New to Polk speakers - need receiver advice

sssmdg

To start this off, I am not an audio freak; I just love good music and movies.

I sold my Klipsch RF7?s- I could not take another day of horn tweeters.

I just bought the following Polk speakers and need to buy a new receiver.

Rtia7?s,

CsiA4 (I would buy the Csia6 if need be, I am turned off by huge speakers after owning Klipschs)

Fxia4?s (Again I would buy the Fxia6?s if need be, bigger is not always better)

Keeping my Klipsch RW12 for the sub, I own it and love it so no reason to sell it and buy another one just yet.

The real questions I have for you are as follows;

Center speaker selection, stay with the csia4 or go to the csia6, again bigger is not always better, I am over the size thing now, previous Klipsch RF7 owner.

Receiver selection, I really do not have a price limit on what I can spend, however not being an audio freak, spending $3000.00 on a receiver loaded with functions I will never use is not what I am after. What I am after is as follows:

3D processing ? for the future
HD processing for the big screen
Smart phone hook up of sorts
Internet Radio
Ability to stream audio from my smart phone
Enough power to make the Polks come alive
I am looking at the following receivers
Denon Avr 3312CI
Yamaha RX a1010
Pioneer VSX 53

Tankman

All three are good AVR's...Just make sure they have per-amp outs on all channels.You will thank yourself down the road for getting one that has them..

sssmdg

I currently run the HK DPR 2005 - I have had nothing but issues over the past 5 years with this receiver, from time to time all the input settings go away, a real pain when you are ready to watch tv \ listen to music and you have to reprogram it, needless to say I am turned off to HK. I do realize that things change over time and HK may be better now

sssmdg

After much reading and runing around town listening to receivers, $1000 - 1200 get me about anything I need within reason of course. I will never do multi room anthing, I listening room is 10 x 22 at best and I love loud music but quality, I truly enjoy movies, I believe I have the best speaker setup for my room, I did over buy a bit, however my intentions are to move in the next couple of years, with that said I wanted to buy enough speaker to fit my needs down the road. Again I sit without a receiver (well I have my HK still) as of yet, I am ready to buy and have been ready to buy, when you go the store they always want to push you to what they have in stock of course. I am hoping now to just finalize what I want \ need and order it online, that way I do not have to deal with a salesman anymore.

chumlie

You may want to look at Pioneer sc-35 or sc-55. Speaking from experiance. I bought last years model of the vsx-53, i have the vsx-33. While i have no complaints with it, knowing what i do now i wish i would have spent the extra coin for the sc series. I have since added a power amp to it to get the most out of the rti a7's. Also consider the csi a6 over the 4 since most of home theatre sound is coming thru the center. In this case bigger is better. Just my opinion.

sssmdg

thank you so much, I as well pretty much thought the bigger center would be best for my usage

Lietuvis91

For rtia series the denon or pio would be great. I still have not taken my vsx52 out of the box yet, but it will most likely be my bedroom avr for my 5.0 monitor setup. The denon 3312 is very nice and feature packed too, i would have a hard time picking between the two...

if you want hd radio, then you go with the denon.

chumlie

Seriously consider the sc series. Your gonna want that extra power to drive those speakers or you may want to look at extrnal amp if you go with something else. Make sure reciever has preouts in case you do.

sssmdg

By Monday I will have ordered my new set of Polks, still in an enternal debade do I order

rtia7's or 9;s
csia6
fxaa4's

The question 7's or 9's but leaning towards the 7's because of size, my room is only 12 x 14

Now the receiver, when are the 2012 receivers released and which one to buy, I am in the $1200 - $1500 range, after looking around at receivers $1500.00 is a good range for me to be in

chumlie

Pioneer sc-55 and i'm not sure when new models come out. I am sure you'l be happy with the 55.

Lietuvis91

Well, you mention that you will use this for music, and you also don't mention anything about a sub. Music and no sub means a9s in my book. And that also means you should get either an sc series receiver or an external amp to help to power those big boys.

gudnoyez

Of the 3 you mentioned I would go with the Denon, always liked the sound that the Denons put out, you get dual sub outs with that model. I Like the new Pioneer SC Series those are not on your list but I would get one myself next time I need a avr. I think you should consider one of those also.

HAC2010

First post - just joined the forum and this thread is dear to my ears....

I also just purchased the RTiA9's - and going to compliment them with the CSiA6 and (probably) the FXiA4's. I have the joy of setting up my man-cave proper (new home build coming along) and I'm going to prewire the walls for audio/video to hide all the AV cables.

I have been burning the internet reading all reviews, comments and curses while I must decide what AVR to use and/or if an amp is required.
After it's all said and done - I have decided (99% at least) on getting the Denon 3312CI and EMO XPA-3 to drive the fronts/center.
Let Denon handle the surrounds and wides should I add them later.

I think it's at the feature and price point that I want to take my next level to in HT setup.
However, I hate the thought of overlooking any other config/product so I'm still sitting (at least until a price discount comes up on any of the missing pieces)

I like the idea of starting down the separates road using the XPA-3 and a decent AVR...
And if anyone has an experience similar to this setup I'd love to hear it - good or bad.

Cheers
HAC

sssmdg

Most the new gear is now home, I purchased the following and need to get it all hooked up yet.
rtai7
csia4 but may still get the 6
fxia4
Denon avr 4311ci
Denon dvd 3800dbci

It will be days before anything is hooked up, new furntiure is on its way as well, no need to hook things up just to tear it down again. I did unpack everything, you know, so I can look at it like it is Christmas morning

chumlie

Looks like a very merry Christmas. Congrats on a nice system. What are you useing for the video side ?

sssmdg

I have an older (3 years tops) 55" plasma, I can not even recall who makes it, needless to say 34 years ago when I bought it, it was almost as much as the new receiver. I have my eyes on a new one and will go 60 plus inches when I do. I have no complaints with what I have, TV's change every month now, for now I am going to hold off, get the system all put together and see what the output is. It would be nice if the patchy black background goes away once the tv is ran through the new avr. Time will tell, if not I will consider upgrading the tv.

We all know how this goes, I bought a new system, ok I replaced a great system with a better one, this has lead down the road to new furniture, when does it stop

chumlie

I know what ya mean. That upgrade bug is hard to stop. Just got rid of a perfectly good Mitsubishi 55in that i paid $2000 for about 6 or 7 years ago. Lucky to get $300 for it. Now have a 60in plasma. No regrets though. Also just replaced speakers, reciever, bought an amp, blueray player, dvd player for sacd's and new interconects and speaker wire. And now thinking 2 chanel. Whole family thinks i'm nuts. They just don't understand. Oh well.

sssmdg

I took a pretty nice bath on my Klipsch's for sure. I am sure I should of kept them for another project, however they were \ are sooooo big that I could not see ever using them again.

gp4jesus

HAC2010 wrote: »

First post - just joined the forum and this thread is dear to my ears....

...new home build coming along and I'm going to prewire the walls for audio/video to hide all the AV cables.

Cheers
HAC

Welcome to Club Polk! Am I too late? I ask the following at the risk of "slapping the hornet's nest."

Have you bought wire for your side/rear channels? Longer runs demand larger gage wire than your "front." (LCR) From this simple comment brace yourself for more opinions than all the grains of sand on the beaches of the world.

IMHO Part Express sells an excellent value - 12 gage on 30' rolls. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better gage to $ ratio. Sorry if you receive more info (opinions) than you know what to do with.

Shalom, Tony

jbooker82

Spend engough on an AVR that has pre outs, and all the features you want, then use the your extra money on a good used 3or 5 channel amplifer. You will have to spend big bucks on a AVR in order to get one that will drive the RTiA 7's or 9's like a mid level AVR / External amp combo will.

sssmdg

I ended up buying a Denon 4311 and love it, questionable if it is truly enough power to fully drive the Rtia7's, however the package is so nice, the sound is warm I have to say.