I just got my RTi A3's

baneling

Hi all, I just got these shipped and I hooked them up. I have a few questions:

1. do they need to be broken in? If so, how do I do that?

2. the speaker just fits into my entertainment unit. there is absolutely not space above it, not even enough space for me to put on the little rubber feet on the bottom. and there is hardly any space behind the speaker. Is this ok?

3. do the grills come off? I tried to take them off but they wouldn't come off. I don't want to break them.

4. is it ok if I place the speakers on their side?

5. this may sound dumb, (feel free to laugh) is it a bad idea play metal music on these speakers? would that type of music damage the speakers faster than non-metal or non-rock?

thanks

baneling

nbrowser wrote: »

1, yes, up to 250 hours til they settle in nicely.

2, At least put something under them, like a piece of felt or nicely cut up some of the foam sheeting from the box to protect them from scratches.

3. They do, just a little extra force is required and try to pop one end off first like the bottom.

4. With a curved cabinet, this is not advised.

5. It's a speaker, it's supposed to play sound, 'nuff said.

Hope this helps.

for #1, at what volume should I play them at?

baneling

nbrowser wrote: »

Normal volumes when listening to music, if you wish to accelerate the burn in process in your absence, you can play a source such as a FM music station at a low volume while your at work or something so it happens when your not home. I did just that with my A7s and they came around quickly, especially so after adding a piece to the system.

What is the difference in sound between now and after this process?

tonyb

baneling wrote: »

nbrowser wrote: »

Normal volumes when listening to music, if you wish to accelerate the burn in process in your absence, you can play a source such as a FM music station at a low volume while your at work or something so it happens when your not home. I did just that with my A7s and they came around quickly, especially so after adding a piece to the system.

What is the difference in sound between now and after this process?

You probably won't even notice because it happens slowly over a period of time. Don't worry about it and just play music like you normally would.

Not so sure having them stuffed into a cabinet will grant you the best possible sound though. Speakers need some room to breath and project their sound. Anything that gets in the way of that will alter their sound characteristics.

It's not the type of music that does damage to speakers, it's the volume dial and whoever controls it. You have to listen carefully at louder volumes, when the music sounds congested, shrill, back off the volume dial.

baneling

lets say after I've burned in my speakers, I go out and buy another new pair of RTi-A3 speakers and use those. what difference in sound would I notice? and what physically happens to the speaker when you burn it in?

baneling

Thanks!

baneling

hey all, what is that black metal shield behind the RTiA3?

baneling

the speaker is currently against the back of the bookshelf. is this ok?

tonyb

baneling wrote: »

the speaker is currently against the back of the bookshelf. is this ok?

If it sounds good to you, then yes. Is it an open bookcase or does it have solid sides ? If it has solid sides, that may present a problem sound wise.

baneling

tonyb wrote: »

baneling wrote: »

the speaker is currently against the back of the bookshelf. is this ok?

If it sounds good to you, then yes. Is it an open bookcase or does it have solid sides ? If it has solid sides, that may present a problem sound wise.

yes it has solid sides. so for the right speaker for example, there is no space behind, ontop, below or on the right side of the speaker. there is some space on the left of the speaker.

tonyb

How does it sound to you ?

My guess is the bass is going to sound a tad muddy or boomy. Can you at least move them away from the sidewalls a good foot ? Not the most ideal spot for speakers.

baneling

tonyb wrote: »

How does it sound to you ?

My guess is the bass is going to sound a tad muddy or boomy. Can you at least move them away from the sidewalls a good foot ? Not the most ideal spot for speakers.

they sound good, just wish they had more bass. I can put them in the middle of the shelf which means about 3/4 of a foot on either side. I guess i'll have to buy a subwoofer after I buy a receiver.

tonyb

baneling wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

How does it sound to you ?

My guess is the bass is going to sound a tad muddy or boomy. Can you at least move them away from the sidewalls a good foot ? Not the most ideal spot for speakers.

they sound good, just wish they had more bass. I can put them in the middle of the shelf which means about 3/4 of a foot on either side. I guess i'll have to buy a subwoofer after I buy a receiver.

What are you using to drive them with now ? Are they set to large or small ? If you don't have a subwoofer now, try setting them to large.

baneling

tonyb wrote: »

baneling wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

How does it sound to you ?

My guess is the bass is going to sound a tad muddy or boomy. Can you at least move them away from the sidewalls a good foot ? Not the most ideal spot for speakers.

they sound good, just wish they had more bass. I can put them in the middle of the shelf which means about 3/4 of a foot on either side. I guess i'll have to buy a subwoofer after I buy a receiver.

What are you using to drive them with now ? Are they set to large or small ? If you don't have a subwoofer now, try setting them to large.

I'm using a Sony STR-1090 which is about 23 years old. I will need to get a new receiver this year. i'm looking at the Onkyo 646. I have to first sell my polk audio 704c center speaker and use the money to buy a receiver. I got this speaker free I think its a bit overkill for my system. there is already a thread about this. no need to suggest selling the RTia3s and get better bookshelves and keep the 704c.

tonyb

That's a pretty beefy old Sony, it will have no problems driving those speakers. Try setting them to large, it may sound more fuller. Also, if your using standard speaker cable like Home depot stuff, look for some better cables.

rooftop59

My first set of "real" speakers were Monitor 30s, and I bought them to shove sideways into a cabinet (that's how I convinced the wife to let me get them lol...now she wishes she just would've said NO!!!). I tried them that way, and they sounded worse then they did in Circuit city, which is saying something. You get a VERY narrow soundstage that way, and almost NO center image. And of course since a fair amount of the bass comes out of that power port, it's getting absorbed into the wall. So yes, the sound is severely compromised, but if you're happy, that's all that matters.

As for me, my wife could even tell they sounded bad. We ended up buying some plant stands she liked from hobby lobby and those were my stands for a year or more. When I bought read stands (steel loaded with sand) I realized how much that also makes a difference. The bass and imaging improved significantly when the speakers are on a REALLY solid surface and have room to breathe on all sides.

baneling

tonyb wrote: »

That's a pretty beefy old Sony, it will have no problems driving those speakers. Try setting them to large, it may sound more fuller. Also, if your using standard speaker cable like Home depot stuff, look for some better cables.

there is no setting the speakers to large on that one. that feature was not around back then. At least not on my receiver. I will get new speaker wire when I get a new receiver. so if my current receiver is 120watts and a new receiver will about 100 watts, will it be worse?

baneling

rooftop59 wrote: »

My first set of "real" speakers were Monitor 30s, and I bought them to shove sideways into a cabinet (that's how I convinced the wife to let me get them lol...now she wishes she just would've said NO!!!). I tried them that way, and they sounded worse then they did in Circuit city, which is saying something. You get a VERY narrow soundstage that way, and almost NO center image. And of course since a fair amount of the bass comes out of that power port, it's getting absorbed into the wall. So yes, the sound is severely compromised, but if you're happy, that's all that matters.

As for me, my wife could even tell they sounded bad. We ended up buying some plant stands she liked from hobby lobby and those were my stands for a year or more. When I bought read stands (steel loaded with sand) I realized how much that also makes a difference. The bass and imaging improved significantly when the speakers are on a REALLY solid surface and have room to breathe on all sides.

I know I should take them out of the bookshelf, but I don't have any other place to put them. my wife doesn't want to put them on stands and I'm worried they will get knocked over. plus if I put them on stands, I will not have room for my subwoofer, which there is no other place to put them. maybe i'll experiment and put the speakers on chairs to see how much better they will sound.

my first set of speakers were massive Studio Lab speakers about 23 years ago. they had a 15" woofer and a "horn" for the tweeter. I think they were rated at 96 or 98db.
anyways, I ended up selling them to someone who was going to use them for his center speaker. lol

rooftop59

In that case I would consider returning or selling the rti A3s and picking up something like this:http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Technology-ProMonitor-Bookshelf-Speaker/dp/B000TD6QLK and this: http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html

You don't need a new receiver, you can run the speakers through the sub. This way the speakers are much easier to place and have come breathing room, and they should sound excellent.

tonyb

baneling wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

That's a pretty beefy old Sony, it will have no problems driving those speakers. Try setting them to large, it may sound more fuller. Also, if your using standard speaker cable like Home depot stuff, look for some better cables.

there is no setting the speakers to large on that one. that feature was not around back then. At least not on my receiver. I will get new speaker wire when I get a new receiver. so if my current receiver is 120watts and a new receiver will about 100 watts, will it be worse?

I was under the impression that receiver was still dolby digital compatible, which it should have some settings for speakers in the menu.

If your restricted to placing the speakers the way you have them, then you have to accept some compromises in the sound.

As far as power between old and new receivers, I'm guessing the older one would have more power but those speakers are so easy to drive that 20 watts isn't going to make a difference.

classic carl

Why do you need to buy a new receiver? Unless you are planning to build a multi channel home theater system, I would use the Sony until it dies. It will probably sound much better than any AVR you can buy today, unless you are planning to buy a new 2 channel receiver. If your system is for music only, I would not buy an AVR.

baneling

classic carl wrote: »

Why do you need to buy a new receiver? Unless you are planning to build a multi channel home theater system, I would use the Sony until it dies. It will probably sound much better than any AVR you can buy today, unless you are planning to buy a new 2 channel receiver. If your system is for music only, I would not buy an AVR.

Yes that's what I want to build this year. a 5.1 AV system to watch movies so I don't have to give Cineplex $1000 each time I want to go to the theatre and watch a movie.
Plus a new receiver will have HDMI so I can plug in all my devices. plus my wife wants to have bluetooth and play music through the ipad. plus wouldn't I get better sound when everything is plugged in via the HDMI port instead of RCA ports?

tonyb

baneling wrote: »

classic carl wrote: »

Why do you need to buy a new receiver? Unless you are planning to build a multi channel home theater system, I would use the Sony until it dies. It will probably sound much better than any AVR you can buy today, unless you are planning to buy a new 2 channel receiver. If your system is for music only, I would not buy an AVR.

Yes that's what I want to build this year. a 5.1 AV system to watch movies so I don't have to give Cineplex $1000 each time I want to go to the theatre and watch a movie.
Plus a new receiver will have HDMI so I can plug in all my devices. plus my wife wants to have bluetooth and play music through the ipad. plus wouldn't I get better sound when everything is plugged in via the HDMI port instead of RCA ports?

Depends.....when you use the rca ports, your using the dac in the device, not the receiver. Using HDMI or other digital connection allows the dac in the receiver to do its thing. Depending on the source device, it may or may not sound better per say. Will it sound better than any of the cheap devices like phones and Ipods....yeah.

baneling

tonyb wrote: »

baneling wrote: »

classic carl wrote: »

Why do you need to buy a new receiver? Unless you are planning to build a multi channel home theater system, I would use the Sony until it dies. It will probably sound much better than any AVR you can buy today, unless you are planning to buy a new 2 channel receiver. If your system is for music only, I would not buy an AVR.

Yes that's what I want to build this year. a 5.1 AV system to watch movies so I don't have to give Cineplex $1000 each time I want to go to the theatre and watch a movie.
Plus a new receiver will have HDMI so I can plug in all my devices. plus my wife wants to have bluetooth and play music through the ipad. plus wouldn't I get better sound when everything is plugged in via the HDMI port instead of RCA ports?

Depends.....when you use the rca ports, your using the dac in the device, not the receiver. Using HDMI or other digital connection allows the dac in the receiver to do its thing. Depending on the source device, it may or may not sound better per say. Will it sound better than any of the cheap devices like phones and Ipods....yeah.

I figured since HDMI is digital and RCA is analog, it would sound better?

rpf65

Hold up a second. Your wife wants to play her iPod through your system, but she won't allow the speakers to be placed anywhere but on a bookshelf?

I'm really confused here.

baneling

That's right. why the confusion? what does one have to do with the other?

rooftop59

rpf65 wrote: »

Hold up a second. Your wife wants to play her iPod through your system, but she won't allow the speakers to be placed anywhere but on a bookshelf?

I'm really confused here.

That is the essential position of many men on the forum...wife decorates, wife wants music, wife wants the two to go together in a way that is pleasing...to her...

baneling

and so speakers have to be on a stand to be pleasing?

tonyb

baneling wrote: »

and so speakers have to be on a stand to be pleasing?

Not necessarily, but it certainly isn't ideal the way you have them either. Hdmi is not a guarantee of better sound btw....depends on too many variables.

baneling

well I'm going to get a new receiver anyways. I work hard half the day. so I deserve it.

tonyb

baneling wrote: »

well I'm going to get a new receiver anyways. I work hard half the day. so I deserve it.

LOL...nuthin' wrong with that bro, rock it.