Setting up my first 2 channel setup in a week

zx_toth · October 2011

Greetings,

I havent posted for quite some time and never in the 2 channel room as I have never ventured down this road. I have on order a pre-amp and an amp to put together with a few other components to set something up in our sitting room.

The components will be all Rotel gear and are the following:

1) Rotel RC-1550 preamp - ON ORDER - set to arrive Oct 21st.
2) Rotel RB-1562 amp (D-Class ... I know I know these are likely not respected at all in the 2 channel world but this is what I ll start with) - ON ORDER - set to arrive Oct 21st.
3) Rotel RCD-1520 (in a box unused at the moment)
4) A pair of Polk Rtia3s.

Thats it ... that will be a system for now. Looking to head down the turn table road sometime in the near future as well as have something to stream lossless digital audio in th enear future as well but again above is the starting point. As you can tell I am a bit anal in having my stuff match which will be a mental barrier I will have to get over once I want to upgrade different pieces and explore the journey that is 2 channel or I am told anyway:biggrin:

Ill provide some pictures once everything is set up. The components will be all in black and have that satisfying blue led light to it. Looks pretty slick if you ask me.

Despite the trouble I will likely have in mixing and matching components I am really actually looking forward to swapping speakers in and out ... with some aspirations of climbing the mid-fi-> hi-fi ladder over time with speakers.

zx_toth

cnh · October 2011

Congrats! Rotel is nice stuff, matching aside!

I have a pair of RTI-A3s in my basement HT, they're somewhat picky about what amplification they like. By that I mean you need some 'warmer' high current stuff to make them 'happy'. The Rotel, I believe, should be a good match.

Enjoy!

cnh

heiney9 · October 2011

Nice, enjoy.

Don't overlook the importance of really good cables too.

H9

janmike · October 2011

Congrats zx_toth. I second the mention of Rotel and good cables. Nothing like 2CH. Enjoy.

newrival · October 2011

class d amplification can be pretty great. Don't know much about Rotel's flavor but there are some great ones, ie. bel canto, wyred 4 sound, etc.

The new class D's are often times very transparent and if you're looking to warm up your sound, you can achieve it through your pre-amp, which is where many will argue the majority of your tanal attributes will come from anyways (after your speakers, of course).

Congrats and happy listening!

polkfarmboy · October 2011

I bet that setup is going to look and sound great in a rack .

Drenis · October 2011

Requesting pictures when assembled.

rebuy · October 2011

Get some good cables and nice 5 dollar speaker wire and fire one up, you'll be happy.

danz1906 · October 2011

Congrats!

zx_toth · November 2011

Just attached a few pictures of my first 2 channel rig. It was a bit of a thrown together system as we were having company over for our house warming and we didnt have any music on the first floor so I happily called my local hi-fi shop for an emergency order:cheesygrin: He had my Rotel gear ordered and arrive in 7 days flat or he was willing to lend me some ge
ar in the interim. Stand up place. I had to pillage my 7.1 home theater system using two surrounds for the 2 channel.

As expected the Polk RTia3s are a bit underwhelming in the 2 channel department. I am used to the sound quality of my LSi25s upstairs in my home theater rig. But these will do as an interim solution. I will likely upgrade in the new year with something much further up the hifi ladder.

It was actually quite hilarious as to how pissed off I was in the beginning when I first put the Rtias in the set up ... the sound was so muddy. I was getting so pissed and furious until I realized that I had the speakers to close to the back wall. Once I pulled them out only 6 inches the sound improved significantly ... LOL .... despite all that I tried after that they still didnt sound like my LSis

Zsolt

Drenis · November 2011

Very nice. I like the look the Rotel gear has.

steveinaz · November 2011

Nice system! Enjoy.

Any way you can spread them bookies out a little more?

EndersShadow · November 2011

zx_toth wrote: »

despite all that I tried after that they still didnt sound like my LSis

LSi 9's and 7's are 40% off on Polks ebay site. The 9's are like 450 and put out a ridiculous amount of good bass given the right gear (which you have).

If you like the LSi sound, get some bookies for your 2 channel and add a sub if you need it.....Just sayin....

P.S. after hearing some LSi 9's at dcmartinpc's house they are probably going to go in my small office 2 channel rig at some point as they were just a killer speaker (and can be found at very down to earth prices).

zx_toth · November 2011

steveinaz wrote: »

Nice system! Enjoy.

Any way you can spread them bookies out a little more?

There is room to spread them apart so I will give that a try tomorrow night and give a listen. I am coming to appreciate more and more that placement is very key.

EndersShadow wrote: »

LSi 9's and 7's are 40% off on Polks ebay site. The 9's are like 450 and put out a ridiculous amount of good bass given the right gear (which you have).

If you like the LSi sound, get some bookies for your 2 channel and add a sub if you need it.....Just sayin....

P.S. after hearing some LSi 9's at dcmartinpc's house they are probably going to go in my small office 2 channel rig at some point as they were just a killer speaker (and can be found at very down to earth prices).

Unfortunately Polk Audio Ebay store wont ship to Canada so I cant access the deal on the LSi's. I looked on Ebay and a seller in my province wants $799.99 for LSis

I am noting that the higher end Polk stuff to be quite inaccessible in Canada, particularly in Northern Ontario. Local mid-higher end brands that I can get my hands on are PSB, Paradigm, BW. I may explore those options unless I find a nice used set of LSis in the province.

Drenis · November 2011

zx_toth wrote: »

Unfortunately Polk Audio Ebay store wont ship to Canada so I cant access the deal on the LSi's. I looked on Ebay and a seller in my province wants $799.99 for LSis I am noting that the higher end Polk stuff to be quite inaccessible in Canada, particularly in Northern Ontario. Local mid-higher end brands that I can get my hands on are PSB, Paradigm, BW. I may explore those options unless I find a nice used set of LSis in the province.

Like you, I too have the same issue with the Polk ebay store not shipping up here. I was fortunate to purchase my A9's from a local retailer up here. Problem was they DO NOT carry the LSi setup. No one around here sells LSi's or LSiM's. They have halted distribution of the A9's as well. It truly is difficult for us unless we ship to a place to cross the border and pick up.

zx_toth · November 2011

Drenis: Yes they are really limiting their clientele in Canada by not offering their higher end offerings up here. Having had their RM speakers, LSi speakers and most recently Rtia speakers in my home theater rig I do have a certain sense of brand loyalty but if there is not an easy way to continue this relationship than they have lost me unfortunately for the time being for 2 channel.

My home theater will remain Polk for now as I concentrate on my 2 channel.

Zsolt

EndersShadow · November 2011

zx_toth wrote: »

Unfortunately Polk Audio Ebay store wont ship to Canada so I cant access the deal on the LSi's. I looked on Ebay and a seller in my province wants $799.99 for LSis I am noting that the higher end Polk stuff to be quite inaccessible in Canada, particularly in Northern Ontario. Local mid-higher end brands that I can get my hands on are PSB, Paradigm, BW. I may explore those options unless I find a nice used set of LSis in the province.

I would see if you can find some Polkie (you could trust) to have them shipped to in the states and then pick them up yourself. Your decently close to the border.....

Drenis · November 2011

EndersShadow wrote: »

I would see if you can find some Polkie (you could trust) to have them shipped to in the states and then pick them up yourself. Your decently close to the border.....

The only issue with that is most places demand you to ship to the billing address or verified paypal address if you choose to pay that way. Some private sellers on ebay for example may allow you to pay for something and ship it elsewhere but most businesses don't from my dealings.

If I could have heard the LSi series, I may have gone that route since it's more musical and my preference is 75% music and 25% HT. However, I have no regrets with my A9's. I purchased them without listening to them because that was the best of the brand I could buy here at the time and I knew it was going to be a SIGNIFICANT upgrade over my last setup.

I doubt I'll EVER get to hear a LSi setup and am skeptikal when or IF a LSiM series will make it to any stores up here.

TECHNOKID · November 2011

zx_toth wrote: »

There is room to spread them apart so I will give that a try tomorrow night and give a listen. I am coming to appreciate more and more that placement is very key.

Unfortunately Polk Audio Ebay store wont ship to Canada so I cant access the deal on the LSi's. I looked on Ebay and a seller in my province wants $799.99 for LSis I am noting that the higher end Polk stuff to be quite inaccessible in Canada, particularly in Northern Ontario. Local mid-higher end brands that I can get my hands on are PSB, Paradigm, BW. I may explore those options unless I find a nice used set of LSis in the province.

Drenis wrote: »

Like you, I too have the same issue with the Polk ebay store not shipping up here. I was fortunate to purchase my A9's from a local retailer up here. Problem was they DO NOT carry the LSi setup. No one around here sells LSi's or LSiM's. They have halted distribution of the A9's as well. It truly is difficult for us unless we ship to a place to cross the border and pick up.

For us Canucks, we should check Visions from time to time as I've seen Lsi in their store at some point when visiting out west (actually work related). I too made some good deals for Polk speakers with them online. It would not surprise me we see a few good deals from time to time at Visions in regard to the Lsi line.

Drenis · November 2011

TECHNOKID wrote: »

For us Canucks, we should check Visions from time to time as I've seen Lsi in their store at some point when visiting out west (actually work related). I too made some good deals for Polk speakers with them online. It would not surprise me we see a few good deals from time to time at Visions in regard to the Lsi line.

Hate to burst the bubble but I'm afraid they don't. They stopped carrying that line a while back, even before I bought my A9's. I do however, remember them being there when we were in the market to buy our TV which was just over a year ago. They got Monitor 70 S II and TSI line now... Check there website. All we got is that and Future Shop's. But good luck finding them selling the A9's... There never in stock in store or online.

Edit: Just checked and it states that the A9's are both Not available online or in store, not just out of stock.

we need more vendors.

Setting up my first 2 channel setup in a week

Comments