CSi6 With Monitor 70? or should I get some RTiA7 fronts to go with it?

afterburnt

Or should I stay with what I have for music and home theater? I would like to upgrade my center from the CS20 to something that does dialog better but dont necessarily want to or have to change out the front mains. Never heard any of them so your thoughts on them are appreciated.

cnh

CS20/CS2 are timbre matched for the M-70s. If you're going to upgrade you should just jump to all Rti-As up front, at least R/C/L.

However with those Emotiva amps that setup might be little too bright for music, but should do HT fine! The Monitors are less bright.

Lots to think about here!

afterburnt

Do you think that the CSi6 will be that "off" with the 70's? Although I am trying to get better dialog I would still prefer that music be the systems strength.

devani

do the obvious first...rerun calibration, change crossover settings, recheck the wiring...

having done these, i settled with CSi5 and happy with it....I've had LSiC and Csi3 but not liked it very much....i also have monitor 50's but kinda felt short on what I was looking for...

i have the mains RTi6 run on Denon amp and usually don't turn it on unless I am alone watching action movies....CSi5 and surrounds on HK alone is enough for TV and cartoon watching for my son...

cnh

devani wrote: »

do the obvious first...rerun calibration, change crossover settings, recheck the wiring...

having done these, i settled with CSi5 and happy with it....I've had LSiC and Csi3 but not liked it very much....i also have monitor 50's but kinda felt short on what I was looking for...

i have the mains RTi6 run on Denon amp and usually don't turn it on unless I am alone watching action movies....CSi5 and surrounds on HK alone is enough for TV and cartoon watching for my son...

Good idea! Have you tweaked the CS20? Because I run M-70s and a CS2 and I can't say I have a lot of problems with dialogue? Could it be better? EVERYTHING can be better, but how much is the question. For the money an all Monitor 70 system can compete with anything twice its price (for HT, that is) and then some if you have good amplification and set everything up correctly. If you want to upgrade such a system just add a second sub. It's cheaper and easier and you won't lack much for HT. I've heard far more expensive HT systems and walked away with little desire to upgrade.

Now 2 channel, that's another story. There is no end to upgrading there!

To the question posed. You may hear a slight difference when a soundtrack pans L to R or R to L, that will be the mismatched center-it won't be as seamless. But there's nothing wrong with trying it if you really think your C is so bad. Maybe it's the C channel of the AVR?

afterburnt

cnh wrote: »

devani wrote: »

do the obvious first...rerun calibration, change crossover settings, recheck the wiring...

having done these, i settled with CSi5 and happy with it....I've had LSiC and Csi3 but not liked it very much....i also have monitor 50's but kinda felt short on what I was looking for...

i have the mains RTi6 run on Denon amp and usually don't turn it on unless I am alone watching action movies....CSi5 and surrounds on HK alone is enough for TV and cartoon watching for my son...

Good idea! Have you tweaked the CS20? Because I run M-70s and a CS2 and I can't say I have a lot of problems with dialogue? Could it be better? EVERYTHING can be better, but how much is the question. For the money an all Monitor 70 system can compete with anything twice its price (for HT, that is) and then some if you have good amplification and set everything up correctly. If you want to upgrade such a system just add a second sub. It's cheaper and easier and you won't lack much for HT. I've heard far more expensive HT systems and walked away with little desire to upgrade.

Now 2 channel, that's another story. There is no end to upgrading there!

To the question posed. You may hear a slight difference when a soundtrack pans L to R or R to L, that will be the mismatched center-it won't be as seamless. But there's nothing wrong with trying it if you really think your C is so bad. Maybe it's the C channel of the AVR?

Ran the YAPO again set everything back to small and the xo to 60htz wires ok although it would probably better if I were running 12ga all around. I thought I had 12 and 14 ga, everything is actually wired with 14 and 16ga. The CS20 is way below ear level which does not help but I have no where else to put it (I have the same problem with the placement of all of my speakers, they go where they fit not where they belong) until can find a different stand. The CS20 sounds weak in the mids when I put my ear to it. This is not the csase with my other speakers. Could I have fried something in the CS20? YAPO set the levels to L 0.0 C +0.5 R 0.0 Should I try bumping up the output level? cnh I would love to add a second PB2000 but I have no good place to put it. I haven't bothered to try hooking up this spare PSW 505 I didn't think it would be worth the hassle.

cnh

You do have HIGHS, right? A lot of people have fried tweeters in this series. You should check the speaker, make sure you can hear all the drivers operating and sound coming from them. Also, YPAO settings (Yamaha), or various other surround processors and schemes are NOT the last word in volume. Rooms and seating positions are often problematic. It also sounds like you have that center in a bad position. Mine is on top of the old Projection HDTV, so a bit above ear level (not much).

I calibrated my system using an SPL meter from Rat Shack and then fine tuned a little by ear! I have the FRONT M-70s and CS2 crossed over at 60 Hz and everything else at the standard Dolby 80 Hz. I'm using only one 12" 300W/600W SUB myself. Occasionally, not often, I might have to bump the center a 2-3 db on a few soundtracks but most movies are fine with the settings I have entered.

So:

1. Make sure all drivers are working!
2. Bump the center if you have to-not too much, but enough.

afterburnt

All the drivers are working. I wonder if having a silk dome makes a difference all of the other speakers have cloth domes?

cnh

What are you talking about? M-70 and CS2/CS20 all have, pretty much the SAME tweeters. The ONLY difference between a CS2 and the CS20 is the crossover point and I believe it's only a 100 Hz off which is not relevant. The CS/TSI series has, I believe, all speakers crossed over at 2500 Hz?

Or do you mean the difference between the RTI and the Monitor tweeters, which is NOT so much the surface materials but a more robust build quality with heat sinks and greater power handling ability. It is much more difficult to FRY an RTI tweeter than a Monitor!

afterburnt

afterburnt wrote: »

All the drivers are working. I wonder if having a silk dome makes a difference all of the other speakers have cloth domes?

to clarify the CS20 has a silk dome tweeter all of the monitors have cloth dome tweeters.

The only thing that I found on the CS20 specs is "
Crossover: 2500 Hz, 2nd order" I have no idea what that means.

Do you have a layman's explanation of crossovers? Or the difference between silk and cloth?

cnh

You can take my word for it. Those tweeters are made from the same cloth. Polymer treated silk dome composite in both cases, regardless of what the Polk info might say. There are a number of errors, or rather OMISSIONS, in the Polk product descriptions, and it's gotten worse over time!

Other than a slight difference in color, the fabric on both models is the same!

afterburnt

Really? And the guts are the same too?

afterburnt

Innards?

cnh

I highly doubt that the magnet structure and basic design of these tweeters is much different if at all, if that's what you mean.

Do they have different crossovers? Well, they are crossed over at slightly different frequencies but that's easy to do without changing much on the board. The TSIs were NOT a major change from the Monitors that preceded them. Yes, the port was moved to the bottom on the towers, and the crossover for all speakers was standardized to 2500 Hz (probably to provide a common point for surround sound?).

You shouldn't trouble yourself over this. The important thing here is to TWEAK what you can with your CS20 and if that still does not do the trick for you, maybe you should consider something else. even the A6? It will be brighter and probably a little louder.

afterburnt

Cool thanks, I will probably try the A6 when I can catch it on sale.

gp4jesus

afterburnt wrote: »

The CS20 is way below ear level which does not help but I have no where else to put it (I have the same problem with the placement of all of my speakers, they go where they fit not where they belong) until can find a different stand.

The room is a component. In an abstract way, speaker placement is a "component" or essential element.

Ideally, you want your LCR tweeters on the same horizontal plane* - CC tweeter should be less than 8" from same*. Your L/R equidistant from your ears & nearly the same distance apart; same for your respective surrounds.

The further you deviate from the ideal & the less regard for the room, the greater possibility for disappointment.

afterburnt

I wish I had the option of raising it to the level of the Monitor 70 tweeters but that would put it in the middle of the TV screen. I did have it a bit closer to that level, probably close to that 8 inches but I had to put all the amps on the top shelf of the TV stand. I cant even tilt it up on the shelf because there is no space to do it. Now if only I had room for a rack I could put it back. At least all of the other speakers are placed pretty much symmetrically but still not in ideal positions.