RTI10 Slight Distortion!?

ksnisbet86

im experiencing a certain amount of what seems like distortion (to my ears)during really high pitched musical guitar solos but not alot of the time on movies. It sounds like its coming through the mid and/ortweeter of my left rti10 speaker:(. Is that even possible with the amount of power im sending through these speakers? Onkyo 705 supposedly does 100 wpc into 8 ohms. If these are bi-amped from the avr does it not mean that 100 watts goes to the subs and 100 watts to the mid and tweeter? If im wrong then please tell me what im missing if someone knows. Also Should I keep these speakers bi-amped? I took the advice from polk customer support and im really curious if it sounds any different than it does now, i am looking into getting an amp soon probably an emotiva xpa 3 but at the moment im just dealing with the receiver. Thanks for the input!

Agent

I could be a lot of things. Start with the basics and make sure your speakers are the correct phase + to +, etc. It could be that you are reaching the limits of your Onkyo 705. Just because it says 100 watts, I can guarantee you that it is not pushing 100 continuous watts to those speakers. Probably more like 60 watts. Bi-amping won't do squat, its more hype then help. Your still using the same power supply from the Onkyo, so it's not going to magically provide more power. Also, the problem could be the source you are listening to. Make sure it is a good, clean source like a CD. One thing I have found since upgrading from a cheap HTIB is that good speakers bring out the **** sound in weak sources, like listening to music videos on MTV for example. What you really need is more power for those speakers. Something like 200 watts per channel. I have an XPA-3 and love it. No distortion, even at very high volumes. It sounds like your Onkyo may be clipping, which is very bad for your speakers. Underpowering your speakers is more dangerous than overpowering them. When your Onkyo reaches its limits (powerwise) the amount of juice it begins to send can become unstable and sporadic, sending dangerous power spikes, rather than good, clean, stable power. These spikes can damage tweeters and mids very easily. Be very careful if you are pushing them to the point of distortion.

ksnisbet86

thanks for the help agent, i un bi-amped the speakers and am just running them regularly now. I dont seem to hear the distortion anymore. Audyssey set my fronts at -4 and center at -5 because the area im in is smaller the source isnt the issue, ive played cds and my ipod and i definitely know what your talking about when you say bad sources. I go from cds to my ipod and its night and day, and yes i also my receiver probly doesnt do 100 watts continuously , i think the problem was the bi-amping i think the clipping you mentioned is what was happening thanks so much for the help!:D