New xpa-5
DAVE HOFFER
Posts: 23
Fairly new to the form. Looked at many threads on amps. Liked parasound and outlaw. Went with the xpa-5. Paid 769.00 shipped. Easy to hook up. What a differance in sound. Make it louder but not twice as loud as i though it would be with so many more amps going to the speakers. The bass and treble really came out much smoother and clearer. Great bass. Its like i got new speakers. The amp doesnt run hot. Really much cooler than the all of the other components. I dont have another amp to compare it to but it sounds great to me. I was also looking at the rtia9 and lsi 15 speakers. Came across a set of lsi 15,lsic,lsifx for 1300.00. They looked and sound like new so i bought them. I will hook them up tonight under 4 ohms to see. Hope i see a differance again in sound over my rt55i set up.
Post edited by DAVE HOFFER on
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Congrats. Sounds like you're happy with your purchase, and that's what matters most.
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Congrats enjoy all your new toys, and Welcome to Club Polk!Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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I had the same setup except with LSi7's as surrounds. I got many hours of enjoyment out of them. What pre are you running? Sub?
I hope (and suspect) you'll be pleased with the speakers.
Enjoy!Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.-John Wooden -
Congrats on your new amp! And welcome to Club Polk!--Gary--
Onkyo Integra M504, Bottlehead Foreplay III, Denon SACD, Thiel CS2.3, NHT VT-2, VT-3 and Evolution T6, Infinity RSIIIa, SDA1C and a few dozen other speakers around the house I change in and out. -
I have a onkyo 709. The lsi set up is very very clear. Maybe a little to much treble. I have a older polk psw650. Im want more bass. Not sure how to set the bass cross over. The higher the hz # 80 means the bass comes in sooner than say 120 hz or maybe i dont understand what to do and how to set it up. Someone else set it up before with the rt55's. Not the right bass? May need a newer one? I have been looking on how to adjust the treble and bass on the 709. Cant find it. Anybody know?
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DAVE HOFFER wrote: »I have a onkyo 709. The lsi set up is very very clear. Maybe a little to much treble. I have a older polk psw650. Im want more bass. Not sure how to set the bass cross over. The higher the hz # 80 means the bass comes in sooner than say 120 hz or maybe i dont understand what to do and how to set it up. Someone else set it up before with the rt55's. Not the right bass? May need a newer one? I have been looking on how to adjust the treble and bass on the 709. Cant find it. Anybody know?
If you set you sub crossover freq to 80Hz, only 80 Hz and below will go to the sub. If you set it at 120,than 120 and below will go to your sub. Those low freqs take a lot of power to run off of your mains, so by using a powered sub, you take some of the work load off the AVR.
According to you owners manual, which you can down load at Onkyo.com, you can set that freq at 80, 90, 100, and 120 Hz. You would probably want to start at 80, and workfrom there. You can access this from your set-up page, and then select speaker config. -
If I'm understanding you right I'm to set the AVR to 8o HZ. Also I have a knob on the back of the sub. Start that at 80 also. So if I turn it to 100 HZ the bass comes in later or sooner. Sorry for such stupid questions.
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DAVE HOFFER wrote: »If I'm understanding you right I'm to set the AVR to 8o HZ. Also I have a knob on the back of the sub. Start that at 80 also. So if I turn it to 100 HZ the bass comes in later or sooner. Sorry for such stupid questions.
I suggest you read your manuals, then come here for additional guidance.
lol. 2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
Congrats on the LSi's. Excellent speakers! I used to have an all LSi setup, and I loved it! I use an XPA-5 also, and I think it's a very good amp for HT. Not quite as refined as the BAT VK-500 I use in my 2-channel setup, but it represents a terrific bang for your buck for HT. The LSi-FX's are sweeeeeeet!
Enjoy!2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
You're talking about the LPF of LFE control, and the correct setting for that is ALWAYS 120Hz. There's no wiggle room on that. The LPF of LFE control only exists to maintain compatibility with THX-spec'd subwoofers. Unless you're running a THX-spec'd sub that is designed to roll off above 80Hz, set LPF of LFE to 120Hz so you don't truncate the LFE channel. The LFE channel is brickwall filtered by design at 120Hz, so setting it to anything lower than that will throw away information from that channel (i.e. it doesn't get redirected to your other speakers).If you set you sub crossover freq to 80Hz, only 80 Hz and below will go to the sub. If you set it at 120,than 120 and below will go to your sub. Those low freqs take a lot of power to run off of your mains, so by using a powered sub, you take some of the work load off the AVR.
According to you owners manual, which you can down load at Onkyo.com, you can set that freq at 80, 90, 100, and 120 Hz. You would probably want to start at 80, and workfrom there. You can access this from your set-up page, and then select speaker config.
Keep in mind that this is different than the crossovers for your OTHER channels, which tell the system what point to transition from speaker to sub. The sum of these crossovers is then added to the LFE channel for output to the sub. Don't confuse LFE and subwoofer output... They are completely different things. The LFE channel is the low frequency effects channel of a digital soundtrack. The subwoofer output combines bass redirected by the bass management in your AVR (i.e. the crossovers you set for each channel) with the information from the LFE channel to provide a single output of all of this information to the subwoofer.
As far as setting the crossovers for the individual channels, here's what I usually advise: If you're running them off the AVR, set them all to 80Hz and let the subwoofer's amp shoulder the bass duties. The amp in the subwoofer will typically be of a better design than the one in your AVR. If, however, you are running external amplification (like your XPA-5), you have the freedom to set the speakers closer to their specs, since you don't have to worry about the AVR's weak amplification. Look at Polk's site for the specs for each of your speakers. Where you see the "lower -3dB" point, multiply that x 1.5 and pick the closest crossover point to that in your AVR for that channel. That gives you a half-octave of transition from the speaker to the subwoofer and should ensure that you don't hit the speaker's natural rolloff as that transition occurs (which would create a gap in frequency response). Again, this is a general guideline - speakers will typically have slightly lower in-room response than the anechoic specs that Polk provides, and my half-octave rule takes that into account. Given the slope of these crossovers (i.e. the rate at which they transition), you shouldn't notice a gap in frequency response.
As far as the knob on the back of the subwoofer, TURN IT TO ITS MAXIMUM SETTING. You don't want the analog crossover on the subwoofer to overlap with the digital crossovers in the AVR because it will create a gap in frequency response. The digital filters in the AVR will handle the transition from speaker to sub without any phase shift, then only output that information to the subwoofer. The crossover dial on your sub is more for integration into legacy systems with no digital crossovers, which isn't an issue with your 709.
My final bit of advice: You're on your way to a killer system there. That PSW650 doesn't do the rest of it justice at all. Next time you're feeling a bit of upgradeitis, I suggest looking toward a sub purchase from SVSound, Elemental Designs, HSU, etc. to get serious bang-for-your-buck bass. You put a subwoofer that can do a clean 20Hz into that system with fairly flat response up above 80Hz and it would bring a big-**** smile to your face.Equipment list:
Onkyo TX-NR3010 9.2 AVR
Emotiva XPA-3 amp
Polk RTi70 mains, CSi40 center, RTi38 surrounds, RTi28 rears and heights
SVS 20-39CS+ subwoofer powered by Crown XLS1500
Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player
DarbeeVision DVP5000 video processor
Epson 8500UB 1080p projector
Elite Screens Sable 120" CineWhite screen -
I think you will really like the XPA-5. A friend of mine got an XPA-2 to power his Maggie 1.7. The sound is pretty awesome. Congrats!Living Room: HK AVR 354 as pre/pro, 2 x Polk Audio Micropro 4000, Adcom GFA-7500, 2 x Mirage OMD-15
2 x Mirage OMD-5, 1 x Mirage OMD-C1, APC H15, Sony S790, Philips 52" LCD, Beogram 3000, FAT (Firestone Audio Tobby DAC), Harmony One
Den: Sherwood R-972,as pre/pro, 2 x Velodyne SPL-1000R, 3 x Crown Drivecore XLS1500, 2 x Polk Audio Lsi9
1 x Polk Audio Lsic, 2 x Polk Audio Lsifx, Sony S790, APC H15, Dspeaker Dual Core 2.0, W4S DAC 2, Keces DA-151 -
kuntasensei wrote: »My final bit of advice: You're on your way to a killer system there. That PSW650 doesn't do the rest of it justice at all. Next time you're feeling a bit of upgradeitis, I suggest looking toward a sub purchase from SVSound, Elemental Designs, HSU, etc. to get serious bang-for-your-buck bass. You put a subwoofer that can do a clean 20Hz into that system with fairly flat response up above 80Hz and it would bring a big-**** smile to your face.
+1 on this. Sub should be next on the list bro. SVS PB13/12 or Epik Empire should be a beast in that setup. Nice selection of toys so far. Congrats.Shoot the jumper.....................BALLIN.............!!!!!
Home Theater Pics in the Showcase :cool:
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=73580 -
kuntasensei wrote: »My final bit of advice: You're on your way to a killer system there. That PSW650 doesn't do the rest of it justice at all. Next time you're feeling a bit of upgradeitis, I suggest looking toward a sub purchase from SVSound, Elemental Designs, HSU, etc. to get serious bang-for-your-buck bass. You put a subwoofer that can do a clean 20Hz into that system with fairly flat response up above 80Hz and it would bring a big-**** smile to your face.
Agree, when I got rid of my Onkyo 10" sub and Energy 8" sub and got my first Empire, I finally had an actual H.T. When I got my second Empire, I found out what efficient bass response was.Source: BRP Panasonic UB9000, CDP Emotiva ERC3 - Display: LG OLED EVO 83 C3 - Pre/Pro: Marantz 8802A - Amplification: Emotiva XPA-DR3, XPA-2 x 2, XPA-6, Speakers, Mains/2ch-Focal Kanta No2's, C-LSiM706, S-702F/X, RS-RTiA9's, WS-RTiA9's, FH-RTiA3's, Subs - Epik Empire x 2
Cables: AudioQuest McKenzie XLR's/CDP/Amp, Carbon 48/BRP, Forest 48/Display, 2 channel speaker cable: Furutech FS Alpha 36 12AWG PCOCC Single Crystal (Douglas Connection)
EXPERIENCE: next to nothing, but I sure enjoy audio and video MY OPINION OF THIS HOBBY: I may not be a smart man, but I know what quicksand is.
When I was young, I was Superman but now that old age has gotten the best of me I'm only Batman -
@Dave,Nice pickup on them LSi-15's!Welcome too the Club!That XPA-5 is great for HT I have one and like it a lot For HT.I also drive my LSi-15's with two EMO UPA-1 monoblocks for music and have too say they do OK.I will upgrade too a Nice Parasound A21 for music soon.Again nice pickups!Enjoy!
