Polk RTiA9

box

hello friends..

just got a brand new polk RTiA9 last weekend.. my receiver is denon 2311 and at first didn't plan to go RTi series and i thought TSi 300 would be enough... but the reviews in here and many other forums and the appeareance of RTiA9 was so tempting.. so RtiA9 it is...

I also knew the fact that denon 2311 with 105 wpc won't be enough to bring RTiA9 full potential, good thing is has pre-outs for all channel and can add an amp later on (i'm not in the US, so my 2311 have pre-outs ) But anyway currently i'm very sattisfied on how the RTiA9's sound along with the CSi5..

my upgrade route will be to add an amp and a subwoofer (dunno which way to go first). I think adding an amp would increase the 9's so that i won't need the subs yet.. (insights needed). and about the amps.. can you guys give me suggetions on which brand and type to go.. my first thought would be emotiva XPA-3.. but looks like they don't sell it in here so have to get some alternatives..

but before the amp or the sub, my plan is to get the FXiA4 first and the 20 years old sony can go to retired..

comments are welcome... and thanks..

jbooker82

Nothing like planning on TSI300's and ending up with RTi A9's.

GFOviedo

That's awesome. Congrats. I wish I had gone with the RTi or RTiA line instead of the monitors series. Hoping to upgrade eventually!

box

jbooker82 wrote: »

Nothing like planning on TSI300's and ending up with RTi A9's.

.. easy friend... well i guess u have a point and partially true.. the jump quite doesn't make sense...

but anyway your statement is partially true in my case since at first i didn't really planning for TSi 300. The very first plan was to get a HTiB like from s*ms*ng or L* with a price range around 500-700 USD

but it all changed as i do more reading and found out about AV receiver... so the second plan was born, that was to get an AVR and to use my old speakers from the old sony tape deck (SS-D305) which has 6 ohm of impedance and would be sufficient for any AVR to handle... aside from that i also plan to keep an eye on the used market at my place to wait for some good floorstanding to pop up

it all changes again when i heard about TSi 300.. a budget friendly floorstanding speakers from polk audio which has great reviews.. and that would be the third plan, and by that time i already own a denon 2311, a new but old stock receiver and that is why i can get it in a good price...

but as i do more reading, i found the fact that for an HT system, the center speaker would carry around 60% of all the load of the sound... and that is why to get the best center speaker i can afford is a must.. in around that time i learned about RTi series and compare to other brands, the center speaker (CSiA6) of the RTi series looks better (in specification and price) and by that time also someone popped up at the used market and plan to sell his CSi5.. and as i read, CSi5 is the same speaker as CSiA6 but with the older cabinet and sound the same as CSiA6.. so welcome aboard for the CSi5.. by this point i have the denon, the CSi5 and still use my old sony as fronts...

and like u all know, this hobby (on audio) tend to make us to always upgrade and get the best we could.. and since i already own a CSi5, to timbre match the center then i would need an RTi series.. then i began to search and set on RTiA5, a quite budget friendly floordtanding from RTi series.. and unfortunately (or u can say it was fortunate), when i go to the audio store for some audition/window shopping, they have an RTiA7 on display and willing to sell in a good price below the market price.. but since i don't have the budget yet i told them i would come back later... they have the RTiA9 also on display but i didn't ask the price since i already know in what price range they are.. and it was cleraly out of budget...

well i keep my promise and come back again only to found out that they already sold their RTiA7 :sad:... but the good news is.. they still have the RTiA9... standing strong and look intimidating... well i guess it was fate.. and since it was for display and it's an old stock.. after some bargaining.. they agree to sell it at a good price... although it came with a cost to me.. no FXiA4 yet... but it can wait for later... as long as i have the RTiA9..

but these changing of plans has resulted that my receiver is not in the same class as the RTiA9 (middle vs flagship) and would not able to bring RTiA9's full potential.. although i believe it's quite sufficient... luckily it has pre-outs for all channel... so i can add an amp later on...

well that was the story goes.. and RTiA9 certainly is an excellent speakers :cool:

GFOviedo wrote: »

That's awesome. Congrats. I wish I had gone with the RTi or RTiA line instead of the monitors series. Hoping to upgrade eventually!

thanks mate.. we can start saving then :cheesygrin:

zane77

Welcome to the club and I'm sure you are going to enjoy your new speakers!

GFOviedo

Pictures would be nice.

Geoff4rfc

jbooker82 wrote: »

Nothing like planning on TSI300's and ending up with RTi A9's.

I know, right!?!?! Way to do it right the first time!

Welcome aboard box.

jbooker82

I was just giving you a hard time. Nothing like jumping in head first.

Inspector 24

Lots of chatter about A9's and Amps lately:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?151083-Amp-s-recommended-for-A9-s

box

zane77 wrote: »

Welcome to the club and I'm sure you are going to enjoy your new speakers!

Geoff4rfc wrote: »

I know, right!?!?! Way to do it right the first time!
Welcome aboard box.

jbooker82 wrote: »

I was just giving you a hard time. Nothing like jumping in head first.

thanks for the welcome .. the speaker cable for the surround has just arrived yesterday.. really enjoying the system now...

GFOviedo wrote: »

Pictures would be nice.

rtia9s featuring master n commander..

Inspector 24 wrote: »

Lots of chatter about A9's and Amps lately:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?151083-Amp-s-recommended-for-A9-s

more reading is nice.. too bad many of the brands is not available in here... the store where i purchase the 9s doesn't even know emotiva

Inspector 24

Most stores where you would buy Polks are fairly clueless. They'll tell you they sound amazing on 80wpc just to sell a receiver. In my experience they are anemic on '140wpc' from an AVR, adequate with 135 actual wpc from a Parasound, and really start to open up with 200wpc from a Parasound. My current Parasound HCA-2003a seems more than adequate with 220wpc, it is plenty to keep them pumping and puts out more than enough sound than I use on a regular basis.

Hopefully soon I'll find out how they do with 350wpc, not because I think they actually need it, just because I'm curious.

zane77

Emotiva is only sold online, none of their products are available in a store

nguyendot

box wrote: »

thanks for the welcome .. the speaker cable for the surround has just arrived yesterday.. really enjoying the system now...


rtia9s featuring master n commander..

more reading is nice.. too bad many of the brands is not available in here... the store where i purchase the 9s doesn't even know emotiva

Those speakers are really close together. They would shine quite a bit if you spread them out and got them away from the walls. That room is probably limiting their performance heavily. Not that it probably sounds good, but rather you can yield quite the improvement with placement.

box

Inspector 24 wrote: »

Most stores where you would buy Polks are fairly clueless. They'll tell you they sound amazing on 80wpc just to sell a receiver. In my experience they are anemic on '140wpc' from an AVR, adequate with 135 actual wpc from a Parasound, and really start to open up with 200wpc from a Parasound. My current Parasound HCA-2003a seems more than adequate with 220wpc, it is plenty to keep them pumping and puts out more than enough sound than I use on a regular basis.

Hopefully soon I'll find out how they do with 350wpc, not because I think they actually need it, just because I'm curious.

spread the news friend.. but anyway 200 wpc would be the upgrade route for now...

zane77 wrote: »

Emotiva is only sold online, none of their products are available in a store

thanks for the info, have to cross out emotiva from the list then since i have the info the price will be 2-3 times to here plus the shipping cost

nguyendot wrote: »

Those speakers are really close together. They would shine quite a bit if you spread them out and got them away from the walls. That room is probably limiting their performance heavily. Not that it probably sounds good, but rather you can yield quite the improvement with placement.

yes thanks for the advice, i thought about it as well but i can't move the table next to right speaker since it's the wife territory.. i also couldn't move it forward to stay away from the wall for now.. so have to live with what i got.. will wait until we can enlarge the room maybe sometime next year...

F1nut

That's what we call putting the cart before the horse.

Inspector 24

HA!

I was initially guilty of that too...may have even started a thread like this one. :razz: Oh how we learn...or just fall into the rabbit hole...there was a time I thought I'd never buy a HCA-3500, too much money, don't need it, so on and so on....suddenly one day I'm like Meh, why not.

devani

and the upgrade begins on new place to put those great speakers....

sponger

Frankly I'm flabbergasted to see your AVR operating with so little breathing room. Mine would shut down within a few minutes if it were squeezed into such a confined area. Congrats regardless.

GFOviedo

sponger wrote: »

Frankly I'm flabbergasted to see your AVR operating with so little breathing room. Mine would shut down within a few minutes if it were squeezed into such a confined area. Congrats regardless.

Class D amps run super cool. My SC-1522-k get look-warm whenever I play music really loud for hours. My Onkyo would get so hot I could fry eggs on it.

sponger

GFOviedo wrote: »

Class D amps run super cool. My SC-1522-k get look-warm whenever I play music really loud for hours. My Onkyo would get so hot I could fry eggs on it.

Your Onkyo probably had a few inches of breathing room above it. He's got his in a cubby hole. That's his choice, but I merely wanted to express my shock over the arrangement.

GFOviedo

Gotcha!

PolkieMan

where is here??????? :razz:

my first thought would be emotiva XPA-3.. but looks like they don't sell it in here so have to get some alternatives..

GFOviedo

Anyone else think those A9s are a too close together?

chumlie

GFOviedo wrote: »

Anyone else think those A9s are a too close together?

Indeed they are.

Geoff4rfc

GFOviedo wrote: »

Anyone else think those A9s are a too close together?

This was mentioned earlier in the thread...................

nguyendot wrote: »

Those speakers are really close together. They would shine quite a bit if you spread them out and got them away from the walls. That room is probably limiting their performance heavily. Not that it probably sounds good, but rather you can yield quite the improvement with placement.

box wrote: »

yes thanks for the advice, i thought about it as well but i can't move the table next to right speaker since it's the wife territory.. i also couldn't move it forward to stay away from the wall for now.. so have to live with what i got.. will wait until we can enlarge the room maybe sometime next year...

CinderLyon

GFOviedo wrote: »

Anyone else think those A9s are a too close together?

From experience i can tell you that your goal is for the center of the subs on the speakers to be at minimum 2 feet from the rear wall. More is desirable. The recommended starting position is to have the separation between fronts form a equilateral triangle with the sweet spot of your listening position. The sweet spot being at apex of the triangle. THX specs (if this matters to you) is figured out at i think 10 - 12 feet distance to the front speakers as i recall.

I have my A9 fronts about 10 feet apart at the moment. So 10 feet from the sweet spot as well.

Just a heads up, A9's really do dig very deep. A9's set at 40hz on cross overs, and UNPLUGGED, my powered sub on stereo MUSIC, hardly even kicks in. Most of the work is done by the A9's. And they sound killer Oh and there are some very notable exceptions to this.

nguyendot

GFOviedo wrote: »

Anyone else think those A9s are a too close together?

I already mentioned that, and they are too close to the back wall. His room doesn't facilitate moving them around so that's pretty much it.

Dfmcintosh

I dont mean to hijack this thread, but I don't have enough posts to PM. Zane, would you mind PM'ing me about how the FXi and Rti's hold up to the emotiva's 200 watts. I am adding/swapping in the same speakers and have an xpr2, xpa3 and adding an xpa-200 with Rti A9's Csi A6 and FXi A6 sides and Rti A3 rears.

tonyb

Dfmcintosh wrote: »

I dont mean to hijack this thread, but I don't have enough posts to PM. Zane, would you mind PM'ing me about how the FXi and Rti's hold up to the emotiva's 200 watts. I am adding/swapping in the same speakers and have an xpr2, xpa3 and adding an xpa-200 with Rti A9's Csi A6 and FXi A6 sides and Rti A3 rears.

What do you mean by "how they hold up" ?

box

sponger wrote: »

Frankly I'm flabbergasted to see your AVR operating with so little breathing room. Mine would shut down within a few minutes if it were squeezed into such a confined area. Congrats regardless.

will check it out after running for few hours.. don't have issues on the receiver up till now.. thanks for the suggestion..

PolkieMan wrote: »

where is here??????? :razz:

my first thought would be emotiva XPA-3.. but looks like they don't sell it in here so have to get some alternatives..

since emotiva only sell their product through online so have to find other alternatives... but anyway amp is for next year upgrade along with (i hope) the room upgrade .. first is to get surrounds to replace my old sony

GFOviedo wrote: »

Anyone else think those A9s are a too close together?

i think so too .. room enlargement is on the upgrade route (not because of the A9s though, but surely the A9s will take nice advantage from it)

CinderLyon wrote: »

From experience i can tell you that your goal is for the center of the subs on the speakers to be at minimum 2 feet from the rear wall. More is desirable. The recommended starting position is to have the separation between fronts form a equilateral triangle with the sweet spot of your listening position. The sweet spot being at apex of the triangle. THX specs (if this matters to you) is figured out at i think 10 - 12 feet distance to the front speakers as i recall.

I have my A9 fronts about 10 feet apart at the moment. So 10 feet from the sweet spot as well.

Just a heads up, A9's really do dig very deep. A9's set at 40hz on cross overs, and UNPLUGGED, my powered sub on stereo MUSIC, hardly even kicks in. Most of the work is done by the A9's. And they sound killer Oh and there are some very notable exceptions to this.

nice suggestions.. that's why i think that an amp would be a better upgrade since it will increase the overall performance compare to if i get a sub (debatable i know, well i'll get the sub also eventually.. just to make priorities on which to go first)

all in all.. thanks for the suggestions... surely valuable for getting a better system..