Speakers for 7.1 surround

Cabinboy

I have read much and studied about THX surround, I realize many think it is bupkiss but I have set up my room for it anyway. I have a 65 inch Panasonic TV and an Onkyo TX-nr616 receiver and have wired in for a 7.1 surround. I am going with the RTi-A3's for front and back, but am unsure about the CSi A4 or A6 for Centre and the F/Xi A4's or A6's for surround. I am on the right track? Should I go with the A4's or A6's for centre and surround?


Thanks

zane77

You're trying to drive an awful lot of speakers with that smaller AVR. With that said I prefer the A6 for the center channel and have had both the 4’s and 6’s for surround and the 6’s were definitely better, but you may want to reconsider your power requirements.

mr2686

zane77 wrote: »

You're trying to drive an awful lot of speakers with that smaller AVR. With that said I prefer the A6 for the center channel and have had both the 4’s and 6’s for surround and the 6’s were definitely better, but you may want to reconsider your power requirements.

I agree 100% with Zane. You're really pushing it with that amount of speakers with that AVR. You might be ok, for now, with just 5.1...at least that's what I would do until I could upgrade the AVR. Just my .02

rpf65

How big is your room?

The A3's are very capable speakers, but if you have a large room, you may want to consider towers. Also agree that your AVR choice could be better. You can run a 7.1 off of an AVR, but it needs to be towards the higher end of whichever manufacturer you choose.

Cabinboy

Thanks guys for your responses. The room is 30 X 18. Towers just wont fit with the layout. Can I boost the AVR power? Can I still go with 7.1 because that's what that AVR is designed for and what speakers should I be looking at that are going to give the higher quality theater sound I'm looking for?

chumlie

You can't boost the power with that receiver. WAY under powered for the speakers your looking at. Take a look at Pioneer SP series speakers. Good bang for your buck if you plan on using that receiver. And even with those I wouldn't go 7.1. Not enough power. Very deceiving AV recievers are on their power ratings.

Zentish

Unfortunately, the ONKYO NR6xx's don't have PRE-OUT's, so you can't add additional amplifiers to the rig. It looks like you have to go up to the NR8xx level, which have a bit more power and also have PRE-OUT for each speaker.

The ONKYO 6xx are sort of their mid-budget level AVR, with a decent mix of features for the price. But they don't have a lot of power or upper-end I/O. I have an older TX-SR806, and love it despite the missing HDMI 1.4 support. If I were to upgrade it would be at least to the newer 8xx or 9xx ONKYO AVR for features, power and the cleanliness of that power.

If you're already committed to the 616, then keep the number of speakers down for now, keep the rig modest and plan out for some upgrades when it makes sense.