How loud do you listen to the RT150s?

Solaris · October 2003

Hi all,

A saw in several posts that you need 300-500 watt outboard amp to hear the 150s properly. I have a Denon 3801 driving the 150s on large, CSi49, FXi50s, and i38s for movies with no sub. My room is 15' x 12', and at around -10 db on the dial, it's loud as in the theater. I will eventually add a sub for more rumbling, but for now the system sounds great. When I listen to stereo, at -15db, it's loud enough.

So my question is how loud do you guys listen to the 150s? How can you run out of juice? Does more power means better clarity and definition, or just louder.

An Adcom 555II I bought on Ebay is coming to power the 150s. I don't know if I need it. Should I resale it and get a SVS sub?

Anyways, all comments are appreciated.

faster100 · October 2003

yeah, sell me the 555 and get a svs..

bigsexy1 · October 2003

Solaris, when I first got mine and was trying to break them in, I was running them bi-wired on a 3802, set to large, with all balance and tone controls set to flat (in order to keep the break in hours off of my Adcoms). One day the 3802 ran them on master volume 00 for like 10 or 12 hours sraight nonstop all day long with a changer full of AC/DC without it ever shuting down even once. However, the very next day, it shut down after about 5 hours or so in the exact same situation. I was out of the house when it shut down, and I guess it is possible that a brief power interuption could have triggered the shutdown, but it was probably because it simply got too hot.

Moral of the story though, after I read about the problems Faster was having with the AMC amp on them (as well as some others also), I now have a new respect for the amps Denon puts in their receivers. I know they're not the equivalent to HK, B&K, NAD, and Rotel, but neverthelees, I guess I've been severly underating them for a 3802 to drive 150s on large at 00 for at least 10 hours straight. Anyone who knows the 150s must admit, that is one hell of an amp torture test!

walk · October 2003

-30 to -20 on an Onkyo 70w amp, room is 16'x12' with 12' ceiling sloping down to 9'. The Onkyo is rated at 71wpc into 5 channels before clipping, it's PLENTY of power.

I think if I left it on -0 the cops would be breaking down my door within about 10 minutes..

dholmes · October 2003

I have been powering my 150 with a Adcom 7705 its 175 x 5 it seems to do the job for me!

Airplay355 · October 2003

i powered my rti150s with my marantz receiver and it shut off(depending on the quality of the recording) at about -6 db....with rti70s i've gone to 0 and had no problems. rti150s are just harder to power i guess. i think selling ur rti150s and your amp would definitly beat up ur wallet alittle, especially with how cheap rti150s are selling for now.

they hit plenty low especially with room gain and alot of power. if you really wanna have those extra low frequencies and need some more bass DB then ditch the rti150s and get an svs, if ya dont and ur happy then sit back and enjoy the rumble

i have owned ever rti tower and i decided to stick with the i70s. the rti150s werent clear enough in the midrange and i100s were just a pain in the butt and the i70s dont have deep bass but with a subwoofer i think the i70 and a sub conbo will sound better then the i150s and a sub and the i100s with a sub.

it all boils down to what you like. dont fix it if it aint broke right?

How loud do you listen to the RT150s?

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