
  • halo
    halo Posts: 5,616
    Airplay355 wrote: »
    I also bought two receivers from AC4L and they both had issues. They'll work but there's some sort of issue. One had a surround channel that was broken and the other the display didn't work.

    I've had duds from Ac4L and if it is within the return window, send them back. You'll have to pay shipping to and from an authorized repair facility to have them repaired and it will not guarantee that they'll work as they ought to so better to send them back & start over again. Just my humble opinion.
    Audio: Polk S15 * Polk S35 * Polk S10 * SVS SB-1000 Pro
    HT: Samsung QN90B * Marantz NR1510 * Panasonic DMP-BDT220 * Roku Ultra LT * APC H10
  • wickedg8gt
    wickedg8gt Posts: 52
    F1nut wrote: »
    Did you run the calibration program?

    Yes sir, I did. It's just the 1912 only has 90 watts a channel and I'm just not getting the sound out of these beautiful speakers as I'd like. I have to turn mine up to the -17 and less mark just to hear the sound and bass that I want. When I called Polk, they also recommended at least 120 watts. Plus I also want to upgrade to 4k projector one day. So I'm kinda looking into receivers that can handle 4k and all the newest audio/video functions.
  • wickedg8gt
    wickedg8gt Posts: 52
    halo wrote: »
    Crutchfield is running a sale on Denon AVR's & the AVR-X3300W is a really great deal with room to expand in the future as it features preamp outputs for all channels so you can add additional amplifiers (if needed) down the line.

    You can also check out different AVR's at Accessories4less but I've purchased from them in the past and received a few duds. While they are under warranty, you have to pay to ship the receiver to the authorized repair facility and you get to pay for them to ship it back to you as well.

    I was really considering the 3300 and then as of Thursday I think, Denon released the newest 3400. So I think I'm gonna wait till September or so for the 4400. Supposedly it's going to have 125 watts and all the newest audio/video functions out of the box. And let me add 2 channels for bi amping.
  • wickedg8gt
    wickedg8gt Posts: 52
    With your alls comments on Ac4l, I think I'll stay away. Lol
  • mrloren
    mrloren Posts: 2,454
    wickedg8gt wrote: »
    F1nut wrote: »
    Did you run the calibration program?

    Yes sir, I did. It's just the 1912 only has 90 watts a channel and I'm just not getting the sound out of these beautiful speakers as I'd like. I have to turn mine up to the -17 and less mark just to hear the sound and bass that I want. When I called Polk, they also recommended at least 120 watts. Plus I also want to upgrade to 4k projector one day. So I'm kinda looking into receivers that can handle 4k and all the newest audio/video functions.

    your AVR should power the S60 just fine. Go into Audyssey setup and see if it will show you the EQ graph. If it's dipping the way mine was I found a way to fix it. I put some towels in the power port area of the speakers, Audyssey was picking something up that was not there.

    Run Audyssey again, place the mic in the first listening position then for test #2 only move the mic 6" forward, #3 move the mic back to #1 and 3" higher test #4 move the mic back to #2 but 3" higher. for test #5 & 6 leave the mic 3" higher and 6" to the side of test #1.

    Remove the towels before listening. This worked great for both my setups
    wickedg8gt wrote: »
    With your alls comments on Ac4l, I think I'll stay away. Lol

    Rocking 2 Marantz SR5010 from A4L with no problems. I do agree it is a hit and miss when buying referb.
    When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
    Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
    Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
    Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
  • wickedg8gt
    wickedg8gt Posts: 52
    mrloren wrote: »
    wickedg8gt wrote: »
    F1nut wrote: »
    Did you run the calibration program?

    Yes sir, I did. It's just the 1912 only has 90 watts a channel and I'm just not getting the sound out of these beautiful speakers as I'd like. I have to turn mine up to the -17 and less mark just to hear the sound and bass that I want. When I called Polk, they also recommended at least 120 watts. Plus I also want to upgrade to 4k projector one day. So I'm kinda looking into receivers that can handle 4k and all the newest audio/video functions.

    your AVR should power the S60 just fine. Go into Audyssey setup and see if it will show you the EQ graph. If it's dipping the way mine was I found a way to fix it. I put some towels in the power port area of the speakers, Audyssey was picking something up that was not there.

    Run Audyssey again, place the mic in the first listening position then for test #2 only move the mic 6" forward, #3 move the mic back to #1 and 3" higher test #4 move the mic back to #2 but 3" higher. for test #5 & 6 leave the mic 3" higher and 6" to the side of test #1.

    Remove the towels before listening. This worked great for both my setups
    wickedg8gt wrote: »
    With your alls comments on Ac4l, I think I'll stay away. Lol

    Rocking 2 Marantz SR5010 from A4L with no problems. I do agree it is a hit and miss when buying referb.

    Ok. I'll try that. That's an interesting theory.

    Do you think that will give me more sound out of them without having to turn it up so high?
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    edited July 2017
    wickedg8gt wrote: »
    F1nut wrote: »
    Did you run the calibration program?

    Yes sir, I did. It's just the 1912 only has 90 watts a channel and I'm just not getting the sound out of these beautiful speakers as I'd like. I have to turn mine up to the -17 and less mark just to hear the sound and bass that I want. When I called Polk, they also recommended at least 120 watts. Plus I also want to upgrade to 4k projector one day. So I'm kinda looking into receivers that can handle 4k and all the newest audio/video functions.

    So, what's the problem, -17 is fine. I run my more powerful AVR at -15 pretty much all the time.

    As indicated by mrloren, the calibration program is not infallible and should be only used as a base line, then tweaked by ear.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    wickedg8gt wrote: »
    halo wrote: »
    Crutchfield is running a sale on Denon AVR's & the AVR-X3300W is a really great deal with room to expand in the future as it features preamp outputs for all channels so you can add additional amplifiers (if needed) down the line.

    You can also check out different AVR's at Accessories4less but I've purchased from them in the past and received a few duds. While they are under warranty, you have to pay to ship the receiver to the authorized repair facility and you get to pay for them to ship it back to you as well.

    I was really considering the 3300 and then as of Thursday I think, Denon released the newest 3400. So I think I'm gonna wait till September or so for the 4400. Supposedly it's going to have 125 watts and all the newest audio/video functions out of the box. And let me add 2 channels for bi amping.

    Forget you ever thought about bi-amping because it cannot be done with an AVR. Among other things, bi-amping requires two separate amplifiers, not multiple channels sharing the same power supply.

    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • deronb1
    deronb1 Posts: 5,021
  • Airplay355
    Airplay355 Posts: 4,298
    I don't think AC4L is necessarily sketchy or bad, you just gotta be on top of it. When I bought receiver 1, I didn't have surrounds. When I got surrounds, I was out of the return window and found out there was a crack in the board preventing the surround channel from working. You have to send it to an authorized repair facility and expect 8 weeks for fixing. The 2nd receiver was for my parents. The display issue was intermittent and they didn't bother with it. They eventually got a new receiver and gave me the old one. The issue got worse and the receiver eventually died. If you're on top of everything, you probably won't have a problem and they do offer some great deals.

    If you feel like your receiver is doing something weird, can you try powering everything in direct mode to see if that at least gives you the volume you want? If it still doesn't, then you probably just need an amp. If it does fix things, then I bet it's just some calibration thing.
  • Airplay355
    Airplay355 Posts: 4,298
    Also, -17 doesn't seem so bad. I bumped my mains and surrounds +6db and my center +3. The sub is at -6db. I still turn things up to -23 to -20.
  • wickedg8gt
    wickedg8gt Posts: 52
    Hmm. Ok. The only reason I thought -17 was getting to much, is because Polk told me that most receivers, once it gets out of negative and hits 0, that's reference point. Don't go into the positive and should not turn receiver up higher than that. If it needs to be higher, then I needed a new receiver with more watts to push the speakers. Then it will be louder at a lower decibel/lower volume setting.
  • Airplay355
    Airplay355 Posts: 4,298
    Yea but it's a log scale, so the difference in loudness between -20 and -17 is less than -17 and -14...and so on. Mine doesn't even go above 0.
  • mrloren
    mrloren Posts: 2,454
    edited July 2017
    WOW never been passed -0 on any of my AVR, well maybe once or twice for a short bit. Mostly I am between -22 to -12. I did watch World War Z the other night @ -10, there are a few bit's in that flick that make my HSU tripp the Richter scale. Mother in law got the worried look and said earthquake.... :)

    Back to Audyssey, get some towels around the power ports and unplug the fridge. turn off ALL fans and anything that can make noise This might help a bit too http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/audio-processing/68407-audyssey-multeq-faq-setup-guide.html#post622336 And here is the thread on my Audyssey journey http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/178067/an-audyssey-question/p1

    Bi-amping, no don't do it. not with any AVR. I tried it with my RTi8 and my bro did it to his monitor 70. didn't last a week for either of us.
    Post edited by mrloren on
    When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
    Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
    Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
    Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
  • Airplay355
    Airplay355 Posts: 4,298
    edited July 2017
    Haha I didn't mean that I listen past 0, I meant 0 is the highest I would be able to turn it up. My preamp doesn't go into + numbers. 0 is max volume. :)
  • wickedg8gt
    wickedg8gt Posts: 52
    edited July 2017
    mrloren wrote: »
    WOW never been passed -0 on any of my AVR, well maybe once or twice for a short bit. Mostly I am between -22 to -12. I did watch World War Z the other night @ -10, there are a few bit's in that flick that make my HSU tripp the Richter scale. Mother in law got the worried look and said earthquake.... :)

    Back to Audyssey, get some towels around the power ports and unplug the fridge. turn off ALL fans and anything that can make noise This might help a bit too http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/audio-processing/68407-audyssey-multeq-faq-setup-guide.html#post622336 And here is the thread on my Audyssey journey http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/178067/an-audyssey-question/p1

    Bi-amping, no don't do it. not with any AVR. I tried it with my RTi8 and my bro did it to his monitor 70. didn't last a week for either of us.

    That's badass my brother. I havn't had it to -10 yet. Although I bet it sounds so gooood. Lol. I love to watch one of my Transformers blu-ray and turn it up. Turn my sub a little past half way and listen. I love the thump. And I don't hear as good as I used to, so I need it up even more. Lol. I just don't wan to blow them. Haha

    I'm reading the links now. Thank you sir.
  • wickedg8gt
    wickedg8gt Posts: 52
    Airplay355 wrote: »
    Haha I didn't mean that I listen past 0, I meant 0 is the highest I would be able to turn it up. My preamp doesn't go into + numbers. 0 is max volume. :)

    Oh ok. I apologize for assuming all receivers are the same. I know on Denon's it has 2 volume scales. A -80 to +17 and then a 0-99. So I thought all were like that.
  • mrloren
    mrloren Posts: 2,454
    wickedg8gt wrote: »
    mrloren wrote: »
    WOW never been passed -0 on any of my AVR, well maybe once or twice for a short bit. Mostly I am between -22 to -12. I did watch World War Z the other night @ -10, there are a few bit's in that flick that make my HSU tripp the Richter scale. Mother in law got the worried look and said earthquake.... :)

    Back to Audyssey, get some towels around the power ports and unplug the fridge. turn off ALL fans and anything that can make noise This might help a bit too http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/audio-processing/68407-audyssey-multeq-faq-setup-guide.html#post622336 And here is the thread on my Audyssey journey http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/178067/an-audyssey-question/p1

    Bi-amping, no don't do it. not with any AVR. I tried it with my RTi8 and my bro did it to his monitor 70. didn't last a week for either of us.

    That's badass my brother. I havn't had it to -10 yet. Although I bet it sounds so gooood. Lol. I love to watch one of my Transformers blu-ray and turn it up. Turn my sub a little past half way and listen. I love the thump. And I don't hear as good as I used to, so I need it up even more. Lol. I just don't wan to blow them. Haha

    I'm reading the links now. Thank you sir.

    Did you try to run Audyssey again. give it a try and let us know how it works for you.
    When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
    Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
    Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
    Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
  • Airplay355
    Airplay355 Posts: 4,298
    wickedg8gt wrote: »
    Airplay355 wrote: »
    Haha I didn't mean that I listen past 0, I meant 0 is the highest I would be able to turn it up. My preamp doesn't go into + numbers. 0 is max volume. :)

    Oh ok. I apologize for assuming all receivers are the same. I know on Denon's it has 2 volume scales. A -80 to +17 and then a 0-99. So I thought all were like that.

    No worries man. I still think you're fine at -17. If you're worried and want it louder, pick up an amp. :)
  • Hello everyone. Sorry for the hiatus. Work and getting this house together and losing a loved one; I've been off here for a while, but I hope all you, my friends are doing extremely well. I'm ready to get back in the audio/video game.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    edited November 2017
    wickedg8gt wrote: »
    Hello everyone. Sorry for the hiatus. Work and getting this house together and losing a loved one; I've been off here for a while, but I hope all you, my friends are doing extremely well. I'm ready to get back in the audio/video game.

    What's our budget to spend :o
    Welcome back very sorry to hear of the loss
  • Time to maybe start looking at an amp or a lot more wattage Denon receiver. I've put over 100 hours on my Signature Series speakers and I can tell they are broke in. Not as loud/prominent as when they were knew. When streaming HD movies with 5.1/7.1 high def audio; I have to turn my receiver below -10 to really get the loudness and boom sound I want. Was told by Polk to never turn my receiver to 0 or in the positives. My current Audy settings are Front L/R: -5.5 Center: -4.5 Sub: 0 Surround L/R: -8.5. Opinions on what to do? I'm afraid to turn my receiver up any higher than -3 or -4.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    You need a amplifier. If your reciever has pre outs that makes it easier. A dedicated amplifier will be a better investment than a higher powered receiver. Cranking the receiver will more than likely be sending a clipped signal and damage something in the speakers.
  • mrloren
    mrloren Posts: 2,454
    Audyssey is setting your speakers way to low. Bump them all up by 3db. I have a small amp and audyssey didn't set that low.

    Yes a nice amp alway help out.
    When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
    Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
    Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
    Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
  • I'm looking at some of the new Denon receivers. My goal is to upgrade to a 4k receiver and 4k projector. My current receiver is a Denon 1912. It has 90 watts a channel. Pretty good little receiver.
  • Someone else also mentioned turning up the decibels. That might be a start. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Denon but they have a self equalizer called Audussey that calibrates everything. It's a much older version though. Plus I haven't calibrated since first day I got these. Been a lot of hours put on them the last 3 months of having them.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    One must wonder where the mike was set up at. Too close and you can get low readings like that. If it were me I'd set them back to 0.0 .
  • I always do 5 seating positions. When calibrating.
  • rpf65
    rpf65 Posts: 2,127
    Calibration programs aren't perfect. A lot of people make changes after running them.

    Not sure what speakers your running, but that AVR is designed for book shelf type speakers. You may want to look at higher end AVRs. As you look at the more expensive offering, of any manufacturer, one of the things that tend to get better is power supplies. I would start there, before thinking about an amp.

    Getting more power to your speakers isn't just about getting them to play louder, it's to get overall preformance better. Many times people will get a more robust AVR and find that they're actually playing they're systems at lower volumes, because dialogue seems to be clearer.

    Better power supplies usually mean cleaner power. Clean power tends to improve dialogue, when discussing HT systems. This is why many people hear a noticiable improvement when adding a power conditioner to their current systems.