RTi 8 vs RTi A7

David R

I have (had) a pair of Crown electrostatic that had a WAF of 0 that had to go. Awesome speaker.
I have listened to lots of speakers and all of them sounded like they were coming out of a box until I heard the RtiA 7s.

Two black Friday's ago I went to Fry's and found some Rti8s on sale for $150 so I picked them up along with a dirt cheep Csi 4. I also picked up a cheep Onkyo NR 609. I liked the sound very much but my wife felt that the 8's were ugly so I sold them to my brother at the same great price.

She had me pick up a pair of RtiA 7s. I set up the RtiA 7's as the rears and like the surround sound.
I set up the original system at my brother's and picked up the NR 809's.

Here's the rub. IMOP the 7's have a better low end and more detail on the high end but the 8's with the 609 and a slightly more pleasant sound and better mid punch – could have been the Csi 4s.

Has anyone else noticed this?

As you can see I have not added the center as I have been trying to hear the LSIM 705s to no avail.

deronb1

Im sorry but i had a hard time following the post. Are you asking an opinion on whether the rti8 or the rtia7 is a better sounding speaker? I havent heard anyone say that the older rti series has a better midrange than the rtia series. I had rti12s for awhile, and though they were great for HT, they werent my taste for music. Go with what sounds best to you though. Opinions only go so far.

rpf65

Also confused.

If your looking to match a center for the A7's then you want either the CSI A4 or CSI A6.

The A7's like power, so if your hearing muddy bass, your probably lacking power for the A7's. By muddy bass, it's when you are hearing the lower frequencies just don't seem pronounced. If this is the case, you simply need more power. Power isn't to make things sound louder, but more clear.

Back to the center.This would depend on the sound preference. If you feel that the sound you're hearing, in HT is a little bass heavy, I would try the A4. On the other side, if it sounds good, but just seems to be missing a little bit of something, the the A6 would be a better choice. Personally, I think the A6 is the better center for the RTI A7 and
A9's. I think you would be better off not mixing the series on the front 3.

cnh

I suspect what you are describing is the "difficulty" that the Onkyo 60X series is having driving the more demanding A7s vs the easier load that the 8s present. If you had a little more power you'd probably not feel the same.

cnh

jbooker82

RTI8's probably had a little better midrange due to the fact that it has two mid drivers and tweeter v's the A7's having a single larger mid range driver. That one driver has a lot more frequency range to cover than the RTI8's had because they can split up that same frequency range between between the two drivers.

Look at the A9's. They have the dual midrange drivers, and 3 woofers.