Choosing the right speekers.

Haltzy

Long time reader, first time poster...

Looking for some advice from some experienced Polk listeners.

Here is my situation, As you can see in my sig, i have a stereo that at the time of purchase served it purpose for long loud nights drinkin beer with the buddies. The Vegas have served their purpose and I believe it is time for an upgrade to move towards a more complete system that will offer a sound quality more focused on movies.

I purchased my DPR 2005 in 2007 and at this time i would like to leave it in place as it costed a boatload of money and, unless you feel otherwise i feel is full capable of powering any Polk speaker system.

I have been looking at a couple options from Energy, Soundstage, Klipsch and Polk. Any quick thoughts on product line would be appreciated.

More specifically in regards to Polk, i am trying to wrap my head around the benefits of certain product lines. My 3 choices at this time are the Monitor, RTi or Lsi series or a mixture of all 3.

My goals are as follows, I need the front monitors to perform well with stereo sound, driven hard and long. They will also need to be able o support the crisp clear sound required for movies. I am aiming for a 5.1 system.

I am debating keeping my 2x 12" Vegas for bass support as they still perform well, not sure if this is the best choice in regards to sound compatibility.

Let me know your thoughts. My budget is flexible, but would like to stay within the price range of the Polk equipment. My room is 12X24 but has multiple large openings for doorways, concrete floors and exterior walls on two sides.

Thanks;

Chris

Haltzy

How about this?

1. Polk Audio Tower Speaker (RTIA7)
2. Polk Audio Centre Channel Speaker (CSI A6)
3. Polk Audio Surround Bookshelf Speaker (FXIA4)
4. Polk Audio 12" Powered Subwoofer (PSW125)

What would you change?

cnh

Welcome to Club Polk!

That looks fine! But I would probably think about getting a Polk PSW505 from newegg.com for less than the price of a PSW125. It's a better sub for the money.

Otherwise I'd move up to Polk's DSW660 which would be even "better"!

Your HK receiver is, if I'm not mistaken, a lone experiment in digital amplification by HK a few years back. I remember reading that there were all kinds of reliability issues with those rather pricey units, so HK dropped them? This seems to be a problem for them. I have an HD 990 CDP that was supposed to be a match for their HK 990 integrated, their "comeback" into the higher end integrated market. A look on their site shows that the HD 990 is NO longer in production? I wonder why? There were also a lot of complaints about the reliability of the CDP and I've had some CDs vibrate like the dickens when tracking, but "fortunately" most play without a problem. Still when you have a $500 MSRP (I paid less) CDP you do expect some modicum of "quality control". It's a nice player, but I've had $100 players that read "everything" and don't throw tantrums with any discs? Live and learn. I do hope that your unit is holding up and not one of the many that went south!

cnh

Haltzy

What are your thoughts on keeping my two 12" Vega subs? Or going with two PSW125's.

I prefer multiple subs to help with sound distribution as my room acoustics are not the greatest.

Chris

cnh

Those Vegas are 12" floorstanders, right? If so two Polk PSW505s with a combined wattage of 600 watts continuous/920 watts peak, and 12" drivers should provide more thump than either the Vega towers or the PSW125s x 2 300 watts continuous/600 watts peak 12" subs. Also the bottom end for the PSW505s is 28Hz and that of the PSW125s is 34Hz so you should get more low end out of the 505s unless you don't live in the U.S., in which case you probably won't be able to find the older PSW505s new?

http://www.polkaudio.com/products/psw505

Two subs should be fine!

cnh

badchad

I think I'd keep a dedicated amp in mind, as many will suggest that; especially for a 5.1 setup.

I only have experience with the Cerwin Vega LW-15 subwoofer. Based on that experience, I'd plan on eliminating the Vegas from the system entirely.

boston1450

cnh wrote: »

Welcome to Club Polk!

That looks fine! But I would probably think about getting a Polk PSW505 from newegg.com for less than the price of a PSW125. It's a better sub for the money.

Otherwise I'd move up to Polk's DSW660 which would be even "better"!

Your HK receiver is, if I'm not mistaken, a lone experiment in digital amplification by HK a few years back. I remember reading that there were all kinds of reliability issues with those rather pricey units, so HK dropped them? This seems to be a problem for them. I have an HD 990 CDP that was supposed to be a match for their HK 990 integrated, their "comeback" into the higher end integrated market. A look on their site shows that the HD 990 is NO longer in production? I wonder why? There were also a lot of complaints about the reliability of the CDP and I've had some CDs vibrate like the dickens when tracking, but "fortunately" most play without a problem. Still when you have a $500 MSRP (I paid less) CDP you do expect some modicum of "quality control". It's a nice player, but I've had $100 players that read "everything" and don't throw tantrums with any discs? Live and learn. I do hope that your unit is holding up and not one of the many that went south!

cnh

i had the HK dpr1001 & i never had a problem with it. Did a wonderful job. I also heard may stories in what your saying. They were pricey at over 9-1100.00 + when new(i got it used). Im sure there are alot of them still out there. Owners happy & enjoying them still. I put mine for sale (refused to sell it less) so i ended up giving it to my oldest daughter/son-in-law along with some beautiful rti8 polk towers & they still enjoy it today

Haltzy

So I made the purchase, at this point not overly impressed with midrange of the towers. Im hoping that they even out a bit once they are broken in.

YDR05

Hi Chris,

So what did u end up buying? I am also looking to buy RTi line speakers...

tonyb

Haltzy wrote: »

So I made the purchase, at this point not overly impressed with midrange of the towers. Im hoping that they even out a bit once they are broken in.

Even out ?? What's that mean ?

Maybe double check your connections, settings in the receiver. What cables are you using ?

cnh

Yeah! Made the purchase of what? How can we respond to the statement about the "mids" when we don't know what speaker you are talking about?

One thing I can tell you is that most Rti speakers don't have any problem with putting out clean and defined mids, even a little forward sounding mids!

cnh

Haltzy

Sorry, had it posted above..

1. Polk Audio Tower Speaker (RTIA7)
2. Polk Audio Centre Channel Speaker (CSI A6)
3. Polk Audio Surround Bookshelf Speaker (FXIA4)
4. Polk Audio 12" Powered Subwoofer (PSW125)

In regards to "evening out" the best way I can describe it is the sound variance from a RTiA5 and RTiA7. The 7's produce a cleaner more even sound, wish I could have compared the RTiA9's. (not in stock)

Im using 10 Gauge wire Monster speaker cable (6') for the towers and center and 14 Gauge for the rears. At the moment I'm running all HDMI to my TV and an optical out to the receiver as the DPR only has 1 HDMI input (WTF) Not 100% on the brands but they are a mid grade cable.

I have been playing around in my amp and made a couple changes which have helped. From some of the posting I have read, some are setting their fronts to (Small). What is purpose this?

Any thoughts would be great.

Overall, the speakers have offered a clarity that is new to me, hearing sounds that one never thought existed in a song. Very happy with the purchase, just adjusting.

Chris

Hermitism

I wish receivers didn't use the terms "small/large" because it is misleading. Setting speakers to small, the front speakers do not get frequencies below a certain number, and the sub which is more able to handle them cleanly, gets the low frequencies. In addition, your receiver's amp doesn't have to work as hard because they do not have to deal with the low frequencies resulting in better mid and high frequencies...or something like that.