Upgrade from Tsi500 to RTiA9(7) Worth It?

Theheadsn

Hey guys and gals. Been enjoying my Tsi's for a couple years now, and still loving them a lot. My main use for my system is home theater and gaming. In your opinions, would it be a worthwhile upgrade to go from the tsi's to the rtia's? Or would that just be putting the cart before the horse? Money's not THAT big of a deal if the gain is enough, but would it be better to just wait and save up for the LSiM's?

I'm using my SC-37, so its about 120w's per ch. I know both the RTiA's and the LSiM's are power hungry; more demanding than my current Tsi's. Would it be more of a improvement to just buy an external amp instead of upgrading the speakers right away?

Any input would be greatly appreciated

Irrenhaus

Hi not sure about the AVR driving the RTiA's it might. But I see you are in S.Cal you may want to keep an eye on Frys as they do good sales on the RTia 8 and 12 from time to time IIRC they went 300 a pair for the 8's and 598 for the 12's not long ago.

Cheers

zane77

You will need more power than your AVR has to drive the 9's. you could get the 9's but you would need minimum of 200 watts to get them to sing like they can

Gman52

I agree with zane77, I have the Rti12's and when I hooked up a adcom 5500 they really came to life, big improvement.

jeremymarcinko

I would put a nice amp on the tsi's for now.

Geoff4rfc

zane77 wrote: »

You will need more power than your AVR has to drive the 9's. you could get the 9's but you would need minimum of 200 watts to get them to sing like they can

Gman52 wrote: »

I agree with zane77, I have the Rti12's and when I hooked up a adcom 5500 they really came to life, big improvement.

Agreed

snake1

For movies and gaming, RTi's are hard to beat! Your AVR will work them well enough but if you go this route, I would make external amplification the next step with them. Once I hooked up my Parasound (45amps/channel and 250wpc), they now sound like they look....BIG!

oleon621

I had TSI400's and upgraded to RTIA7's and it was the certainly worth the upgrade. Granted you will need a beefy receiver or external amp. I purchased a new receiver to power them and they do a real good job! Check the sig and you'll see my setup. There is a lotmore detail and clarity with RTI line and not to mention they can get real low(bass).

chumlie

That SC-37 has enough power for the RTi A7's without an amp. Get the A7's & a CSi A6 for an improved front stage. If you go with the A9's or LSi's you will need an amp.

Poolgod69

I have the A9's and they are great....

I am only running a Kenwood 120 WPC but they so sound awesome even with that!!

Poolgod69

I bought my A9's at Fry's here in Indy. They were left from the Polk demo they hosted. I was looking at the TSI500 because I had heard they were a good speaker. I had no clue the A9's were there I just got lucky. I asked them to play them both in the same audio room with the same AVR and the A9's were so much better.

Plus I bought the A9's for 419.00 each vs 499.00 for the TSI500's.

AsSiMiLaTeD

That Pioneer will drive the A9s just fine. Will an amp sound better? Of course it will, but the ICE amps in that Pioneer are plenty capable to driving those A9s, they're not THAT hard of a load. For primarily home theater I think the RTiA are fine, if you want to start throwing more music into the mix that's where the LSiM will really shine.

Theheadsn

Some sound advice here guys much appreciated. I may go the amp direction first. Kinda depends on what the wife says more than anything ha

But going from my sc-37 amp to an external amp; lets say the emotiva xpa-5 for example (if u like them or not ha), is it a noticable difference from the 120w pioneer amp to the external 200w amp? Would you believe I've never really heard a setup outside of being at frys or best buy? No one around here I know has one. So I've always went into things kinda blind and playing it by ear so to speak.

chumlie

Just a FYI. The SC-37 is 140 wpc and you really don't need an amp.

AsSiMiLaTeD

People are really underestimating the amp section in that Pioneer, you're going to have to spend a good bit on an amp to get a big improvement. The Emotiva would barely be an upgrade much less a big one.

I ran the rti12 speakers on my 25 and it drove them fine, it'll handle the a9 just fine. You can always add an amp later.

If your choices are keep the tsi and add an amp or buy the rtia speakers then its a no brainier IMO, get the new speakers.

If you can do speakers and amp at the same time then knock yourself out, though I'd still start with the speakers and at least try them on the Pioneer.

Toolfan66

Get the speakers, they are a step above the TSi line for sure, and as stated above your receiver will power them just fine.

snake1

OP, where are u? I may be in the market soon to sell my rti's.

Theheadsn

snake1 wrote: »

OP, where are u? I may be in the market soon to sell my rti's.

Southern California ha So unless you wanna make a trip, or I do ha I doubt I'd be able to. I'd LOVE to buy them cheaper if possible... Maybe you could do a trip out here? see the sights? ha

And I totally spaced I thought the pioneer was 120, dumb me. So ya I'll probably jump on getting the speakers first, if I can get enough of a good deal that is. Has anyone has the tsi's then moved up to the rtia's? Is it a worthwhile jump?

tonyb

Straight up, the 7's....no amp needed with that receiver. The 9's......you could get by without one but they would perform better with an amp added.....and who doesn't want their speakers to perform to the best of their ability ?

Yes, the jump is worth it.

Thorton

I've had the A7's and now the A9's. Buy the A9's and save up for an amp. To me the small price increase (when on sale) of the A9's is well worth the significant increase in SQ.

Geoff4rfc

Theheadsn wrote: »

Has anyone has the tsi's then moved up to the rtia's? Is it a worthwhile jump?

I had Monitor 70's, equivalent to your TSi's, yes, a worthwhile jump.

fokakis1

I have heard both the Tsi500's and the A9's, and I have heard the A9's driven by both a 140 watt receiver and and a 200 watt amp. In my experience the speaker upgrade made a more noticeable improvement than did the amp, though both were worthy upgrades. The 140 watt receiver handled the A9's just fine. Good luck and have FUN with your new gear!

Geoff4rfc

Theheadsn wrote: »

Hey guys and gals. Been enjoying my Tsi's for a couple years now, and still loving them a lot. My main use for my system is home theater and gaming. In your opinions, would it be a worthwhile upgrade to go from the tsi's to the rtia's?

It's almost been 10 months. Did you get 12's or 9's?

Theheadsn

So many months later I did not lol Still have the same set up. Eyeballing either buying just an external amp and beefing up the tsi's or if I should bite the bullet and buy new speakers with an external amp. Just not sure if I can contain the wrath of the wife lol

jeremymarcinko

The wife will be fine, just show her how good Adele sounds