What AV and sub should i get with the RTI A7

Matt9

I finally decided to go with the RTI A7 speakers along with CSI A6 center, without running rear speakers. But don't know what receiver and subwoofer would go best for this setup. The speakers will be mostly for movies, and looking to pay around 1000$ for the av & sub.

hosedagain

have you considered a 3 channel power amp? or a 5 channel if you decide to go to 5 speakers in the future, with a sub
you might go over your budget.

rpf65

You need quit a bit of power for the A7's, so I would probably hold off on the sub for a while. I would probably look at the Pioneer SC-1522, and then an amp next. The SC-1522 has pre-outs, good power for an AVR, and make those A7's sound fairly decent. Adding about 200 wats of amplifier power will make them sound great.

Assuming your looking for new gear, that's the way I would go. AVR, amp, and then sub. The A7's have pretty good bass, so I think the sub would be something to be considered later.

John K.

Matt, welcome to Club Polk. The first comment is that, especially since movies will be primary source material, you should consider getting a set of side surround speakers along with your fine choice of RTi A7s. Surround effects are very important in movies and without the surround speakers you really don't have a Home Theater. So, even if you would temporarily have to do without a separate center speaker(the RTi 7s can play the center channel material and create a "phantom center")or do without a sub for now(the RTi 7s have quite good bass on their own), the suggestion would be to get the surrounds at this time.

As to the receiver, the RTi 7s are rated by Polk at 89dB(quite loud)for 1 watt of input. This is at the high end of average as speaker sensitivity goes and any of the quality receivers available with 100-150 watt ratings(very little difference in those numbers)will drive them to beyond safe(to your hearing)listening levels. Specifically, I'd suggest that you consider the very good buy available on a factory refurbished Onkyo 709 at Accessories4 less for about $430. This is a very full-featured unit including Audyssey MultEQ XT calibration and room correction. These factory refurbished units should be, if anything, even more likely than a brand-new one to have no problems.

Matt9

Thanks for all the inputs and the warm welcoming. The reason that i'm not running rear speakers is that i don't want exposed wires running across the living room, unless the rear speakers are wireless (but don't know any that have decent sound).

I looked up Onkyo 709, and found the Onkyo TX-NR818 model can be had for under $800(should i go with this higher model?). And looks like ill do without a sub for now, and settle for a receiver and an amp (what amp should i get?).

EndersShadow

Matt9 wrote: »

Thanks for all the inputs and the warm welcoming. The reason that i'm not running rear speakers is that i don't want exposed wires running across the living room, unless the rear speakers are wireless (but don't know any that have decent sound).

I looked up Onkyo 709, and found the Onkyo TX-NR818 model can be had for under $800(should i go with this higher model?). And looks like ill do without a sub for now, and settle for a receiver and an amp (what amp should i get?).

Depends, IMHO the 818 doesnt add much besides more filters in Audyseey (partially implemented XT32 w/o subHD in 818 v XT in 709 and 809). I dont think there is much else extra there feature wise you need that the 709 or 809 dont have. For me the accessories4less 709 or even 809 are hard to beat. You can get them for 200 less or more than the 818 and use that money toward your sub purchase to get a beefier sub.

EndersShadow

EndersShadow wrote: »

Depends, IMHO the 818 doesnt add much besides more filters in Audyseey (partially implemented XT32 w/o subHD in 818 v XT in 709 and 809). I dont think there is much else extra there feature wise you need that the 709 or 809 dont have. For me the accessories4less 709 or even 809 are hard to beat. You can get them for 200 less or more than the 818 and use that money toward your sub purchase to get a beefier sub.

Its acting up so it wont let me edit my post so I will suggest if your going to get an amp to post a "Wanted" ad in the Flea Market. If it was me I would look for a 2 channel amp for right now, but honestly you should get a sub before a amp, that said a used 2 channel amp can be had for around 200 and would make the 7's sound quite good.

Whats your budget for an amp? And are you wanting a 5 channel, 3 or 2? Personally I would just get a 2 channel to start with and then if you feel you need more add a 3 channel when/if you add surrounds, otherwise if your running just your center off the AVR you should have NO PROBLEMS.

Matt9

Well i decided on everything except the amp, don't know which model is best suited in this setup.
The setup will be:
avr= Onkyo TX-NR818 (due to higher Power Output than 709)
sub= Polk Audio PSW505
amp=?

correct me please if my choices are wrong.

And ill be going 6.1 in the future with rear speakers using a wireless transmitter, but for now ill be doing two fronts and a center.

tonyb

Matt,
That receiver will drive the A7's just fine, especially since you have a subwoofer to do a lot of the heavy lifting in the lower regions. Any farther up the Polk line and you'll probably need an amp but for what you have now, it's not necessary. Will they sound better with an amp ? Yeah, most any speaker would. Try it without spending coin on an amp first.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I personally think the Pioneer sc models are a better choice with the rt line from Polk, I find those two paired produce a more balanced, slightly less forward sound. That Onk is a good avr though

Matt9

Pioneer Elite SC-65 is priced around the same as the onkyo TX-NR818. Should i get the pioneer? Because today im going to order the reciever and the sub.

EndersShadow

Matt9 wrote: »

Pioneer Elite SC-65 is priced around the same as the onkyo TX-NR818. Should i get the pioneer? Because today im going to order the reciever and the sub.

Pioneer is better than the 818 IMHO. The power section of the receiver is MUCH better.

ZLTFUL

Another vote for the SC Pioneer. The SCs are some of the best AVRs yet.

nwohlford

Audyssey MultiEQ XT32 is a huge leap above the room correction on other mass market receivers. If you are not planning on doing multiple subwoofers, the Onkyo 818 is great (I think it is $650 for a refurb on accessories4less). I am not discouraging multiple subwoofers as I think that this is also a huge improvement, but then you would probably have to look used to get a unit with SUB EQ HT in your price range.

EndersShadow

nwohlford wrote: »

Audyssey MultiEQ XT32 is a huge leap above the room correction on other mass market receivers. If you are not planning on doing multiple subwoofers, the Onkyo 818 is great (I think it is $650 for a refurb on accessories4less). I am not discouraging multiple subwoofers as I think that this is also a huge improvement, but then you would probably have to look used to get a unit with SUB EQ HT in your price range.

The issues the OP has to deal with are the following between the SC-65 and the Onkyo 818.

The SC will provide MUCH more power to his setup than the 818 and may keep him from needed a dedicated amp at all
The 818 has a potentially slight edge in the EQ department depending on whose reviews you read

Those are the BIG trade-offs as I see them. Personally I dont think the EQ one is as big as the power one and to me the better bet would be the Pioneer, but this is going to be different for everyone.

nwohlford

The main issue with MCACC is that it does not EQ the low bass. This is the most important area for EQing. He can solve this by getting a separate subwoofer EQ. There are a lot of good options out there for separate subwoofer EQs.

I personally would rather have it all built into one box. I spent a lot of time trying to put together a hybrid home theater/music system. I played around with separate sub EQs, preamps with home theater bypass, mid to high end pre/pros, and separate amps. Dual subs with a receiver with Audyssey MultiEQ XT32 was the best for me. (The first case besides Anthem's ARC where I thought that having room correction on for music was a no-brainier.) Some of the advantages were due to convenience, but any drop-off in sound was very small. I sold most of the other stuff and have a few multichannel amps sitting unused right now.

EndersShadow

nwohlford wrote: »

The main issue with MCACC is that it does not EQ the low bass. This is the most important area for EQing. He can solve this by getting a separate subwoofer EQ. There are a lot of good options out there for separate subwoofer EQs.

I personally would rather have it all built into one box. I spent a lot of time trying to put together a hybrid home theater/music system. I played around with separate sub EQs, preamps with home theater bypass, mid to high end pre/pros, and separate amps. Dual subs with a receiver with Audyssey MultiEQ XT32 was the best for me. (The first case besides Anthem's ARC where I thought that having room correction on for music was a no-brainier.) Some of the advantages were due to convenience, but any drop-off in sound was very small. I sold most of the other stuff and have a few multichannel amps sitting unused right now.

Agree your right on point. I am the other way around. I would rather have one box for all my power and sources and add a separate EQ like a mini-dsp, antimode 8033 or SMS-1 to my system for low bass. That would save me a bundle since I wouldnt need all 5 IC's + 5, 7, 9 channels of dedicated amplification for my LSi system.

Since the OP is going with RTi's power is still just as important especially since the 818 wont provide NEARLY as much wattage with all channels driven as the Pioneer. I would rather give up the EQ for power since adding a sub EQ doesnt add nearly as many extra cables as adding an external amp does.

My main gripe with Audyssey is while it does all the filtering, you cant actually see what its doing you just have to assume its doing a better job than you can do manually, which may or may not be the case.

nwohlford

The nr818 and sc-1522 are likely very similar powerwise. The hometheater.com reviews of the nr1009 and sc-68 show very similar power ratings at 2, 5, and 7 channels. (The nr1009 is probably very similar to the nr818 whereas the sc68 should be a step up power wise from the sc1522.)

http://www.hometheater.com/content/pioneer-elite-sc-68-av-receiver-ht-labs-measures

http://www.hometheater.com/content/onkyo-tx-nr1009-92-channel-network-av-receiver-ht-labs-measures

EndersShadow

nwohlford wrote: »

The nr818 and sc-1522 are likely very similar powerwise.

He listed the SC-65, not the SC-1522, and there will be a BIG difference powerwise betwen the 818 and SC-65

nwohlford

I see someone else mentioned the sc-1522. The sc-1522 and the sc-65 are essential the same with the 1522 just being the non-elite model (shorter warranty and a few minor differences). The amp section is said to be exactly the same. Pioneer specs are exactly the same.

John K.

Nwohlford is correct, although his reference to the essentially identical 1522 rather than the SC-65 caused some confusion. As the lab tests in the links show, the Onkyo 1009, with an amplifier section matching the 818, is similar in power outputs to the SC-68, which is slightly(not significantly, though)more powerful than the SC-65.