Need Advice: RTi70 or FXi50 as Rear Surrounds

NomortaL · October 2003

Hoping for some advice on my next purchase. I currently have RTi70's for my front, CSi40 for my center, and FXi30's for my rear surrounds. Have an Infinty SUB (12" - 250 RMS)...

I want to set up a 7.1 channel system and am torn between, buying a set of RTi150's for my fronts and moving the RTi70's for my surround's, and the FXi30's as my rear's.

The other option is to buy FXi50's to use as my surrounds and use the FXi30's as my rears, and keep the Rti70's up front.

Powering the 150's or the rest of the system is not going to be a problem so please any suggestions regarding what choice i should make, need not include any warning's about power needs for the 150's.

My question would be is it better to use the dipole setting's of the FXi50's in the surround postion - or the RTi70's. I primarly watch movies (70%) / Music Listening (30%).

gatemplin · October 2003

I would say go with the FX's for surrounds and keep the 70s up front. I say this mainly because I think the 70s are too low for surround duty. Just my two cents.

Just curious what kind of amp(s) you have? Must have a lot of power.

NomortaL · October 2003

WOW all these reads and no one willing to offer a helping hand - what do you have to be ELITE for some one in these forums to help answer a question.

scornful · October 2003

lol I think no one had anthing to offer.... stick with the fx's. The 70's will be too low for the "ideal" setup. Just my opinion though......

Emlyn · October 2003

Unless someone is really into music more than movies, I'd suggest getting the FXi50s for surrounds. Mount them at about 110 degrees, or slightly behind your "sweet spot" listening position, and between 6 and 7 feet up. Dipole setting sounds best to me for the FX speakers when they're to the side. Use the FXi30s as back surrounds. I run my back surrounds bipole.

I'd suggest keeping your RTi70s up front. My setup is a little unusual because I'm much more into music than movies. The only reason I can think of to get RTi150s up front is for two channel music listening. They are great speakers for music. In fact, I like them so much I got two pair for multichannel hi-rez audio use.

brettw22 · October 2003

NM, not that you aren't asking a valid question, but it's *possible* that not everyone that reads the thread wants to answer, especially considering the constant debate on these two speakers. There are SEVERAL threads about them that answer your question, and it *might* prove useful to use the search function.

That being said, I think of the 150 as a 'tweener.' It's better at bass than a lot of towers on their own, but it's wasted when in a theater set-up where you're using a sub and setting the towers to small. I agree that your 70's are the way to go up front, and look at a pair of the FX's as your surrounds. That also depends on what your listening preferences are with regard to bi/dipole speakers and direct radiating.

A few answers you'll see a LOT of here on the forum: (which are all perfectly valid considering a lot of people have no idea what the sound is of the stuff they're asking)

1. Buy what you like listening to. "LET YOUR EARS DECIDE"

2. Consider your sources capabilities if you're building a system around that. (the 150's will beat most receivers down into protection mode)

3. Two midranges are better in a tower than one.

4. Get out there and demo the equipment yourself rather than just buying off everyone elses recommendations.

5. Use the search function. (There's nearly 2000 threads in JUST speakers)

Good luck with your system, and welcome to the forum.

NomortaL · October 2003

Thanks guys for some insite and advice...

brettw22 - it is clear that you didn't even bother reading my post - I am not debating between Rti70's and RTi150's, I am debating between the 70's and FXi50's as surround. Basically asking is the Dipole function of the 50's worth it's weight in salt - or would i recieve a much fuller sound from the 70's...

Everyone still wants to debate about the 150's and 70's and i don't understand why..

and also there brett22 - i did use the search function - and guess what **** - there is no reference to comparing the 70's vs the 50's in a surround mode...

F1nut · October 2003

NomortaL,

There is NO reason for you to call a another member the name you did. You could have made your point without the personal attack.

Let me give you some sound advice. Your attitude is not welcome here, so either change it or go somewhere else and I mean that in the strongest terms!!!

F1

brettw22 · October 2003

Originally posted by NomortaL
Hoping for some advice on my next purchase. I currently have RTi70's for my front, CSi40 for my center, and FXi30's for my rear surrounds. Have an Infinty SUB (12" - 250 RMS)...

I want to set up a 7.1 channel system and am torn between, buying a set of RTi150's for my fronts and moving the RTi70's for my surround's, and the FXi30's as my rear's.

The other option is to buy FXi50's to use as my surrounds and use the FXi30's as my rears, and keep the Rti70's up front.

Powering the 150's or the rest of the system is not going to be a problem so please any suggestions regarding what choice i should make, need not include any warning's about power needs for the 150's.

My question would be is it better to use the dipole setting's of the FXi50's in the surround postion - or the RTi70's. I primarly watch movies (70%) / Music Listening (30%).

Your next purchase is going to either be the RTi150's, or a pair of FXi50's......or did you not mean to say what you said? Since you mentioned the 150's in there.......as I count it.........THREE times you fuckwad, you clearly put them in the field to be taken into consideration in giving you advice.

Have you ever tried a direct firing speaker as a surround? Did you like it? Would you like for us to tell you what we like only to have you whine about it later when you buy something that you didn't ever listen to and determine if YOU like it?

Between your two scenarios, keep your **** 70's, buy some FXi50's, then take your sorry **** outta here and cry elsewhere when people don't respond to ya.........

F1nut · October 2003

Brett,

Again, no reason to respond like that. All of these points can be made without the name calling. It is getting old and is not a good reflection on our host, Polk Audio. Some folks need to change their attitude, NOW!

NomortaL · October 2003

No i have never tried a direct firing speakers as surrounds - but currently I have my FXi30's set in BiPole - and I am not impressed with the direct sound. That's why i wanted to know if in a HOME THEATER set up the FXi50's in a DiPole setting would produce a much fuller sound than a Pair of RTi70's...

F1nut - I do agree 100% that my poor choice of vocabulary was not nessesary nor called for. I can't help but notice on how much stronger of a warning I recieved than brett. Funny you figure a guy with some 1200+ post would know what is tolerated much better than a guy with 2.

The way I see it, you L33T here are too busy posting non-stop to show everyone how smart you really all are. In the mean time making smart **** comments and snubbing your noses to people who don't know that I am supprised you even have time to enjoy some of the fine equipment that some of you own.

ALL and ALL - bad taste in my mouth

Frank Z · November 2003

I would caution against using a floor standing speaker as a surround speaker unless you also place the Fx speakers at the same general height. Doing otherwise will cause the surround effects to become very localized, which is the opposite of what your surrounds should do. Regardless of what you choose for your front speakers, you should consider placing the Fx speakers on the sides and use direct radiating speakers for the rear channels, 38's would do nicely. Ideally the surround speakers should be 2-3' above and slightly behind the listeners ears (when seated). Rear speakers should be at the same height as the surrounds.

Keep in mind that there are a lot of people that view almost every thread/post on this site and never respond. Just because your thread has numerous views nd no replies doesn't mean that you are being ignored. Sometimes you just need to be a little patient to get the responses to your questions. Tone it down a notch or two and you'll find that 99% of the people that frequent this site are damn good folks to deal with. Bad attitudes will get you nowhere fast around here.

scornful · November 2003

Frank,

Nice setup.... Your Outlaw 7100 is rated at ~160 wpc? I was looking at Outlaw and had my mind made up on their monoblocks because the 7100 at 100 wpc wasnt quite enough for me. Your quote is from a review I assume.... I'm still debating Outlaw monoblocks, B&K 7270, Sherbourn or Anthem. Still have to find a store that carries Sherbourn for an audition.

Frank Z · November 2003

Scornful,
Thank you kindly, Sir!

Not sure which quote you are refering to.

The 7100 is 100 wpc x 7 @ 8ohms, but is 165wpc x 7 @ 4ohms.

scornful · November 2003

My bad... I forget the LSi's are 4 ohm!

bigsexy1 · November 2003

NomortaL, what receiver do you have? If it is by chance a Denon 3802/3, 4802, or 5803, you can actually get both sets (the 70s and the 50s/30s), and hook them up in the rear, then just switch between whichever set you want to use at the moment. This way, you can have the best of both worlds for music and movies.

NomortaL · November 2003

Sexy - I have an HK AVR8000 along with a ROTEL RMB-1095 and a ROTEL RB-1090 - I have had the reciever for almost a year now and bought the 2 amps over the past 5 months. Some time shortly after christmas I will be looking into buying a dedicated Pre-Amp/proccesor, probbably an RSP-1066.

I decided to buy both the FXi50's and the RTi150's and have been playing around with diffrent configurations the past 2 days. I have to agree with you guys that the 50's do sound much better during movie watching, with them placed to the side and in the DiPole mode. Though I like the sound of the 70's in the rear postion while listening to music better using HK's LOGIC 7 proccessing.

BTW what ever the debate has been about the 150's - I think they are great sounding speakers, for both movies and music.

bigsexy1 · November 2003

Basically, in a nutshell, when they went clearenced priced, a lot of people scooped them up only to discover that they didn't have enough power for them. They will send the typical 100 watt per channel AVR into shutdown protection mode. There is/was a small, very vocal faction who espoused the virtues of the 70s when driven by an AVR and high passed at 80 HZ along with a SVS sub being far superior to the 150s, which very well may be true. I have both, and you can read about the head to head, one on one "shootout" I did between the 2 in the hall of shame. It's like the second thread from the top right now.

I also have a HK 8000. Awesome piece. Your Rotels are top notch also. You weren't kidding around when you said that power for the 150s is simply not an issue.

Right now, I use a Denon 3803 with my Polk RTis (except for the 150s which are in a dedicated 2 channel setup biamped by Adcoms). I have 70 mains, 40 center, 30 side surrounds in dipole mode, 30 rear surrounds in bipole mode for movies, and another set of 70 back corner surrounds for 5.1 music. I really dig this set-up. One could also do that on a non Denon receiver I guess with a simple speaker selector switch.

Emlyn · November 2003

Originally posted by NomortaL
I have an HK AVR8000 along with a ROTEL RMB-1095 and a ROTEL RB-1090

NomortaL,
Have you experimented with different amp configurations with your RTi150s? I've been thinking for a while about getting either an RMB-1095 or an RB-1090, but not both. Have you tried comparing the RMB-1095 in a biamp configuration with the RB-1090 biwired? Any differences noticeable?

The reason I ask is that I'm thinking about moving one pair of RTi150s into a separate two channel system with a dedicated pre-amp and downsizing the speakers I use for the home theater. I would like to use the RMB-1075 in the home theater still and am wondering whether you prefer the RMB-1095 or RB-1090 for two channel use. Right now I'm leaning towards the idea of biamping with an RMB-1095 rather than the RB-1090.

Good choice on the FX speakers for movies. I got my FXi30s a couple of months ago after using direct radiating speakers for a couple of years as surrounds. I found the dipole effect really adds alot to the movie watching speakers.

Since you bought both your amps recently, your Rotel dealer should give you an RSP-1066 for half price.

Need Advice: RTi70 or FXi50 as Rear Surrounds

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