Optimizing TSi500 Setup

tmartin

Hey there,

Want to get the most of out my new home theater setup, looking for FEEDBACK/RECOMMENDATIONS.

Is my Pioneer VSX-1020-K enough to power my setup for music, movies, and games? I've been reading about
owner's adding AMPs and Pre-AMPs to their systems for extra power, ie. Emotiva.

Feeling that my fronts are still flat when listening to FLAC music files, haven't tried CD's or Vinyls.

Please help, thanks.

TM

---

Sony KDL-60NX810
Pioneer VSX-1020-K
Polk TSi500 (2)
Polk CS10
Polk FXi A4 (2)
Polk PSW505
Logitech Harmony One

Stilly74

Think your amp should push around 80 watts per ch. I'm using a denon891 (105 watts per/ch) and pushes the tsi500's very well. Sound great in a 7.1 setup or in 2ch setup with a velodyne eq-max12 sub. Well they did sound great till recently found that the tweeters are blow in both speakers. Not sure how this happened but...... Have them paired with tsi 200 and tsi100. Could not be happier with the setup.

wutadumsn23

I am not overly familiar with Pioneer AVR's but if I am not mistaken this particular model does not have Pre Amp inputs? Without those, adding an external amp would not be possible.... Hope I am wrong.

-Jeff

tonyb

The receiver you have is fine for the speakers you have, unfortunately though your limited to what you can upgrade to down the road because you don't have preouts. That said, flac sounds terrible run straight into most entry level receivers, heck, even more advanced receivers too. You need a stand alone DAC to run your flac into, then analog outputs into the avr inputs. This would improve your sound 5 fold. We have many threads going on how to get decent sound out of downloaded music, use the search function and read up. Also, if your speakers are sounding flat or dull, it could be you have something setup wrong in the receiver. First thing to look at is where the speaker levels are set too, and the crossover settings, both in the avr and the back of the subwoofer.

Stilly74- You blew your tweeters likely from over driving them at higher volumes. Your receiver and the OP's is not rated for those watts at 5.1 or even worse, 7.1.....more like 30-40 watts in surround mode. Everything has it's limits.

wutadumsn23

Thanks Tony, I meant pre outs, lol. Long night.

-Jeff

tmartin

Thanks all the responses, I appreciate it.

Tonyb, could you recommend a decent mid-range DAC I could pickup, and point me to where I could learn how to set this up?

Here a the specs of both the receiver and fronts.

VSX-1020-K
POWER
Amplifier Design - Direct Energy
Channels - 7.1
Power Output Per Channel(20Hz-20kHz,.08%THD@8ohm) 80
Power Output Per Channel (1kHz@8ohm) 110
Power Output Per Channel (1kHz@6ohm) 125

TSi500
Electrical
Overall Frequency Response 28Hz-25kHz
Lower -3dB Limit 38Hz dB
Upper -3dB Limit 24KHz dB
Nominal Impedance 8 ohms
Recommended Amplifier Power 20-275 w/channel
Efficiency 91 dB
Crossover 2500
Inputs 5 way binding posts

Seeing as how my AVR can only hit 125 w per channel, will using a DAC push closer to the 275ish range? Will that make sound quality better?

thsmith

tmartin wrote: »

Hey there,

Want to get the most of out my new home theater setup, looking for FEEDBACK/RECOMMENDATIONS.

Is my Pioneer VSX-1020-K enough to power my setup for music, movies, and games? I've been reading about
owner's adding AMPs and Pre-AMPs to their systems for extra power, ie. Emotiva.

Feeling that my fronts are still flat when listening to FLAC music files, haven't tried CD's or Vinyls.

Please help, thanks.

TM

---

Sony KDL-60NX810
Pioneer VSX-1020-K
Polk TSi500 (2)
Polk CS10
Polk FXi A4 (2)
Polk PSW505
Logitech Harmony One

What are you running your FLAC files through before getting to avr and how are you feeding the avr.?

While I was waiting on my w4s DAC 2 I played aiff files from my Mac mini hdmi to avr and it did not sound flat, thin but did have a little depth. Obviously the DAC 2 sounds excellent but I admit to being surprised how well it sounded using avr.

tmartin

I'm using my iPod/iPhone. Perhaps flat was the wrong word to use, but when I listened to music I'm still thinking that it could sound better from the TSi's. Not sure if that's just the limitation of my mid-range setup itself, or if I need to tweak things (quite new at this, so trying to learn and figure things out). Thanks.

thsmith

tmartin wrote: »

I'm using my iPod/iPhone. Perhaps flat was the wrong word to use, but when I listened to music I'm still thinking that it could sound better from the TSi's. Not sure if that's just the limitation of my mid-range setup itself, or if I need to tweak things (quite new at this, so trying to learn and figure things out). Thanks.

Your I devices are not playing flac, most likely mp3. Try aiff and see if that sounds better.

B Run

Keep in mind it's not delivering near as much power as you think. The 1120 which has beefier amps only pushes 47wpc when running 5 channels, and the 1020 is advertised with 30 less watts than the 1120. I think you need a new receiver to get the sound you want.

cnh

If you're on a budget the Music Fidelity V-DAC is a nice starter unit that has gotten some nice reviews and is not horribly expensive. If you get into what the guys around here use! Be prepared to spend a 1000 plus on a DAC. That's just not in my budget!

Good Luck!

cnh