Rti series system hookup

Flop123

Hi guys, I'm New to Polk forums. Just purchased an almost complete Rti lineup of speakers second hand for my home theater setup. Rti10 fronts, Csi5 for the center, Rti6 for the sides, with a psw505 for the subwoofer. All is being driven by a pioneer elite vsx-21thx receiver. My question is I want to purchase an amp to help drive those Rti10's when I'm listening to music, as I've read on other forums that the Rti10's need some clean power to really shine! What do I need to look for when purchasing an external amp?? I seen a HK pa2000 at a local store for a $100. Is this adequate enough or am I totally in the wrong ballpark?? Any help or thoughts would be much appreciated. So far I'm really loving this setup but I just want to bring out all it's potential. Thanks!

Irrenhaus

Budget? Will be good to know.

B&K, Parasound and Adcom to name a few.

Cheers

Flop123

Thanks for the reply Irrenhaus. Budget is kinda of a grey area as I'm always looking at second hand items either on EBay, Craigslist, Letgo or local pawn shops. I'm just not familiar with what brands are your best bang for your buck type thing. Thanks.

pkquat

The brands above are good recommendations as are Bryston, Krell, Mcintosh, on the high end, or NAD, Hafler, etc. more towards the middle of the road. Age and model numbers can affect the "deal" as well. It depends on what your final goal is, and a budget it helpful.

Finding the "deal" often takes a lot of time, research, and effort. Its easier to provide answers and a fair value estimate when there is a target. You can then decide if it is a deal. It also depends on the time frame. You may not find the deal, but find something good for a reasonable price to meet the need now, and then be able to sell it later for a similar price if you find something better for a better price.

tonyb

Flop123 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Irrenhaus. Budget is kinda of a grey area as I'm always looking at second hand items either on EBay, Craigslist, Letgo or local pawn shops. I'm just not familiar with what brands are your best bang for your buck type thing. Thanks.

The best budget brands on the used markets are Parasound and B&k as already mentioned. You can get a one by searching your local craigslist, Audiogon, here in our own FM. Many other places to look too. You'll also need a good pair of RCA interconnects to hook up the amp. Don't use the junk that came with a dvd player.

Used prices for a 2 channel amp by those brands run 350-500 depending.

rooftop59

More specifically, I would look for an amp with at least 100 wpc, more if you can swing it. A parasound HCA-1000 would help those speakers, an HCA-1200 would be even better. The former can be had for $200-300, the latter probably $100-200 more.

You probably want to stay away from adcom with that setup, the combo will be pretty darn bright.

Flop123

Thanks for all the replies guys!! I think I'm gonna try and stay around $300 and under range for now. I will definitely look at all the brands you guys mentioned. On a side question I have all my speakers set to "small" on my receiver to let the subwoofer work. Should I change the front mains back to "large" after adding an amp? Thanks again for all the help guys!! I'm still very new to having a little higher end speaker system. Everything I've had before has been hand me down junk, so thanks!!

gurot1

I would keep them at small. Let the sub do the heavy lifting for bass. Keeps strain off the amp when watching movies.

tonyb

It's a matter of personal preference....see which you like better, large or small. Large will give you a fuller sound imho.

pkquat

I agree I think large will be better. I would not add the LFE mix to them. Let the sub handle any LFE. As tonyb often says, listen and decide which your ears like better.

Erik Tracy

Most AVRs have memory settings - so you could save one setting with Fronts=Small for movies (and scary/dangerous LFE 'strain'), and another with Fronts=Large for music.

Flop123

Awsome! Thanks again guys. Everyone's been a ton of help.

Flop123

Good idea Tracy. Thanks