Home theater advice

polkerfan

Hey, everyone. I've never written in a forum before but here goes. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Here is the set-up of my first home theater. I decided to go with the TSi 300's for my front channel, the CS10 for the center, and the OWM 3's for the rear channel, and the PSW 10 for the sub. All of this will be powered by the BRAND NEW DENON AVR 591 (5.1 channel receiver, 75 watts per channel I believe). My question is this- will this receiver and these speakers perform well together, or is this receiver underpowered for this set-up? Keep this in mind- I just bought a smaller home, have a wife and two year old, and the finished theater room in the basement is approx. 15 x 11 (165 sq. feet). I don't need to blow the house off it's foundation, nor upset the family Just want GREAT, accurate, efficient sound. I was also told today the the new Denon receivers with three digit model numbers have inferior internals then say the 1610 or the 1910 etc. Is this true?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Drewsky

FHT

That receiver will be fine for those speakers, obviously the more power the better. As far as the two model numbers go, it's all for distribution, different retailers carry different lines to prevent to much competition (helps protect price point, for the retailer and the manufacturer)

FHT

I might check into a little better sub though, the psw10 would be what i would consider the weak point of that system.

FHT

Check out the psw505 it's cheap as heck and pounds

rooftop59

That setup will make you very happy i think. The speakers are effecient so
you should be fine. I would say plus one on the sub. It will probably be the first thing you're tempted to upgrade.
Peace,
paul

royalty

I second that psw 505 recommendation. I believe the damn thing is like 220 shipped on newegg. I really dont think there is a better sub when considering price/performance ratio, it pounds.

TECHNOKID

I agree that the sub is the bottom of Polk's offering but we have to keep in mind that the OP is stressing on family respect. However just for quality sake, any of those subs would be great: PSW110, PSW111, PSW125, PSW404 or 505 as long as the OP gets the best price out of any of them he's got it made (The more power is better even if not used at full potential since it will last longer however, it must priced not much more than the least powerfull which is the PSW110).

Cheers!
TK

comfortablycurt

You'll be fine running those speakers off of that Denon. The TSi's are 8 ohms nominal, and are pretty efficient over all. They're pretty easy to drive, and are designed to be run off of essentially any AVR.

Your listening room is also fairly small, so it won't take as much power to fill the room with good sound.


Another +1 on upgrading the sub. The PSW10 is alright, considering that most people got them for free when ordering other Polk speakers...but it is a pretty dismal sub for the most part. It's only even capable of efficiently reproducing bass down to about 40hz...which means that you're missing about an octave and a half of low bass information.

Others have suggested the PSW505, which I'd second. The 505 is a great performing sub, and can be had for great prices these days. I've been half tempted to pick one up myself on a few occasions...but I just wouldn't really have an immediate use for it.

polkerfan

Thanks for all the input so far everyone. I think I will go with the PSW 110. I think the 505 would just be simply TOO much for my needs. My next question would be this- if I were to exchange my TSi 300's for the TSi 500's, would there be enough bass produced through the 500's where I could actually delete having a sub at all? It would be the 500's for the front, CS10 center, and OWM 3's for the rear. Would that Denon AVR 591 even be able to drive the 500's and everything else? I am thinking not, so all of your advice will be helpful. Thanks again.


Drewsky

polkerfan

I think I will stay with the TSi300's. I think they will be the perfect fit for my needs then. As far as the subwoofer though, I can get the PSW 110 for $144.99 brand new! Is there that much of a difference between the 110 and the 505 performance wise to justify the difference in price?

Also, I know this a Polk forum, but does anyone have any info on the new Denon AVR 591? What are its video processing capabilities? Is it inferior the say the 1910 or the 1610? This is the centerpiece of my system and I don't want to sacrifice any video quality at all. And I certainly can't justify spending $1000 on a receiver considering my needs. Send me your thoughts. Thanks!

polkerfan

Hey, capri. VERY nice receiver indeed. Probably a little too rich for my blood, although I'd love to have it. What is the BEST quality 5.1 receiver out there right now? I prefer to stick with Denon or Onkyo, but it seems they don't offer a mid-level 5.1. They just jump to the 7.1's, which I don't really need. Again, does anyone know what video processing the Denon 591, 791 use? The Yamaha 665 got really poor reviews for its video processing.

cnh

You can find that out on Denon's site....I don't know....also regarding the 3 and 4 numbered Denons....not any real difference they're just for different markets. What you will notice is that the HIGHEST model Denons are 4 digit series....so up to the 990 you're good....after that it's ONLY 4 digits!

Video...processing is IMHO not an important feature to worry about unless you have a ton of SD materials. Most HDTVs UPCONVERT to their native resolution and do it well enough.....good BDPs and DVD players also do the same thing well enough, why worry about your AVR doing that just set its HDMI to pass-through and don't worry about that. It's a useless feature unless you're buying a TOP of the line AVR with the ABSOLUTE BEST processor available...and even then....?

cnh

polkerfan

Thanks, cnh. Good point. I think that the Denon will be a good centerpiece. But I'd like to get everyones input though on this- what is the BEST 5.1 receiver out right now, with the MOST current features? I don't need a 7.1 necessarily, although 7.1's seem to have a little more power per channel, which would only help.

Here is my current speaker set-up:

Polk TSi 300's for the front
Polk CS10 for the center
Polk OWM 3's for the rear
Polk PSW 110 for the sub (just upgraded from the PSW 10)
PS3 for my blu-ray

Look forward to everyones input.

FHT

Just go with the denon, you will be happy. Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, and Pioneer all have good budget receivers, if you really want to wait for something newer, all you will be waiting for in that price point is HDMI 1.4......

PSOVLSK

FHT wrote: »

Just go with the denon, you will be happy. Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, and Pioneer all have good budget receivers, if you really want to wait for something newer, all you will be waiting for in that price point is HDMI 1.4......

+1.

Regarding the model #'s. I was looking at Yamaha AVR's a few years ago and the one's sold at Best Buy, etc. had different color lettering and a different model number than the one's sold at Tweeter, etc. I checked the Yamaha website and all of the specs were the same.