Expandind Systems; Thoughts, Suggestions

PPuleo

I'm relatively new to Polk Speakers, very pleased to date, with my purchase of Rti8's up front with a Csi3 on the bigscreen and Rti4's on stands in the back. My sub is the 303 working with the 8's. My receiver is an older Sony 5.1 with 100 wpc ( package deal with cubes and a 75w sub) I also have a 202 working in the rear with the 4's (set to large). Most of my usage is HT. I thinking of upgrading my receiver to the Denon 2803 (90 wpc high current) for 7.1 with most likely Fxi3's on the side walls, or, going to the Denon 1804 (90 wpc hc in 6.1) with another Csi3 in the rear, or moving my Csi3 back and replacing it with a 5 on the TV.
Question's: Will I notice a difference with 90 high current vrs the 100 ? With the freebie 202, at my disposal, am I best utilizing it ? Feedback, suggestions on 6.1 vrs 7.1, Fxi3's vrs 5's with 90 wpc. My basement den / theater is 17L x 11W with the TV facing down the long side

Airplay355

yes you will notice a difference, the denon will eat your sony alive. those HTIB receivers are garbage, and it is not really producing 100 watts, so do not believe the rating. the denon will be worlds better then the sony you are used to.

placing 2 subs in the same room in different locations can be tricky and sometimes less beneficial then you think. look for some posts by Dr. Spec on how to place 2 subs in the same room. you might want to try stacking them.

most people dont think buying fxi30's or fxi3's is worse then buying fxi50s or fxi5's. the fxi5's obviously are going to have more bass but you are running a 202 with the surrounds and surround speakers are usually set to small anyway so if you have the cash then by all means go with the 5's but for me there wasnt a big enough difference to justify the cost.

the difference between a csi3 and a csi5 however will be more noticeable. there is much more information sent through the center speaker then surrounds. if you decide to go 6.1 i would upgrade your center and move the csi3 to rear surround duty. even with 7.1 you can take advantage of CC's upgrade policy and get a csi5. up to you

Ceruleance

sounds like you are on the right track. I have a 7.1 and personally I really like the addition of the 2 back surrounds, but I have a REALLY wide room to work with and so that may mean the difference. In your situation since you are planning on upgrading to a CSi5 and will have that 3 sitting around (which I think is a good move) I would say that it makes more sense to go for a 6.1 setup, but if you have the money for it i'm sure the 7.1 setup would sound excellent and you could definitely find someone to buy your CSi3 if you want to upgrade to a 5.

the 90/100 power ratings don't mean much, if anything the 2803 amps should be better quality than the 1804's.

re: the rear 202, it sometimes creates nodes and peaks if you have two subs in different areas, that's why a lot of people with dual subs have them stacked. I am not sure if you can localize whether the bass is coming from the 303 or the 202, but if you can then I say thats great and you should leave the 202 where it is and just pay extra attention when calibrating to make sure that you dont have any real bad peaks or nodes.

jdhdiggs

Couple things, the rti4 need to be set to small and force the bass to the sub(s?) Set to large, they won't dig deep enough to produce the whole signal.

If you have the two subs, use a y-splitter and co-locate them. Another idea for the subs would be to sell them and look into a HSU which woul be maybe another $2-300 out of pocket (After selling the 202).

Bang for the buck, these changes would make a larger impact on the sound than changing recievers.

As for changing the csi3 to the rear and upgrading to the 5, do that if the funds support it. This would provide a much "fuller" sound. This is an almost universally accepted upgrade around here.

As for 6.1 vs. 7.1, you should know that very few DVD's are even recorded in 6.1 and none in 7.1 so most movies would be matrixed.

IMHO: I would sell the subs and get an HSU (SVS will cost about $200 more than the HSU) and change the CSi3 to the CSi5. The high current amps in the denon would be an improvement in sound, but I feel that the other two suggestions are better for the $$$. The source would be the next upgrade

Early B.

Yep. Go with the Denon 1804 and get a Hsu sub.

AsSiMiLaTeD

You'll definitely notice a HUGE difference in another receiver. If you've already listened around and like the Denon, go with it. If you haven't listened around though, I'd at least give the Onkyo and Marantz receivers a listen.

None is necessarily better than the other, they just all have different sounds.

I can't comment on 6.1 vs 7.1 as I'm still running 5.1. To me, the decision between the two would depend alot on room layout and which would be easier and more practical for room placement in your room. Can't comment on the sub situation either, but I know that SVS gets a lot of praise around here. I'd say that if you're happy with your bass right now, I'd concentrate on the other stuff and upgrade subs later...