New to Polk

wkdwarrior98

Hello Everyone,
I am new to the forum (kind of), I have been an invisible reader for months now as I have been trying to decide which route to take as far as a new H/T setup. I would like to start by saying "THANKS" for all the great advice and time everyone gives to helping people just like me trying to decide, what a huge help.
Okay so this is what I have ordered and patiently waiting to come in. Onkyo TX-SR608 receiver, Polk Audio Monitor 60's, Polk Audio Monitor 40's, CS2 Center, and a PSW505 Subwoofer. My room is a rectangle 14W x 28D and I have a Sony Bravia 55" LCD.
I am trying to figure out a good way to place the monitor 40's in the back of the room, as the wife thinks they are to big and will look hideous. I was thinking of mounting to the wall and then realized these thigs are pretty big, so maybe just build some sort of stand for them. One will go behind the sectional and the other will go on the other side of the room against the wall.
My sectional is against the depth side of one wall and the t.v. is against the other side, so you are sitting about 28 feet away from the t.v. ( I know I have read this is not optimal, but that is what I have to work with). What would be the best placement for the speakers? I have also ordered a 250ft roll of CL3 16 gauge speaker wire and banana plugs for the receiver, any better way to do this? Thanks again for all the great help and if any of you work for FED-EX hurry and get my stuff to me......:biggrin:

EndersShadow

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

Hello Everyone,
I am new to the forum (kind of), I have been an invisible reader for months now as I have been trying to decide which route to take as far as a new H/T setup. I would like to start by saying "THANKS" for all the great advice and time everyone gives to helping people just like me trying to decide, what a huge help.
Okay so this is what I have ordered and patiently waiting to come in. Onkyo TX-SR608 receiver, Polk Audio Monitor 60's, Polk Audio Monitor 40's, CS2 Center, and a PSW505 Subwoofer. My room is a rectangle 14W x 28D and I have a Sony Bravia 55" LCD.

Just a thought but if you can I would suggest trying to setup up to one of the 7xxx series Onkyos. They have pre-outs for your speakers which will make the reciever last a very long time since you can add a dedicated amp later on if you need it. That way you can buy an external amp later on that just powers the speakers and still keep using the reciever.

Without pre-outs if you need more power you need to buy a better reciever and then still possibly a dedicated amp.

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

I am trying to figure out a good way to place the monitor 40's in the back of the room, as the wife thinks they are to big and will look hideous. I was thinking of mounting to the wall and then realized these thigs are pretty big, so maybe just build some sort of stand for them. One will go behind the sectional and the other will go on the other side of the room against the wall.

I used the AM40 Pinpont wallmounts with great success for my Monitor 40's. Check this thread out: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1307795&posted=1#post1307795

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

I have also ordered a 250ft roll of CL3 16 gauge speaker wire and banana plugs for the receiver, any better way to do this?

Personally if your going to get in wall rated wire, you should go with 14 or 12 gauge wire (from monoprice.com) so you only have to wire it once for just about any set of speakers you have.

[Deleted User]

Welcome to Club Polk. :cool:

On3s&Z3r0s

Firstly, welcome! Sounds like you've already purchased the bulk of your gear. I agree with what EndersShadow has to say, but I wouldn't have too much buyer's remorse about buying an amp without pre-outs. You should be fine without them as that's a pretty decent receiver with sufficient juice to run the Monitors. The Onkyos do have a reputation for running hot, so making sure you have it somewhere it can breathe would be a good idea.

Regarding the wire, 14ga might have given you a little better signal over a long-ish run, but again the 16ga should work. I would recommend, though, leaving a little extra slack when you fish it through. That's always a good idea anyway, but it also makes it easier to pull new cable down the line (using the old cable) if you or anyone else ever decides to upgrade.

I've also used OmniMounts to mount a few different kinds of speakers. They work fine also if you get ones large enough for the speakers. For the 40's I'd recommend going with the version that supports 20 lbs even though the 40's don't weigh that. OmniMount is a little generous with their estimation of how much weight the mount will support without shifting at all.

The one thing that did sound a little odd was your description of the room and where your couch is. If the room is 28' deep and your 28' away from the screen do you have the couch all the way back against the wall? If so are you thinking of putting the surrounds basically lateral to your seated position? It'd be better if they could be a little bit behind you instead of side to side. Also, if they're that close you'll want them not too far up the wall (like not at ceiling level) and stands might be a better idea in that case. It'd probably be a good idea to get a placement you're comfortable with and see what the receiver's room calilbration is capable of doing to make up for less than optimal placement before you start drilling holes and fishing wire through walls, if you were planning on doing that.

TECHNOKID

Welcome to Club Polk wkdwarrior98

Not much else to tell you after EndersShadow as I am quite in agreement with his advices.

The wall mounts he is proposing seems like a nice clean secure install for your monitor 40s.

The pre-outs is a good advice if your budget and desire to upgrade in the future is some you even consider otherwise you can save on this extra expense.

16 gage wire is IMO too small for your needs and you should go with 14 gage which should cover for just about any speakers type to be used in such room.

Yes, your room size is by far the best for optimal sound but if at all possible, I would suggest you re-shape it (narrower at front and wider at back) by the potential addition of false "walling", sound mangement panels and/or curtains.

Congrats on your new audio acquisitions :cool:

TK

Geoff4rfc

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

Okay so this is what I have ordered and patiently waiting to come in. Onkyo TX-SR608 receiver, Polk Audio Monitor 60's, Polk Audio Monitor 40's, CS2 Center, and a PSW505 Subwoofer. My room is a rectangle 14W x 28D and I have a Sony Bravia 55" LCD.

My sectional is against the depth side of one wall and the t.v. is against the other side, so you are sitting about 28 feet away from the t.v. ( I know I have read this is not optimal, but that is what I have to work with). What would be the best placement for the speakers? I have also ordered a 250ft roll of CL3 16 gauge speaker wire and banana plugs for the receiver, any better way to do this? :

Welcome to the club!

Very nice stuff you have on order . Sounds like a 5.1 set up? The 40's aren't that hideous, they're pretty nice looking IMO.

To address a couple more of your concerns: As you already mention, you know your seating distance from the TV is not where it should be, most viewing (or recommended optimal) distances for a 55" should be around 10'-14'. If you can shorten the gap from 28', you will enjoy your view much better, IMO.

I take it the 40's are being used for surrounds, they should probably be placed off to the sides and up a few feet from ear level to the listener.

I would have recommended 14awg but 16 should work just fine. I didn't read that you mentioned anything about a power amp so I have nothing to comment on there, other than the 608 you have should do a great job of driving your speaker selection.

Have fun and let us know how the set up turns out.

wkdwarrior98

First "Thanks" for all of the replies. I am new to all this so the quote and paste thing will come later.

EndersShadow......Thanks! I thought I had done enough research, guess I should have asked a few questions BEFORE ordering all the stuff...lol. Gives me a reason to upgrade in a year or so as I was having to twist wifies arm as it was....lol. The 7xxx series was about $250.00 more than the 6xx series and seemed to do all I wanted it to do, she is already thinking the psw505 is WAAYYYY to much, so don't really see amp in the near future (or at least until the 2 yr old grows a tad).

"Thanks" Nap! Useful information as always.

On3s&Z3r0s......I read several forums including the one where it gives wire length/size for runs and everything I read says anything less than 80' should be great with 16ga 8 ohms, there again guess I should have ask before I ordered. Wire is one that that is pretty inexpensive compared to other things. Would it be a no-no to run 14ga for the surrounds 28ft (actually a little longer by the time I fish it through the walls) and use the 16 ga for the closer stuff???
Couch is firmly against the wall, but being a sectional I have room in the corner directly behind the couch and the other corner kind of sits behind a fireplace (will try and upload pics soon). Not really a good way to reconfigure anything without wife going beserk.

TechnoKid...Thanks! I thought it seemed like a theater's narrow and deep, but learning as I go.

Geoff4rfc.... I do have two recliners about 8ft on either side of the t.v. and in front of the sectional. One is mine and the other is my FIL's (my in-laws live with us). The sectional will be for the guest as I have them over and my wife, whom is not a real big fan of all this stuff anyway.....YET!

Thanks for all the great advice and learning as we go, a few bumps along the way.

Geoff4rfc

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

my wife, whom is not a real big fan of all this stuff anyway.....YET!

Thanks for all the great advice and learning as we go, a few bumps along the way.

You definitely learn as you go, I have only been into the Home Theater scene for just over a year and have learned tons and still have way more tons to learn.

I purchased my first 7.1 set and an extra sub (very low budget, $368. for a 7.2) just only a year ago this month, and by Christmas, I've upgraded the L, R, C and the surrounds and my new sub will arrive later this week. I won't tell you how much I've spent in the upgrade but I'll tell you I've purchased PolkAudio brand speakers and an Epik Empire sub. Newegg.com has great deals on a lot of electronics, you can save huge there as well as the PolkAudio ebay site, always great deals there.

My wife really hates my obsession even though she's the one that got me my 807, got one of my Monitor70's for Christmas and is allowing me to run all my gear in our bedroom incl. the 50" plasma and the arrival of the new Empire.

Definitely taking care of the wifey is the way to go, mine is overwhelmed by the 50 on a regular basis so I have a 32" on her dresser on the her side of the room so she can watch TV whenever she wants to without major in your face explosions and what not.

Always having a clean set up, wire management and aesthetics are always important to wives, the less they have to bitc...I mean complain about, the better.

I don't even come close to knowing it all or having that much experience for that matter, but I do have some, don't hesitate to drop in from time to time for any question.

Best of endeavors :cool:

On3s&Z3r0s

Honestly, this may be audio heresy, but I wouldn't worry too much about the speaker wire because you're right, the 16 gauge should be fine. If you continue to hang around audio / video as a hobby you'll come to appreciate two unavoidable facts: 1) A/V geeks appreciate overkill as much or more than Tim Taylor of the Binford Tool Time Taylors, and 2) A/V geeks will spend absurd and unconscionable amounts of money to get an improvement that most of our honest friends and family (who are not also audio geeks and not just out to humor us) are not able to perceive.

You could get 12 or 14 ga wire but you wouldn't be able to hear the difference. Thicker wire might make a little difference when you go to attach the banana plugs. Some of the high-end bananas assume thicker wire. I've used several different wire-end solutions and the best modular solution is Monster. It's totally easy to attach even small guage wire (acually, it's a lot easier with smaller wire). I don't think you could use the Monster stuff with 12 ga wire. It sounds like you've done your homework and you're definitely on the right track.

wkdwarrior98

Thanks for the continued support. Wifey is number one priority, not sure about your house but in mine if Momma ain't happy get a motel room.

Not sure if it is going to make a difference or not but I was talking to a friend at work and had some 12/2 cl2 wire left over from his h/t install and he brought me about a 100ft roll and sold it to me for $20.00. I checked Fed-Ex and Ups and all my goodies will be here by Friday. Can hardly wait. Will take pics soon. Thanks again for the help and ALWAYS great advice.

TECHNOKID

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

Thanks for the continued support. Wifey is number one priority, not sure about your house but in mine if Momma ain't happy get a motel room.

Not sure if it is going to make a difference or not but I was talking to a friend at work and had some 12/2 cl2 wire left over from his h/t install and he brought me about a 100ft roll and sold it to me for $20.00. I checked Fed-Ex and Ups and all my goodies will be here by Friday. Can hardly wait. Will take pics soon. Thanks again for the help and ALWAYS great advice.

Good on you for decent wire at decent pricing, go for it use it and save your money for other goodies :cool:

Provide feed back and maybe pics of your new goodies once you get them :biggrin:

You are definitely right on prioritising on the wife. We have to pamper our ladies, they deserve it and keep us out of trouble :biggrin:

over50

Welcome to the club. My set up is similar to yours. I love it, my wife gives me the evil eye. Enjoy your new hobby.

wkdwarrior98

I decided to take a couple of before shots of the room. I am hoping I can figure out to upload these badboys. If you notice around the entertainment center above the t.v. the CS2 is already in it's position. Corner behind the sectional is where one monitor 40 will be placed and in the other corner will be the other monitor 40. I have decided to go with the AM40 mounts and have them ordered. Everything should be in by friday, except the receiver and mounts they are scheduled for next tuesday. Corners beside entertainment center is where the monitor 60's will go and the sub in the left corner facing entertainment center. Hopefully images will upload.

Man that child leaves a mess....lololl.

Will take after pics when done.

wkdwarrior98

I will try to figure out all the settings on the new Canon T2i and adjust so I can get more of the room, had to crop to almost nothing before it would upload.
If you are facing the entertaimnet center there is a 10' opening that goes into the dining room to the right about five foot from the wall behind the E.C., there is a fireplace (still facing E.C.) on the left side wall about middle of room. Just trying to give a fair visual of room until I get more pics.

wkdwarrior98

Quick question. I received the Monitor 40's and the Monitor 60's today and looking at the back of them they have 4 rca inputs. I have read that this is bi-amped but could not find what that means.

Do I leave them this way and run wire from receiver to two of the rca's or do I need to make changes. Running a 5.1 system with a Onkyo TX-SR608.

Do I connect wire from the receiver to the top two post or the bottom two post or does it matter???

Geoff4rfc

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

Quick question. I received the Monitor 40's and the Monitor 60's today and looking at the back of them they have 4 rca inputs. I have read that this is bi-amped but could not find what that means.

Do I leave them this way and run wire from receiver to two of the rca's or do I need to make changes. Running a 5.1 system with a Onkyo TX-SR608.

Do I connect wire from the receiver to the top two post or the bottom two post or does it matter???

I'd just run the wires from the receiver to the upper two posts and leave the bridge connected.

Geoff4rfc

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

Quick question. I received the Monitor 40's and the Monitor 60's today and looking at the back of them they have 4 rca inputs. I have read that this is bi-amped but could not find what that means.

Do I leave them this way and run wire from receiver to two of the rca's or do I need to make changes. Running a 5.1 system with a Onkyo TX-SR608.

Do I connect wire from the receiver to the top two post or the bottom two post or does it matter???

I have my 70's bi-wired but 4" from the post (instead of running two sets of wires, I spliced four inches from speaker terminals and wired to top and bottom), but will soon bi-amp them with my receiver.

wkdwarrior98

Geoff4rfc wrote: »

I have my 70's bi-wired but 4" from the post (instead of running two sets of wires, I spliced four inches from speaker terminals and wired to top and bottom), but will soon bi-amp them with my receiver.

These have four rca post on the back (60's & 40's) and have a piece of angled metal connecting the four post, this is the way it came from polk.

I was just wondering if I needed to change anything since I am running a 5.1 from the receiver and only using L/R surround & L/R fronts. Not sure about the bi-amped thing or if it will affect how I am running speaker wire.

Hoping not to sound stupid, just don't want to mess these things up and I also want to get the best sound from them as possible.

I am hoping I have enough 12/2 CL2 to run the whole thing, my fronts are only about 4' from the receiver and surrounds about 40 give or take a few feet. Got the 16/2 in yesterday and it seems like small wire.... :biggrin:

inthewoods

My buyer's remorse regarding pre-outs ended with the 608 after the first movie...

Don't bi-amp/wire the 608. I'm running 5.1 too and the 608 has no problem pushing my M70's.

spock 2054

inthewoods wrote: »

My buyer's remorse regarding pre-outs ended with the 608 after the first movie...

Don't bi-amp/wire the 608. I'm running 5.1 too and the 608 has no problem pushing my M70's.

+1 on the myth of bi-wiring. The 608 has plenty of juice for your speakers...

wkdwarrior98

inthewoods wrote: »

My buyer's remorse regarding pre-outs ended with the 608 after the first movie...

Don't bi-amp/wire the 608. I'm running 5.1 too and the 608 has no problem pushing my M70's.

OK....trying to figure out how to word my question.

I am not trying to bi-amp/bi-wire anything. Looking at the set-up guide for the 608 I have L/R front terminals and L/R rear surround terminals. One is a positive and the other is a negative but only two for left (+,-) and two for right (+,-). Now if I look on the back of the 60's & 40's each of these have four terminals and they are hooked together by a angled piece on metal.

My question is do I leave these hooked the way they are and connect the wire from the receiver to the top two terminals or is this set-up for something different than what i am trying to run, just a simple 5.1 system.

inthewoods

You're fine... leave the metal jumper. You take that jumper out when you bi-amp the speaker.

EndersShadow

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

My question is do I leave these hooked the way they are and connect the wire from the receiver to the top two terminals or is this set-up for something different than what i am trying to run, just a simple 5.1 system.

inthewoods wrote: »

You're fine... leave the metal jumper. You take that jumper out when you bi-amp the speaker.

What he said

renowilliams

Welcome to CP.Looks like your getting set up nicely.don't worry too much about your wife. Mine was a little choked at what I spent in the tv room (furniture and audio gear) but she really loves it now its done. I happened to walk by the kitchen while she was talking to a friend on the phone(not knowing I was there). She was telling her girlfriend to insist her husband put a tv room in and make sure you get him but a motorized sofa.....lol

Got me to thinking,whos idea was it to put a tv room in anyway??

wkdwarrior98

renowilliams wrote: »

Welcome to CP.Looks like your getting set up nicely.don't worry too much about your wife. Mine was a little choked at what I spent in the tv room (furniture and audio gear) but she really loves it now its done. I happened to walk by the kitchen while she was talking to a friend on the phone(not knowing I was there). She was telling her girlfriend to insist her husband put a tv room in and make sure you get him but a motorized sofa.....lol

Got me to thinking,whos idea was it to put a tv room in anyway??

Thanks again eveeryone for the responses!!!!!!

Reno I know what you mean, my wife was telling her sister last night that we are going to have to upgrade furniture now since the speakers are looking so nice in there. I brought her a margarita and kissed her on the cheek...lol.

She is still a little apprehensive to the monitor 40's on the wall (they ARE big) but once the AM-40 mounts come in and they are up I think it will look quite nice. The room is an add-on and has no attic area to run wires, I am trying to decide if I want to go under the floor (has crawl-space) or just place underneath carpet and run up wall to speaker.....hmmmmm.

engtaz

Welcome

EndersShadow

wkdwarrior98 wrote: »

or just place underneath carpet and run up wall to speaker.....hmmmmm.

If you do that just make sure to get some of that cable hiding stuff from lowes. I forget what its called but its PVC that has adhesive on one side to attach to the wall and is paintable.

Makes my wire running from floor to ceiling look much prettier.

wkdwarrior98

EndersShadow wrote: »

If you do that just make sure to get some of that cable hiding stuff from lowes. I forget what its called but its PVC that has adhesive on one side to attach to the wall and is paintable.

Makes my wire running from floor to ceiling look much prettier.

Thanks! I have bought that already. Now if I can only find that left-over paint.

Well I guess that gives the wife a reason to paint the walls. See I told her she could be involved in this.... :biggrin:

Thanks for all the welcomes! This is a great site to hang out, just gets you in trouble with the misses.

inthewoods

HAHA! My wife gave me a blank look when I told her I was buying a HT system... now she say's "turn it up" :biggrin:

wkdwarrior98

Another silly question......

My amp came today....yeah! Getting so close I can taste it. I wanted to hook the speakers to an old Sony receiver I am using now last night and the wife talked me out of it, she said quit being so impatient. Then said "we'll all be deaf soon enough".

Do you prefer filtered or unfiltered for subwoofer and why? I notice on the back the is filtered and unfiltered and I am getting mixed reviews about which is better.

Is it just a choice of the way it sounds to your ears or a good reason to run either??

On3s&Z3r0s

I use the unfiltered input. I think this article does a pretty good job of describing how some of the different options work: http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/reviews/20031021/home-home_bass.html

I tried both and didn't notice that much difference, ultimately I dediced to use the unfiltered so that I could do all my bass tweaking from the receiver.

I'm kind of a weird bass addict (owing to my days as a Cerwin Vega owner ) so I actually have my receiver set up with my fronts (Monitor 70's as Large) and my subwoofer set to "Plus", which on Pioneer receivers means that both the fronts and the subwoofer will be sent the signal in the bass range, although only the sub gets the LFE track. You might try the same with the Monitor 60's since they are capable of reproducing a broader range of frequencies than if you told your receiver they are "Small" speakers, but they probably still could use some support with the bass.

Ultimately, the only way to find out what works for you in your room is to play with a few different settings for speaker size and crossover at the receiver and play with volume and position of the sub. If you use the LFE input you can ignore the crossover / low pass knob on the sub... one less thing to worry about.