Rtia9,csia6,psw505 and onkyo tx-rn636

iceburn
iceburn Posts: 8
in Speakers
Hi. I have an ONKYO TX-nr636 avr. Is it enough to power up my 2 rtia9 as a front speaker and csia6 as center ?
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Best Answers

  • ken brydson
    ken brydson Posts: 8,779
    Answer ✓
    In a word, no. Welcome to CP but sorry to pee in your cheerios. That's a lot of speakers to power with an entry level receiver , especially one that you can't ad an amp to. If you have a capable sub you may be able to take some weight off the AVR and get by for a while. Just be careful with the volume knob.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,729
    Answer ✓
    Best answer......
    In a word, no.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,990
    Answer ✓
    I'll use my car analogy again.

    Think of your speakers as a car and the receiver as the engine. What you have is a Camaro and only a 4 cylinder engine to drive it. Will it start up and drive down the street ? Of course it will....but it won't perform to it's optimal levels, which...who buys big speakers and doesn't want to get the best out of them ?

    Your problem is the receiver you have is under powered for the speakers you bought. Since you don't have pre-outs on the receiver you can't even add an amplifier. So you have a couple choices.

    1. Leave it as is, keep the volume low until you can afford to upgrade the receiver and possibly add an amplifier too.
    2. Return the speakers for something easier to drive like the A5's, and with that subwoofer you already have, may be your best option.
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  • ken brydson
    ken brydson Posts: 8,779
    Answer ✓
    iceburn wrote: »
    Thanks for the comment. I guess my best option is to upgrade my avr. Which avr is the best for my a9's?. But i have to consider the price. I cant go more than 1000 cad $. (Usd 800)I'm also planning to get a preamp. Thanks in advance..

    You're planning on getting an amp or preamp?
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,990
    Answer ✓
    iceburn wrote: »
    ken brydson wrote: »
    iceburn wrote: »
    Thanks for the comment. I guess my best option is to upgrade my avr. Which avr is the best for my a9's?. But i have to consider the price. I cant go more than 1000 cad $. (Usd 800)I'm also planning to get a preamp. Thanks in advance..

    You're planning on getting an amp or preamp?

    I'm planning to get an avr with preamp then add an external amp..

    Every AVR has a pre amp function to it. Others were talking about a separate pre amp. Anyway, at the very least, you need a receiver with preouts and an additional amplifier to bring out the best in those A9's.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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Answers

  • iceburn
    iceburn Posts: 8
    So what do you recommend? I also bought a sub psw505..
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  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,315
    Read through these 2 threads

    http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/170912/harmon-kardons-new-amps-1510-1610-1710s/p1

    http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/168832/rti-a9-vs-the-discount-amplifier/p1
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
    Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
    Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC

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  • iceburn
    iceburn Posts: 8
    Hi ken,

    So what should i do? Do i need to buy another avr? Recently i bought a psw505 sub.. Is it compatible with my a9's?
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  • iceburn
    iceburn Posts: 8
    edited December 2015
    xcapri79 wrote: »
    iceburn wrote: »
    Hi. I have an ONKYO TX-nr636 avr. Is it enough to power up my 2 rtia9 as a front speaker and csia6 as center ?
    Welcome to the Polk Audio Forum. Your receiver will power those speakers, but it may not be optimal at higher volumes. Do you have all your equipment connected? How does it sound for you? Do you have a subwoofer?

    Yup. They are all connected to my avr. The sound is ok but i think i'm not getting the full power of the a9's. I just bought a psw505 subs..
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  • iceburn
    iceburn Posts: 8
    xcapri79 wrote: »
    iceburn wrote: »
    xcapri79 wrote: »
    iceburn wrote: »
    Hi. I have an ONKYO TX-nr636 avr. Is it enough to power up my 2 rtia9 as a front speaker and csia6 as center ?
    Welcome to the Polk Audio Forum. Your receiver will power those speakers, but it may not be optimal at higher volumes. Do you have all your equipment connected? How does it sound for you? Do you have a subwoofer?

    Yup. They are all connected to my avr. The sound is ok but i think i'm not getting the full power of the a9's. I just bought a psw505 subs..
    What do you have your receiver crossover set to? Have you tried different settings?
    The PSW505 can pick up the low end from the RTiA9 to reduce the load on your receiver. You can improve the overall sound by blending the subwoofer with the main speakers as you adjust your crossover settings at your AVR.

    Crossover? Where and How can i know the crossover? Sorry im new with this stuff.. Lol
    My avr output is 115 wpc. I set my a9 for 80hrz as the psw505 manual says..
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  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,207
    Welcome to the forum
    The RTi-A9's are more than capable of giving you subwoofer levels of bass given enough current from the amp. The TX-NR636 while an excellent receiver is just not gonna cut it with those. Had you bought the one a step above it you would at least have had preamp outputs for all channels and you could easily upgrade to a more powerful amplifier. Yes a sub can help if you set all of the speakers to small and have the receiver redirect the low bass away from the front channels,but then what's the use of having these big a$$ speakers??
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  • ken brydson
    ken brydson Posts: 8,779
    F1nut wrote: »
    Best answer......
    In a word, no.

    Yet the bad advise continues...
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,201
    Onkyo receivers are very nice. I sell them and think they are very home theater friendly models. I love the way they setup calibrate and for custom they are mostly a sure fit.
    I also do the Integra line which is basically the ELITE version of the Onkyo models.

    Unfortunately the model you selected to drive your system is not up to the task. I have issues trying to run moderate level in ceiling speakers with that model. I have used it several times on my entry level jobs and it works fine there but once you start asking it to perform at high levels with harder to drive speakers, it losses wind.
    If you like Onkyo receivers you can move up the ladder and get a model that will do some justice to your system. It will cost you a bit more but in the end who the hell cares as you need balance in your system.
    I suggest the Onkyo TX-NR1030 which is where the better amp section starts in their line. This model will drive your speakers just fine but if your willing to spend a bit more then I strongly suggest going with the flagship model in the TX-NR3030.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • iceburn
    iceburn Posts: 8
    Thanks for the comment. I guess my best option is to upgrade my avr. Which avr is the best for my a9's?. But i have to consider the price. I cant go more than 1000 cad $. (Usd 800)I'm also planning to get a preamp. Thanks in advance..
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  • iceburn
    iceburn Posts: 8
    ken brydson wrote: »
    iceburn wrote: »
    Thanks for the comment. I guess my best option is to upgrade my avr. Which avr is the best for my a9's?. But i have to consider the price. I cant go more than 1000 cad $. (Usd 800)I'm also planning to get a preamp. Thanks in advance..

    You're planning on getting an amp or preamp?

    I'm planning to get an avr with preamp then add an external amp..
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  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    edited December 2015
    What you actually mean is that you plan to get an avr that is both a preamp and an amp, that has the necessary preOUTs that will allow you to get a separate more powerful amplifier later on so that your speakers can operate to their full potential.

    Welcome to Club Polk IB.
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  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,207
    Yeah

    What SHE said!
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  • iceburn
    iceburn Posts: 8
    tonyb wrote: »
    I'll use my car analogy again.

    Think of your speakers as a car and the receiver as the engine. What you have is a Camaro and only a 4 cylinder engine to drive it. Will it start up and drive down the street ? Of course it will....but it won't perform to it's optimal levels, which...who buys big speakers and doesn't want to get the best out of them ?

    Your problem is the receiver you have is under powered for the speakers you bought. Since you don't have pre-outs on the receiver you can't even add an amplifier. So you have a couple choices.

    1. Leave it as is, keep the volume low until you can afford to upgrade the receiver and possibly add an amplifier too.
    2. Return the speakers for something easier to drive like the A5's, and with that subwoofer you already have, may be your best option.
    tonyb wrote: »
    I'll use my car analogy again.

    Think of your speakers as a car and the receiver as the engine. What you have is a Camaro and only a 4 cylinder engine to drive it. Will it start up and drive down the street ? Of course it will....but it won't perform to it's optimal levels, which...who buys big speakers and doesn't want to get the best out of them ?

    Your problem is the receiver you have is under powered for the speakers you bought. Since you don't have pre-outs on the receiver you can't even add an amplifier. So you have a couple choices.

    1. Leave it as is, keep the volume low until you can afford to upgrade the receiver and possibly add an amplifier too.
    2. Return the speakers for something easier to drive like the A5's, and with that subwoofer you already have, may be your best option.

    so Onkyo tx-nr636 has no pre-out. How will i know if an av receiver has a pre-out? And which external amp do i need to buy? Thanks
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