HT help..for somebody that knows nothing about this....

naturallight

Now i know NOTHING about HT stuff at all. My TV room is 11 1/2' x 14. The TV sits on the 14' wall..so i'm maybe 8+ feet away from the tv. This is hardwood floors with a throw rug.


I have extra speakers sitting around. Now rather then just get a soundbar..maybe i should make use of these speakers. Now i have a set of RTi 12's and a set of SDA 1C's..but both of those would be far to big, and require massive power. I have a set of old Large Advents, which will also blow your face off in that size room...BUT don't require the power the others do. They work fine on 100watts or less.


Now I "assume" i need a center channel speaker..something like a CS10. Which i can pick up on the Polk Ebay sight for like 100 bucks. Now there are AVR's for sale on Ebay..all over the place. I don't think i need anything more then a 5.1 type AVR


Now the question would be....1. do i NEED a sub....the Advents will kick your butt for music as far as bass. But i guess some type sub could be added later.

2. can i run this system with just the Advents as fronts with the center channel?? At least for now.


Back speakers..if needed, would have to be small, and mounted on the walls and fireing towards the seating positions at both ends of the 14' room. The room is just not large enough to go with much bigger speakers.


If this makes any sence at all..what type AVR do i need for this type set up???

Thanks

cnh

Well, you do have the minimum length for SDA placement there (14'). Something to think about.

You should really consider building a system around the Rti-12s eventually, because that's what they do! You can start with a good AVR and add power later!

Can you run a 3.0 up front? Sure. Any AVR will let you choose from 2.0 to 5.1 or 7.1 at this point. I have a 3.1 system in my basement. Two B.A. A 100s a Polk Csi-3 and a Polk sub on an old Pioneer AVR 5.1. Works fine.

I also have a pair of Large Advents down there on a Pioneer SX-3900 fluroscan so I know what they sound like. And they can also benefit from power. The Pioneer is an honest 120 watts x 2 and the Advents soak that up! 45 lbs worth of vintage receiver there!

Can you run without a sub? Yes, but you'll want to add one if you really want to get the full LFE movie experience!

So 3.0, yes!

Advents up front, Polk center! Possible, not the best timbre matching but it will work.

Put your money into a GOOD AVR for a future set up. Get Pre-outs for the possible use of an external amp and the Rtis or the SDAs.

Good Luck!

cnh

heiney9

In general old Advents need a heck of a lot more power to run than the SDA's or RTi's. The Advents are most likely "Acoustic Suspension" design and the the Polks are bass reflex

Acoustic Suspension
A type of speaker design using a sealed cabinet. Primarily used for low frequency enclosures, acoustic suspension designs use the air mass within the cabinet as a "spring" to help return the relatively massive speaker to the rest position. This allows heavier, longer throw drivers to be used, but results in a less efficient design requiring more amplifier power.

Bass Reflex
A type of speaker cabinet design. Bass Reflex cabinets use an opening, or port, in the speaker cabinet to enhance bass frequencies. The idea is that the sound pressure generated by the back of the woofer (inside the cabinet) is routed out the port, where it is mixed with the sound coming from the front of the woofer. By careful design of port size and position, the amount of low frequencies and how low they extend can be greatly modified.

Bass reflex tend to be a little more effecient and need less amplifier power to reach the same SPL.

H9

naturallight

The advents of course would like GOOD power..but work pretty well with 100watts. The 12's would seem to be MASSIVE over kill for that size room...the Advent would blow your face off in there...the 12's would just leave you dead on the floor...LOL

I'm not that much into HT..just want some decent sound and dialog..which is most important..so your saying the Polks are not a good match for a center channel, with the Advents???

cnh

Brock has a point there. I won't consider running mine on anything less powerful than the Pioneer.

Another thing to think about is, if you don't want to run a sub you'd be fine running the 1Cs with no center and probably not miss the sub in that room. I've run my 2Bs in a 20 x 10 foot space along the 20' wall and they had plenty of bass!

cnh

heiney9

naturallight wrote: »

The advents of course would like GOOD power..but work pretty well with 100watts. The 12's would seem to be MASSIVE over kill for that size room...the Advent would blow your face off in there...the 12's would just leave you dead on the floor...LOL

I'm not that much into HT..just want some decent sound and dialog..which is most important..so your saying the Polks are not a good match for a center channel, with the Advents???

I have yet to meet a reciever capable of blowing my face off or leaving me dead on the floor with any of those speakers in that size a room. Atleast you make your exaggerations entertaining to read :razz:

H9

cnh

naturallight wrote: »

The advents of course would like GOOD power..but work pretty well with 100watts. The 12's would seem to be MASSIVE over kill for that size room...the Advent would blow your face off in there...the 12's would just leave you dead on the floor...LOL

I'm not that much into HT..just want some decent sound and dialog..which is most important..so your saying the Polks are not a good match for a center channel, with the Advents???

I'm running a Polk center with the A-100s which are very much like the Advents, in fact Boston designed them as Advent killers to compete and it sounds fine. It won't be "perfect" but you can get by with that combo.

cnh

tonyb

heiney9 wrote: »

I have yet to meet a reciever capable of blowing my face off ...H9

Have you looked at your face lately ?

naturallight

Well I didn't say any of these speakers have been run on a "receiver" before...they have all been run on seperate power amps of 170Watts per and above..so in this size room...a set of 12's..yeah, pretty much make your ears bleed.

I "assume" the Advents will work OK with at least 100watts on a receiver. They have never been play with less then 170 watts...but...they should be OK for an ht system, that i'm not turning up that much.

The point here, is i don't want my face blown off..i just want some good sound, and good dialog...thats it..nothing more. I don't need to hear starwars at full blast....

teekay0007

Want good sound and good dialog? Then don't skimp on the center channel. In the HT arena, that carries between 60 and 75% of your soundtrack for most movies.

Also, if you go ahead with surrounds - eg. 5.1 or 5.0 system - they should be BESIDE your seating position and a few feet above your head, for best results. This can be seen on display in Endershadow's new setup. :cool:

naturallight

OK....after looking up a bunch of AVR's and not wanting to throw a "alot" of money at this. I came up with this. Harman Kardon Fac Reconditioned AVR 254-Z for $299 It's a 7.1 avr puts out 50watts x7, 65 watts 1 channel driven @ 8 ohms. But this AVR has pre outs for every channel, so yes you could run a stack of amps if you wanted to. It has HDMI inputs 3 and 1 HDMI out for the plasma. All that will be hooked up is the cable box and a Blue ray player.


Now i'm really not that much into HT...just want good dialog, and some decent sound. Thats about it. Plus it's not going to be played that loud. I hate haveing to sit with the volume control in my hand and turn it down everytime the music starts blasting you. Once in a while i might throw a music DVD on there. But otherwise, just strait movie's.


The center channel seems to be the most important, so i would "assume" it should be a CSi A4. Now thats the only speaker that will be run off the HK..so i would think 65 watts should be enough...(keep in mind it's not going to be played that loud)


Now for the main speakers...i have a choice... I could put RTi 12's, SDA 1C's or a set of old large Advents and throw a power amp at them.

The Advents would seem to be the most logical choice. The other 2 would just be wasteing the speakers, at least to me. Those are the only speakers i would run for now.


Maybe down the line i might put up some small surround speakers. They would have to wall mounted and would be high up and fireing down at you. Maybe something like the R150's. That would be it.


IF the HT thing dose not drive me nuts, with the volume control haveing, to turn it up and down all the time.


Do these selections make any sence?? If for some reason i DO like what i hear. It would seem better then wasteing money on a surround bar, with this I can add speakers..If i want to

tonyb

So you don't like the big dynamics in the movie soundtracks when they kick in ? That's the whole point of surround sound, to make you feel like your at the theatre. Most receivers these days have something called "night mode " where everything is tamed down for a quieter listening experience.

Another option is throwing the Advents up front and running no center, let everything come out the front left and right and see how you like it. You'd have to re adjust the settings in the receiver.

naturallight

Right now i have nothing. It's the stock plasma speakers, so there not great. The older movies, the backing music is not 10 times louder then the dialog, so those are not to bad to watch. The new stuff is alot different, and you pretty much have to keep your hand on the volume control, so you don't get blasted. The wifes Sci- Fi stuff...is really bad. Seems like the dialog on some of those is recorded so low, you have to turn the volume way up, then turn it way down so you don't get blasted. It drives me nuts to watch that stuff.


With an AVR, i would think you have more control over this?? The center channel would seem very important for the Dialog, as that seems to be were your getting 90% of it..correct?? The big plus would seem that you have good, much larger/better speakers fireing dialog, strait at you, instead of bounceing off the back wall. SO...I would think you don't have to turn this up that much to be able to understand the dialog, and hopefully don't have to mess with the volume control all the time. At least thats the Plus I see with an AVR. If thats not correct, then I REALLY don't understand this stuff at all.....

codyc1ark

As mentioned before, don't skimp on your center. If your running the 12's then the obvious choice is a CSiA6 - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-CSi-A6-Center-Speaker-/280930304098?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item4168c04062

That's the best I could find in a quick search, I'd post a wtb ad here and see what kind of luck you have. You may be able to find a csi5 too if your lucky. The two most important speakers for your HT are the center and sub, so keep that in mind. Good luck, this is a difficult journey!

tonyb

Unfortunately my friend, what your experiencing in the differences in dialog with different movies is in the way they are recorded, no fault of the end user. With an AVR, your going to have the ability to boost the volume on each individual speaker but again, when dynamic passages come around, you'll still be fussing over turning it back down.

Not quite sure this will accomplish your goals, as all the newer movies have very dynamic soundfields to them. Try getting a receiver with "night mode" as I believe that will give you more so what your looking for without sacrificing clear dialog.

gp4jesus

codyc1ark wrote: »

As mentioned before, don't skimp on your center. If your running the 12's then the obvious choice is a CSiA6 - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-CSi-A6-Center-Speaker-/280930304098?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item4168c04062

The CSiA6 center speaker is best w/RTi A series speakers. Some members use and are satisfied using the 'A6 w/LR RTi series speakers. I'm not an expert on the RTi series, but I believe Cody DID name (below) the best choice for your '12s - you'll $ave some too. I encourage you to ask right here on this forum

codyc1ark wrote: »

You may be able to find a csi5 too if your lucky. The two most important speakers for your HT are the center...

codyc1ark wrote: »

and [the] sub, so keep that in mind. Good luck, this is a difficult journey!

We can help make your journey easier. And +1 on any comments concerning a good sub. Has a HUGH impact on the sense of power & depth your system will project.

My brother-in-law has a near-great* sounding 7.1 system** in an awesome room w/ theatre style seats, lights etc. I felt totally immersed watching Iron Man 2. So much so I'd consider giving it 5 stars* except... ...his system fell short of it's potential during the louder passages while it wasn't... ...LOUD, because of his sub's performance.
** professionally designed & installed, very clean

I can't stress strongly enough probably the one place where you shouldn't play it $afe or the one place it's tough to over $pend is your sub - and I'm taking into account the '12s bottom end.

Shaloam, Tony