5.1 Hell

SteeleJester

Pretty new to the whole home audio thing. Recently got a pair of T15s. I've been running those by themselves for a little while now was looking to get the last pieces for a 5.1. Was looking into the Csi A4 for the center. Didn't have much in mind for the rest. Should I get new fronts and just use the T15s as the surround?

Hooked up to a VSX-822 and Pioneer SW-8MK2 if that's important.

boston1450

WELCOME TO POLK. Thats a great idea. I had the T15's and i was very impressed with them.great price & they sounded big..Get some fronts rears n a sub and youll be in heaven..have you any idea's what it is your looking for in front speakers ? Stick around ' there are people here that can help you match up some nice fronts on a budget to get you started. Enjoy....

pork

What's up, SteeleJester. Welcome to the world of Home Theater where there are enough combinations of gear to make your head explode.

Do you have a budget in mind? Also, some speakers can get pretty big so make sure you have enough space for 'em.

For example, the CSiA6 has dimensions 24" W x 7 3/4" H x 14" D while the CSiA4 have 20" W x 6 7/8" H x 8 3/4" D. That's quite a significant difference.

Anyway, I'd love to chime in with some suggestions but without knowing your budget it is a bit hard to get an idea of what you can work with.

tonyb

I'll take a shot.

Given the limited amount of info, stay in the Monitor line of speakers with that receiver. Move the 15's to the back for surround duty and upgrade that subwoofer when possible to at least a Polk 505 minimum.

SteeleJester

Budget? Let's say about $1000 for the center/new fronts/upgraded sub. And why the monitor series rather than the a4? Is an upgraded sub necessary? I've been satisfied with the current one so far.

jbooker82

I would or RTi's with no sub for now over monitors with a sub. It cost a lot more to jump up a seires once you have purchased a set of speakers already.

CSI A4 in cherry $169
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CSiA4-CHERRY-Center-Channel-Speaker-Polk-Audio-/390604694238?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item5af1daa2de#ht_4287wt_796

RTi A7's in cherry $800 for the pair.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RTiA7-CHERRY-Tower-Loudspeaker-Polk-Audio-EACH-/230953084497?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item35c5e06651#ht_4499wt_796

Then get a DSW Pro 660WI or 550WI from New Egg later on when they are on sale for $359 for the 660 or $299 for the 550. I dont even turn my DSW Pro660WI on when watching tv. I will kick it on for the full effect when gaming or watching a BluRay. The RTi A7 do a pretty good job of playing low.

Save some cash by buying referbs from Polk. I have only herd guys say the stuff looks bran new.

rpf65

SteeleJester wrote: »

Budget? Let's say about $1000 for the center/new fronts/upgraded sub. And why the monitor series rather than the a4? Is an upgraded sub necessary? I've been satisfied with the current one so far.

Welcome to Club Polk.

Different speaker manufacturers sound different from one another, and different series of speakers from one manufacturer sound different from another series. The idea here is to blend the sounds, In other words, you don't really want to know how much sound, let alone which speaker is playing from the front stage, for instance.

The monitors have a different sound from the RTI A series, for an example. So mixing the CSI A4 with anything other than the RTI A series of speakers will allow many to localize that speaker. The center channel is mainly geared for dialoge, but does support some front stage sound effects, while the 2 mains are mainly for front stage sound effects, but do support a little dialoge. So we want them to sound pretty close to one another.

Kind of like misdirection in a magic show. After that we want to blend in the other speakers to envelope the room with sound, that gives direction, but doesn't pinpoint the speaker source. SO if you want to move up to the RTI A series, you'll pretty much be starting from scratch. You will be impressed with the CSI A4 as an individual speaker, but may find your other speakers lacking. Not they are bad sounding, but different sounding.

Probably a little confusing, but we try to discourage mixing different series of speakers. A lot of thought, research, and developement went into every series of every manufacturers lines of speakers. The only speaker that is an exception is the sub woofer. Then again that is pretty much a unique speaker in surround systems.

So if you want to go with Monitors, get the timbre matched center for monitors. Like wise for TSI, RTI,or RTI A series. There is also a slight difference between the RTI and RTI A series,but they are closer than RTI and Monitor for instance.

Hope that helps more than confuse.

SteeleJester

I've got a 2 year old. Not too sure how safe those towers would be. Any other options?

SteeleJester

What is a center that is matched for the monitors? And as far as sound quality goes, how do the monitors and rtis compare?

cfrizz

Welcome to Club Polk!

So to put it in plain english: First decide if you want to stay in the Monitor series family so that you have matching speakers with matching coherent sound. Or do you want to start from scratch again and get all RTI speakers. If you are happy with your current Monitors then continue to build up that system.

What I would suggest is in time, save and plan on replacing your receiver to a more expensive one that has pre-amp outputs so that in the future you can add a separate amplifier. Get at least 200wpc @ 8ohms, this will drive your current speakers and any future speakers to their full potential, unlike your current or any future AVR. A separate amp can be used with any other future upgrades in speakers.

You are at the beginning of a long, expensive, but fun upgrade process. Do your research, be PATIENT, and put it together the way you want it. Do it once, do it right, then sit back and enjoy.

SteeleJester

After second thought I think I could survive with towers. So from what I've partially understood so far.

Now:
RTIs
A4

Later:
Receiver
Polk 505

Later later:
New rears

Coherent plan?

skrol

SteeleJester wrote: »

I've got a 2 year old. Not too sure how safe those towers would be. Any other options?

That is a valid concern with little ones. One of my kids used to like to slip in beside and behind my RTA11TL towers and knocked one over once. Fortunately, no one was in the path. After that I strapped them to the floor with metal strips. The strips attached to where the floor spikes screw into the speaker and I screwed the other ends into the floor. Perhaps not the best idea sonically but they were made safe.

BlueFox

SteeleJester wrote: »

I've got a 2 year old. Not too sure how safe those towers would be. Any other options?

Towers are better than monitors on a stand.

skrol

True, they are more stable.

jbooker82

SteeleJester wrote: »

After second thought I think I could survive with towers. So from what I've partially understood so far.

Now:
RTIs
A4

Later:
Receiver
Polk 505

Later later:
New rears

Coherent plan?

That is the way I would do it. Towers are harder to knock over than bookshelfs on a stand.

SteeleJester

Sounds good. Thanks for the help guys.

bondslex

I would do it that way also.