Newbie RTi's

PolkWannabie

Well the new RTi12's, CSi5 and FXi5's arrived last Thursday and after allowing them enough time to recover back to room temperature after being in the back of some truck for a few days I hooked up the fronts, later the center and finally the surrounds.

I was surprised and maybe even a little distressed at how piercing the mid to upper mid range was on the 12's on first listening. Fortunately after 2 days of almost continuous play at low to mid volume they seem to be opening up and filling out nicely but still seem to have a ways to go.

This brings me to a question though. From those of you who have the same or similar speakers and have gotten them new, how long a period of time have you noticed that it takes these to be fully broken in ?

Thanks in advance.

dave shepard

What reciever are you running and what are the settings? The speakers I bought were new and I can't really say how long it took to break in because I never was too coincerned with it and never ran them when I wasn't listening to them but did notice a slight change in the sound after a couple days of using them. The settings on the reciever and make of reciever will be the biggest veriable to the final sound heard.

Dave

PolkWannabie

I was running them initially with just an Onkyo TX-NR801 i.e. 100 wpc. but have since borrowed and integrated a friends Sunfire Cinema Grand II Signature at 400 wpc.

Actually I'm quite surprised at the differences between what they initially sounded like even with the amp in place and what they sound like now.

The low end has opened up a lot since the initial couple of hours and the mids & highs which were almost strident intially have smoothed out quite a bit.

Tour2ma

Not that it matters, but the series II is 425 wpc...

Will be interested in your thoughts upon swapping back to the Onk.

PolkWannabie

Right ...

At low to mid volume it should make very little difference. However a setup not unlike this would allow bi-amping of the mains and/or possibly the center which might make for some noticeable change.

dave shepard

The Onkyo's have been noted on this forum as being too bright and I can say that they can make your ears bleed if not set-up properly. Even if set-up right there are some that say they are still too bright. The diff. I hear is that the Onkyo has a great amount of detail in the sound which could be the cause of the brightness some are refering too. The Denon I have will not get the sound to the ear bleed levels I've heard the Onkyo 901 get these Polks I have to. You should be able to get the Onkyo to an acceptable level by changing the XO and playing with the Bass/ treb settings.

Dave

PolkWannabie

Are you referring to playing of the 12's or the 70's with Onkyo ?

I've tried to listen to them at various points along the break in trail without modifying the settings per se and I had originally listened to the 12's, 10's & 8's with a similar Onkyo and very much liked the 12's. The main difference it would appear is that the ones that I listened to originally had been thoroughly broken in.

I'm all for detail in listening as long it isn't piercing and it would appear that a through break in period of at least 50-100 (maybe 200) hours at low to moderate volume is what's required.

sowen010599

I had an Onkyo 701. It was quite harsh. Hi's were "hissy", mid's were "boxy" but the lows were quite good. Didn't much care for that unit. Tried the 801 and 901, same deal. The 701 had some odd bass issues when going from source to source. Ended up with a Yamaha RX-2400 and I love it.

PolkWannabie

To each his own ...

The Onky played fine with the speakers that were the forerunners of the Polks for the same input sources so that was clearly not the issue in my situation as that was the constant.

Tour2ma

PW,
The above was what I was looking for in asking for an update when you swap back.

Several members have noted that Onk's and certain Polks have not been a good match in the past. Some also noted that Integras were even worse...

PolkWannabie

Acknowledged ...

The only thing that the Sunfire brings to the table is additional head room ... It can of course be used for the fronts with the current outputs but that brings at least some coloration into play and if that's what one wants then that's of course fine.

I did demo the 12's ( ones that were broken in ) with a similar Onky ( also broken in ) and they seemed fine, detailed yes but fine, and the longer I play these the closer they get to what I heard originally.

I can't speak for other set ups or listening conditions/situations but it does seem clear to me that at least some of the larger speakers in the RTi line definitely need to be broken in as do most electronics.

dave shepard

Originally posted by PolkWannabie
Acknowledged ...

I did demo the 12's ( ones that were broken in ) with a similar Onky ( also broken in )

I can't say I ever heard that a reciever had a break-in period .

Dave

PolkWannabie

If you read the pdf that someone put up in another thread then the necessity for any break-in period on any piece of gear whether it's speakers, electronics, cables, wires or what have you is one of the big myths of this hobby.

My personal experience is that most components need some break in period with speakers taking the longest and electronics taking the shortest amount of time. There may be no math & science reason for it, but my ears say otherwise.

Cables & wires I'm highly suspicious of but then I think maybe not all but a good deal of the hype with that particular group of accessories is total nonsense.