Home Theater Setup

coolmac11

Hi,

I'm relatively new to the world of decent home theater systems and was wondering if my proposed setup would be adequate for my room.

The room is approximately 15' x 22' and is quite open (one wall connects openly to the kitchen and the other connects to another room). I crudely drew the room layout and the proposed position of speakers on the attached picture.

Now my two questions are:

1. Which home theater setup would be ideal for my room (in terms of cost/performance)

2. How would you layout the rear surrounds in a room like mine without wasting space or sacrificing performance.

What I had initially thought of for the speaker package were:

- RTi A7
- CSi A4
- FXi A4
- PSW 125

Would this setup suffice for a room my size? Are the A7s an overkill, hence stick with the A5s? Where would you improve this setup? Would you suggest any other components while keeping the change in price as low as possible?

Also, the receiver I'm looking at right now is the Denon AVR-2312CI. Is this adequate in powering these speakers? I know a lot of reviews prefer to run the Fronts on amps, but I don't have the budget for that. Is there any similarly priced receiver you would recommend to pair well with this setup?

The bad thing is that I have limited access to the products as I will be buying at a Futureshop and am limited by what they carry.

Futureshop's Supply of Polk speakers:
http://tinyurl.com/3qcukzy

For the second question, I would prefer to attach the surrounds to the wall as displayed by the RED and BLUE locations (on picture). I will only be using 2 surrounds (thus a 5.1 setup). Which location would (either sides or back wall) would these surrounds be most effective?

Now, say if the wall width was too small to attach the FXis, would the RTi A1/A3 be able to substitute the FXis and are they smaller and wall mountable?

Those are the questions I have at the moment.

Thanks for any input!

B Run

Personally i'd go with Rti a5's over the 7's and put a little more money into your subwoofer. The A7's will want more than the Denon 2312 to drive them and the Psw125 will leave you wanting more in the sub department. Also the Csi a6 is a better center channel if you have the room for it, but if not the a4 will do fine. Welcome to Club Polk and good luck!

polktiger

I would suggest some flexibility with where you place your sub. I have had better results getting the sub out of a room corner. I found corner loading the sub created wildly inconsistent sound as you moved through the room. Sure a got more "boom" when it was in the corner, but it did not blend well and the subs location in the room was VERY obvious. Maybe with the bass traps you will have better results with a corner loaded sub.

Lietuvis91

whatever you end up doing, get a better sub!

coolmac11

Thanks guys for the critique! So is the sub that bad? Unfortunately where I am I am not really able to find an authorized dealer besides futureshop to buy from (I'm in the Toronto GTA area).

So the 105 watts won't drive the A7's? I know it's rated up 300 watts, so the the low wattage would make is sound very soft?

Also, any comments about the placement of the surrounds or A1/A3 as possible wall mountable surrounds?

Thanks again!

Lietuvis91

put it this way:

we all have limited budgets so you have to spend you money wisely! That psw125 will not go low enough and produce quality enough sound to justify it's cost. So in your case, I would use that money to get a better/more powerful receiver, so that you can run your towers in full range so that you hopefully don't need a sub. (IF, you are completely stuck on the a7s)

Your other alternative is to invest in a high quality sub to handle the low end and then buy smaller/cheaper speakers, like rtia3 fronts and rtia1 rears that will save you money in two ways: 1) you can use a less expensive receiver(although I wouldn't go below what you have chosen) 2)speakers themselves will be vastly cheaper and give up little in sound quality.

If you have the money for it ALL, then buy the nice receiver, the a7s and a good quality subs, of course!

But if you have to make trade-offs, think in terms of the overall system not just the particular speaker you have in mind, because it's the package that completes the overall sound, not just one piece.

EndersShadow

coolmac11 wrote: »

Thanks guys for the critique! So is the sub that bad?

I have the 125 and wish I had saved more pennies for a better sub (which I am doing now).

You also dont have to get the same brand sub as your other speakers. If cost is a concern, as stated above its better to get a more powerful AVR and run your front Left and Right as full range w/o a sub to start with.

Its not horrible, but you will find yourself wanting more from it than it can give.

polktiger

You will likely need more power with the A7s. I remember a lot of people commenting that the RTi10s really improved once they got them on a separate amp. The issue is the A7s will need a lot of power to produce the bottom end they are capable of. If you got the A5s, you would likely cross them over at 80hz or so, so they would not need as much power. But at that point you would also consider just using some bookshelf speakers.

I think the 125 is small for how much air you are dealing with, but I don't think it would be a waste of money. If this is a first system, it won't be your last, you can always put it to work in a different capacity in a different room in a few years. For as big and as open as your room is your would need a lot of sub to get to "perfect."

In your case I probably would skip the FXi surrounds. The way you will be mounting them in a corner will negate a lot of their benefits (maybe if you mounted them diagonally in the corner it would work). In your case I would probably just go with a normal bookshelf as your surround. You could also going on the ceiling, but your price point would obviously go up too.

Will polkdirect ebay store deliver to where you are?

MADGSF

I agree with B Run, get the A5 which are easier to drive and put that money into a better sub. My RTi10, precursor to the A7, did not put out what I consider subwoofer replacing bass until I added the amp in my signature.

Almadacr

coolmac11 wrote: »

Thanks guys for the critique! So is the sub that bad? Unfortunately where I am I am not really able to find an authorized dealer besides futureshop to buy from (I'm in the Toronto GTA area).

So the 105 watts won't drive the A7's? I know it's rated up 300 watts, so the the low wattage would make is sound very soft?

Also, any comments about the placement of the surrounds or A1/A3 as possible wall mountable surrounds?

Thanks again!

Ok FS are selling the A7`s for 399$ each but they also have the RTI 10 for 250$ each , if it was my money i would take the 10`s . If you want to built a great system start with a good receiver with pre-out`s and the 3 fronts L/R/C later on you can had a great sub or 2 :biggrin: like this Epic and also had great surrounds like the FXi A4 or A6 , or like i i am doing i`m getting Axiom for surrounds :biggrin:

coolmac11

These are all great ideas, thanks! I'm only interested in the A7s for their future potential of adding a nice amp to them. I think I'll go with the A1s a my surrounds in this case seeing that I'll loose the benefits of the FXis in the way I'll mount them.

I would love to get a better sub, but would anyone recommend one from futureshop? (I'll attach a link shortly) I'm sticking with that store simply because of accessability issues, to my knowledge polk doesn't ship to Canada via eBay.

What receiver would you recommend to power the A7s adequately for the time being (along with the CSi A4 and RTi A1s)?

And lastly, how high a quality speaker wire would you guys recommend? Would monster branded wire suffice? Am I paying too much for their name or am I being skimpy here?!

Almadacr

In my oppinion you should stay away from Futureshop unless you get a great deal out of it , i had a great deal with them that was it ( 2 Klipsch subs for 300$ with taxes :biggrin:) . If you have a credit card or paypal , wires you can get them from Monoprice i also had HDMI cables , but if you want still to go with FS this subVelodyne its your best choice price wise .

I forgot about the receiver also following the same lines buying from internet you can get the Pioneer VSX-33 for 530$ the same model or made for futureshop minus the Elite series is the VSX-1325 and it goes for 849$ so i`m guessing here that the Elite will go for 900$-1000$ at FS or your local retailer .

SRTer

coolmac11 wrote: »

What receiver would you recommend to power the A7s adequately for the time being (along with the CSi A4 and RTi A1s)?

And lastly, how high a quality speaker wire would you guys recommend? Would monster branded wire suffice? Am I paying too much for their name or am I being skimpy here?!

The receiver I would recommend is the Pioneer Elite SC-35 or SC-37. I currently run RTi A7?s and RTi A9?s off this receiver with great results. These receivers make plenty of clean power without overheating even with 5 channels being driven.

Here is a review.
http://www.hometheater.com/content/pioneer-elite-sc-37-av-receiver

Also, if you don?t want to mount you surround speakers. You should try floorstanding speakers in the rear. Maybe some RTi A5?s in the rear and you would not have to mount them.

I currently run Monster speaker wire and HDMI connects without any problems. However, some people might have better options for the money.

Almadacr

SRTer wrote: »

The receiver I would recommend is the Pioneer Elite SC-35 or SC-37.

For the prices of those receivers even in Canada i would take any given day a Integra :biggrin:

jbooker82

I would get the A7's, and a better sub. It is cheaper in the long run to get what you want the first time around rather than setteling for something else.

You dont have to go broke trying to buy the largest (Watts Per Channel) AVR. Just make sure it has pre outs so you can add an external amp later on. I would take a 500 dollar AVR and a used 250w x 5 Parasound amp over a 2200 dollar avr any day. Dont go chasing watts when buying an avr.

jbooker82

I would also use FXI's for the surrounds over bookshelfs.