Its time for a Polk speaker upgrade. I have a few questions....

BOTTLEDZ28

What is the difference between me buying bookshelfs with front facing ports and me buying floor standing speakers with front facing ports?

Lietuvis91

Based on those pictures, I was thinking rtia5 towers and a csia6 center. Will easily run on his current avr, and should be an improvement in sound quality over the r50s.

deronb1

tonyb wrote: »

Nice build, for austhetics but not so much for sound. Since your dead set on keeping it, forget floorstanders and look for a bookshelf speaker that ports out of the front, not the back, put it on a stand in that cubby hole on the sides. Speakers throw sound in many directions, not just forward, and that cubby hole limits those dispersions of sound.

+1....If the drivers don't stick out futher than the middle of the cabinet (where the tv is) then you will get little to no imaging or reflective sound. For HT, may not be too big of a deal, but for dedicated music? Not an ideal placement.

F1nut

Remove the cubby holes, add a panel to cover the now open sides and you'll be able to properly position whatever speakers you end up with because it doesn't matter what speakers you put in the cubby holes, they will never sound right.

BOTTLEDZ28

F1nut wrote: »

Remove the cubby holes, add a panel to cover the now open sides and you'll be able to properly position whatever speakers you end up with because it doesn't matter what speakers you put in the cubby holes, they will never sound right.

Thanks for the advice but I cannot remove the side pieces from this thing. It just aint happening so I will just have to except the sound that comes from any speaker that I place in them locations until the day comes when I decide to start over with a whole new setup. If I didnt just install a brand new carpet in that room on Chistmas Eve then I would have removed the sides but now I would be left with two square bare patches on the floor unless I got clever and designed some type of raised pad for the floor speakers to stand on. I would still have a lot of work ahead of me though since the drywall would need to be done as well as new side panels on what is left and then repaint the whole wall once again.

Besides, my wife is in love with the entertainment center. She says it matches the fireplace surround and gives the room a warm cozy feeling unlike some of the metal and glass stands on the market. I originally made this thing when I had a Sony rear projection which was about 18" deep. Sony gave me a new LED TV last year and I ALMOST tore that thing down to mount the TV on the wall but my wife talked me out of it claiming that it would be a shame to destroy something I spent so much time and effort on to make.

On a side note. I would sure hate to do that project and then sit back on the couch and say " the audio sounds the same!"

So, with that being said, I may decide to either experiment with a 2 or 3 channel amp and see where that takes me or look for a deal on some Monitor 60s and just toss them in there with the face of them flush with the custom speaker grills I have already made. No, I am not running the OEM grills. Just the black cusrtom made grills to see in the pic.

txcoastal1

http://www.artisonusa.com/loudspeakers/lcr-dm-series/

Maybe this type of speaker would suit your placement better

ZLTFUL

Bottled, trust me, I know what you are going through.
And F1Nut and I aren't saying it is going to sound terrible. It will just never sound *right*.

I used to live with a girl who had seen several built in wall units I had built in my construction days and she wanted something like that.
But she also refused to buy new in wall speakers. We had a set of 5 matching B&W bookshelf speakers and she wanted them in cubbies. To minimize the effects I have been talking about, I built the cubby just BARELY bigger than the speakers and dynamatted the walls of the cubby as well. I also made custom grilles that allowed the fronts of the speakers to sit only 1/8th of an inch back from the front face of the wall unit.
Still not ideal but it will help minimize the effects we are referring to above.

Maybe you can build out the insides of the cubbies to accomplish something similar to what I have outlined above.
The key is going to be to reduce the amount of resonance inside that cubby as much as possible.

I still disagree with your set up but will concede that wife factor 10 is hard to overcome. Especially when you have yourself put in so much work.
Looking at your picture, here is what I would do...
First, frame out a bit more and skin the frameout with 5/8 or 3/4 plywood. Leave the opening big enough to allow about 1/4" all the way around the speaker.
Next, using a rubber backed carpet or dynamat, line the entire inside of the cubby.
Then, place the speaker in the opening so that it is as far forward as possible.
The goal is going to be to place the speaker as close to the front face of the wall unit as possible while having as little space all around the speaker as you can.

Hope all of this makes sense.

F1nut

BOTTLEDZ28 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice but I cannot remove the side pieces from this thing. It just aint happening so I will just have to except the sound that comes from any speaker that I place in them locations until the day comes when I decide to start over with a whole new setup. If I didnt just install a brand new carpet in that room on Chistmas Eve then I would have removed the sides but now I would be left with two square bare patches on the floor unless I got clever and designed some type of raised pad for the floor speakers to stand on. I would still have a lot of work ahead of me though since the drywall would need to be done as well as new side panels on what is left and then repaint the whole wall once again.

Besides, my wife is in love with the entertainment center. She says it matches the fireplace surround and gives the room a warm cozy feeling unlike some of the metal and glass stands on the market. I originally made this thing when I had a Sony rear projection which was about 18" deep. Sony gave me a new LED TV last year and I ALMOST tore that thing down to mount the TV on the wall but my wife talked me out of it claiming that it would be a shame to destroy something I spent so much time and effort on to make.

Sometimes you have to punt. :cool:

On a side note. I would sure hate to do that project and then sit back on the couch and say " the audio sounds the same!"

Like I said before, just pull them out into the room and with the proper toe-in give them a listen. Then you'll know.

cowtrimmer

Try putting egg crate or pyramid foam inside those enclosures and it might dampen some of the resonance.

drumminman

One other option you can try is to build a new "floor" in the cubbies that extends several inches out from the front. How far is up to you. You could then dampen the inside of the cubby as cowtrimmer suggested, and get the speakers out far enough that the front baffle would be in front of the TV between the speakers.

Wouldn't solve all the problems, but should improve imaging and overall sound.

michael1947

I hate to burst your bubble but I feel you should start from scratch. Remove the wonderful home built cabinet to the basement or somewhere you can get some future use. Replace the missing base board molding along the back wall, spruce up the room with a new paint job and be ready for a significant up-grade. It really won't cost too much as you seem to be handy. Look at some of the "system showcases" here on the forum and start making a plan. Those nice modern looking glass tables that hold your tv and house your electronics in "open air" will look sharp and get your electronics out from their little cubbys. In the end you will have far superior enjoyment from your AV system.

math wizard

BOTTLEDZ28 wrote: »

Well it looks like its time to upgrade my 5.1 HT setup in the family room (15'x19'). I am currently running a pair of Polk R50s , CS2 ( I just upgraded that from a CSi30 today.) I am running R15s for rears and a PSW505 sub. My AVR is an Onkyo TX SR706. I would like to upgrade the R50s to possibly the Monitor 60s or 70s. Main use of them will be regular TV watching mainly with the occasional Bluray movie or two on the weekend. I also love to listen to music. I am slowly learning this 2 CH stereo mode but I just don't care for the sub being out of the equation. Maybe new speakers will fix that.

Anyway, Im looking for advice on whether or not I should step up to the 70s ($370 shipped from Polks ebay store) or the 60s for $279 shipped. Is the extra $90 worth it or will I be wasting money considering I will have these speakers crossed over at 80hz? I don't want to waste my money but I also don't want to always wonder what I am missing, if any by just getting the 60s. I am new to this hobby so any advice will help me a lot. Thanks.

Rti's with a good amp. RTi's can be found used for very little

Pastorfuzz

You can pick up a nice used Sunfire amp 200x5@ 8 ohm now days for $800 to $1000 bucks.
I got one for $950 and took it to the shop for inspection and upgades. 2 leaking capacitors replaced and unit adjustments for $185.
It made a BIG difference to the way my speakers sounded.(4 monitor 70's and CS2) Receiver is a Marantz SR8500.
Also check your speaker crossovers. I've had speakers start to sound weak before and the crossovers were the culprit!