RTi8 and CSi5s, set as large or small with external amplifier?
Although I was not supposed to buy any additional gear before we move, despite fiance's rolling eye balls I brought home an adcom gfa 5006. The flexibility of the amplifier caught my eye.
Mainly:
50 watts/channel for 6 channels.
Channels can be bridged to give 3 channels of 175 watts at 8ohms.
Has trigger input to fire it up.
I hooked it up to my front stage, RTi8s and CSi5 in bridged mode and set them as large. So, front LCR has 175watts going to them. Immediately noticed fuller/relaxed sound. Tin can like harsh sound, which I never realized was present, is not there any more. I even put the surrounds (RTi4s driven by my receiver) as large to test.
My question is, is it better to run the front 3 as large or small?
I have my sub crossed at 80 Hz.
Mainly:
50 watts/channel for 6 channels.
Channels can be bridged to give 3 channels of 175 watts at 8ohms.
Has trigger input to fire it up.
I hooked it up to my front stage, RTi8s and CSi5 in bridged mode and set them as large. So, front LCR has 175watts going to them. Immediately noticed fuller/relaxed sound. Tin can like harsh sound, which I never realized was present, is not there any more. I even put the surrounds (RTi4s driven by my receiver) as large to test.
My question is, is it better to run the front 3 as large or small?
I have my sub crossed at 80 Hz.
Sony BDP-S6500 | Raspberry Pi 2 | XBOX One S | Wii --> Yamaha RX-V667 --> Adcom 5006 bridged to 175 watts for front LCR -- >Front: Polk Audio RTi8s | Center: CSi5 | Side Surrounds: RTi4s | Rear surrounds: FXiA4s | Cheap 12" sub woofer|Samsung UN60KU6300
Comments
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Try it both ways, your ears will tell you which sounds best.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 -
Try it both ways, your ears will tell you which sounds best.
From about an hour of testing yesterday, I was convinced they sounded equally good when set as large or small. I didnt put my favorite blu-rays or SACDs yet. This can only happen next week, as I have some guests this week. So, I am looking for opinions on how others here have their speakers set up in similar situation.
May be just the better acoustic dynamics from the external amplifier is tricking me.
Even though the amp I got is a dinosaur, I can clearly notice the difference between receiver powered and external amplifier powered sound. Just cant put my finger on what changed. I can only say, its less harsh and relaxing to listen. I might have to purchase two more speakers for front heights now that my receiver has free power. Some more rolling eye balls from fiance for sure. 
Sony BDP-S6500 | Raspberry Pi 2 | XBOX One S | Wii --> Yamaha RX-V667 --> Adcom 5006 bridged to 175 watts for front LCR -- >Front: Polk Audio RTi8s | Center: CSi5 | Side Surrounds: RTi4s | Rear surrounds: FXiA4s | Cheap 12" sub woofer|Samsung UN60KU6300 -
Try it both ways, your ears will tell you which sounds best.
From about an hour of testing yesterday, I was convinced they sounded equally good when set as large or small. I didnt put my favorite blu-rays or SACDs yet. This can only happen next week, as I have some guests this week. So, I am looking for opinions on how others here have their speakers set up in similar situation.
May be just the better acoustic dynamics from the external amplifier is tricking me. Even though the amp I got is a dinosaur, I can clearly notice the difference between receiver powered and external amplifier powered sound. Just cant put my finger on what changed. I can only say, its less harsh and relaxing to listen. I might have to purchase two more speakers for front heights now that my receiver has free power. Some more rolling eye balls from fiance for sure.
In your current set up with, as you put it...a cheap 12" sub then by all means setting them to large will give you the best sound. Now if you upgrade to a new sub (or 2 for even better results) them the small setting will be a delight to your ears. The other tricky point here is to have the sub or subs properly calibrated. This takes time & a lot of tweaking but if the sub, subs are just placed willy nilly or placed in the only spot it will fit you will not to be pleased with the results. For now stick with the large setting.
"2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up. -
Fwiw, I have rti8, a csi5 (rti6) as rears not in use right now and an svs pb10. I also have a rote amp. My set up is everything to small mind you a have a decent sub to handle the bass. Tell you what I'll play with my settings and let you know. I know we don't have the room and such but still
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Large baby.....go big or go home. I like the sound in large settings over small. Small sounds too thin to my ears. 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 -
Just get larger ears then Tony... why do you have to make things so complicated
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pearsall001 wrote: »
In your current set up with, as you put it...a cheap 12" sub then by all means setting them to large will give you the best sound. Now if you upgrade to a new sub (or 2 for even better results) them the small setting will be a delight to your ears. The other tricky point here is to have the sub or subs properly calibrated. This takes time & a lot of tweaking but if the sub, subs are just placed willy nilly or placed in the only spot it will fit you will not to be pleased with the results. For now stick with the large setting.
By a cheap sub, I mean I have a dayton audio sub 120. Its a decent sub woofer, handles LFE pretty well for the price I paid. I am keeping off a sub and receiver purchase till I move because I am not sure what kind of room I will have to play with placement of the speakers and subwoofer. Hence holding off on those.
Sony BDP-S6500 | Raspberry Pi 2 | XBOX One S | Wii --> Yamaha RX-V667 --> Adcom 5006 bridged to 175 watts for front LCR -- >Front: Polk Audio RTi8s | Center: CSi5 | Side Surrounds: RTi4s | Rear surrounds: FXiA4s | Cheap 12" sub woofer|Samsung UN60KU6300 -
I did a test different settings. Currently I am running front left and right RTi8's as large and center CSi5 and surrounds RTi4's as small, LFE crossed at 80Hz. I think this sounds better because the center channel was giving out too much bass than my liking when set up as large. But only tests I have done have been OTA TV and some blu ray.
Will test with the dark knight blu ray and dire straits SACD this weekend. I am very familiar with those two media and will be able to tell the difference on each setup (I hope).Sony BDP-S6500 | Raspberry Pi 2 | XBOX One S | Wii --> Yamaha RX-V667 --> Adcom 5006 bridged to 175 watts for front LCR -- >Front: Polk Audio RTi8s | Center: CSi5 | Side Surrounds: RTi4s | Rear surrounds: FXiA4s | Cheap 12" sub woofer|Samsung UN60KU6300 -
It is personal to your gear and room. I found that large settings on some towers (RTi70s) gave a very chesty tone to voices that didn't sound natural. On better speakers, (My SDA 1Cs or ADS L1230/L1290) sounded fine with either setting. My center (CS 350LS) can take it either way, but small sounds the cleanest.HT Optoma HD25 LV on 80" DIY Screen, Anthem MRX 300 Receiver, Pioneer Elite BDP 51FD Polk CS350LS, Polk SDA1C, Polk FX300, Polk RT55, Dual EBS Adire Shiva 320watt tuned to 17hz, ICs-DIY Twisted Prs, Speaker-Raymond Cable
2 Channel Thorens TD 318 Grado ZF1, SACD/CD Marantz 8260, Soundstream/Krell DAC1, Audio Mirror PP1, Odyssey Stratos, ADS L-1290, ICs-DIY Twisted , Speaker-Raymond Cable -
The manual for my center (CS400i) states to set as large and I tried it that way for a while. For me, I find voices in movie and tv to be much clearer when set to small. My M-7 series II also give a tighter sound when not trying to run full range. Systems are different so what works for me may yield garbage for someone else but my best results for any configuratuon using a subwoofer has been to cross at 80hz as per the THX standard.
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Just get larger ears then Tony... why do you have to make things so complicated
Larger ears ?? Not a bad idea, may take attention away from the large schnoz I have.
I have a big nose for a reason though, I can sniff out a Cannoli from 3 miles away. The big guy upstairs understood, gave me the nose to indulge in simple pleasures. Bigger ears means I may be able to hear when they unlock the doors to the bakery.
I like the way you think.
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
