Powering Rti A7, Csi A6, FXi A4

joshawchubby

hello I purchased polk speakers last year and finally set it up just this summer. Here are the list of equipment all hooked into an ONKYO TX-NR708 AV receiver:

1.) RTi A7;
2.) CSi A6;
3.) FXi A4; and
4.) DSW PRO 500

Now I have read the other article regarding LSi Series that it needs an external amp for better results. Does that suggestion applies to my equipment as well? . Btw, my room is 13x13. Thanks!

gp4jesus

joshawchubby wrote: »

RTi A7
... read the other article regarding LSi Series that it needs an external amp for better results. Does that suggestion applies to my equipment as well? . Btw, my room is 13x13. Thanks!

In spite of your room size, yes for the 'A7s. A 3 channel for your LCR, better still.

Cheers tony

joshawchubby

In my current setup, I seem to be having a hard time getting the bass out of my A7, I even set them up to full band in contrast to the suggestion of polk to set all speakers to small when there is a sub. .So by adding the external amp,I am sure that it will solve this problem ??? I am total newbie on Home theater, And I am still learning

F1nut

What are you crossing at?

joshawchubby

Hmmm in movies, my polks sound definitely awesome. Music, on the other hand, does not perform well as with the movies. I am thinking that if I add power to it maybe it would sound good? Or will I be better of with a stereo amp??

joshawchubby

The Rti A7 are set at 50HZ ; CSi A6 - 70HZ ;FXi A4- 80 HZ; Subwoofer - 120HZ . .

F1nut

Hopefully some of the HT experts (I'm not) will be around soon.

jbooker82

Here is how I have gotten the most bass out of my 7's.

Go through and run the auto setup. Write down the sub level, and distance after completing the auto setup.

Then go back and rerun the auto setup but run it with subwoofer set to none. That way you trick the autosetup. It should set your towers to full range and adjust the eq accordingly. Then go back and turn the subwoofer on and re input in the distance, and level. Leave the towers set to full range and turn the double bass on.

gp4jesus

joshawchubby wrote: »

In my current setup, I seem to be having a hard time getting the bass out of my A7

Please forgive my long windedness.

How many hours do you have on them? Right out of the box they're a bit bright. Until they have 100+ hours on them, the upper mid thru mid treble tend to overwhelm the bottom. Over time, the upper end will soften & the low end will "loosen."

Also I'm not tuned in to your AVR's specs, specifically @ 4 ohms if its rated. If your AVR doesn't have a 4 ohm rating, this can also explain why you find them a "little lean in the bass." Read on.

At the risk of stiring up some people, I'll let a disinterested source say what I've known for over a year.
In post #41*, the OP writes "...there is -zero- high pass filtering on the midbass. It is playing everything."
* in the link below

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118120&highlight=RTiA7+mod&page=2

In other words, your L&R channels "see" 4 ohms below 125 hz! Sadly you won't get Polk CS to admit to any of this.

Right now I'm evaluating my handy work to actively bi-amp one channel. This weekend I'll replace the Sub's XL280 with a Belles 1 Series w/its warmer bottom.

On a side note: how do ya like your 55" Regza?!! my next video upgrade.

Hope this helps, tony

PrazVT

From what I've read, your sub and your A7s shouldn't be outputting the same low frequencies. In my experience it tends to make things worse - ie they cancel each other out. For movie content I settled on the 80Hz crossover from the A7s to the sub. I let Audyssey keep the crossovers of the center and the surrounds to whatever it wanted (60 and 80 Hz i think).

Based on the Audyssey article I read, it makes sense. But YMMV.

joshawchubby

Thanks for the response guys . . .:) It really helped. I played around my settings after audyssey . .Now, my only problem is when playing in stereo mode. It seems really lackluster compared to playing movies. I have read that the onkyo Tx-nr 708 receiver is not that good in stereo and a dedicated stereo amp is the way to go for 2 channel music. I am just curious, what would be the best indication that an external amplifier is needed? I did my research but I wanna know with you guys what would be the best indication that an external power amp is needed? I am looking at the emotiva xpa-3, and just by the looks of it, it is already a winner .

@ gp4jesus
Regarding the Toshiba 55XL700, Yeah, best tv I have ever had . In my opinion, this Led TV is plasma-like in visuals . The design (looks) just isn't great though. It is bulky, but the toshiba guy said that it is bulky due to the audio system it has

piker

joshawchubby wrote: »

I am looking at the emotiva xpa-3, and just by the looks of it, it is already a winner .

I got the XPA-5 earlier this week and it made a huge improvement in stereo music playback as well as home theater for me. I put on some smooth jazz last night and turned up the volume to just -30db, and it was filling my 12x30 ft room with great sounding bliss!

If you can afford to spend more I'd check out the higher end amps, but the Emotiva is no slouch. Especially at its low price in comparison to others.

joshawchubby

piker wrote: »

I got the XPA-5 earlier this week and it made a huge improvement in stereo music playback as well as home theater for me. I put on some smooth jazz last night and turned up the volume to just -30db, and it was filling my 12x30 ft room with great sounding bliss!

If you can afford to spend more I'd check out the higher end amps, but the Emotiva is no slouch. Especially at its low price in comparison to others.

Emotiva I think is just a wishful thinking for me as I live in the Philippines and there is no distributor here and the shipping costs in addition to the regular price would in effect triple the price. But I hope I could get one.

Btw, Your room is significantly larger than mine. Mine is roughly 13 x 13 as compared to yours(12x30). So, the addition of the XPA-5 significantly improved the sound at your normal volume levels? or you have to crank up the volume to hear the difference? Anyway, What receiver are you using?

gp4jesus

joshawchubby wrote: »

Regarding the Toshiba 55XL700, Yeah, best tv I have ever had . In my opinion, this Led TV is plasma-like in visuals.

We LOVE the video quality! I've watched TV @ 45-60 degrees off center w/zero fade!

joshawchubby wrote: »

It is bulky, but the toshiba guy said that it is bulky due to the audio system it has

Yours must have a better sound system than mine. I agree w/you about Toshiba SQ though: its our best sounding TV too.

In the amp department, have you considered the used market? Rotel RB-993 & Adcom 5503 killer 3 channel amps. 3 ch amp combos: Rotel RB-991/992 or RB-1091/1092.

But don't take my word for it. Read Rotel reviews.

cheers

F1nut

joshawchubby wrote: »

Emotiva I think is just a wishful thinking for me as I live in the Philippines and there is no distributor here and the shipping costs in addition to the regular price would in effect triple the price.

That's called a blessing in disguise. So, what are your choices in the Philippines?

mdaudioguy

joshawchubby wrote: »

Hmmm in movies, my polks sound definitely awesome. Music, on the other hand, does not perform well as with the movies. I am thinking that if I add power to it maybe it would sound good? Or will I be better of with a stereo amp??

The key to getting the best 2-channel stereo performance from your AVR is via either Direct Mode or Pure Audio Mode. This would be enhanced with the addition of external amplification. Have you tried these modes?