Need help finishing out a polk HT setup (rti a9 and friends)

atrus

Hi guys, I have been a lurker for a few weeks now and am getting close to purchasing my first HT system, and am trying to do my due diligence in getting the right gear.

75% HT / 25% Music
Room is somewhat odd-shaped, it is essentially an entryway/kitchen/small office/living room, the living room itself is about 18 feet x 13 feet with an 8-ish foot ceiling, but the total room size is probably a little more than double that.
Budget is about 2000-4000, prefer to be closer to 2000, but if there are significant gains to be had I don't mind going a bit overboard. I work at Best Buy and am able to buy almost anything Best Buy offers on their website at a significant discount, so it definitely helps my budget.

I've pretty much fallen in love with the rti cherry speaker line, and I think I pretty much have my heart set on the rti a9 as fronts along with their partner the csi a6 for a center. I'm also interested in flirting with the idea of atmos 5.1.2 and/or a straight up 7.2 system. Branching out from here is where I am having issues.

1. It seems that the rti a9's are very power hungry. Parasounds seem to be the power amp of choice, and I have my eye on an HCA-2003A at the moment as it delivers 3 channels of 220W at 8 ohms, which seems to be the sweet spot for these speakers.
2. This leads me to need a receiver that is capable of handling pre-outs, which to me seems like Marantz is a solid choice (as it is always a solid choice, but even more so here). The Marantz SR5011 seems appropriate in this situation (I'm pairing this with an LG OLED B6P 65 inch for reference, so I want a modern AVR for HDR compatibilities, etc.).
3. I have my eye on the HSU Vtf-15h mk2 for a sub, which might push me out of my budget, but I wouldn't mind waiting a little bit in order to purchase them in a month or so in order to get a really nice sub, possibly getting two in the distant future.
4. That leaves me with not much left over for the 2 surrounds and 2 height channels, which led me to lean towards the t15's due to their cheapness, yet not awfulness, which seems feasible considering this setup is mainly for HT. In order to achieve the height effect, the general plan is to mount them on tall bookshelves near the ceiling and point them down towards the sweet spot in the room. I don't know about timbre matching between the rti series and the t15's, but as they are the same manufacturer and one set is being used for the front stage and the other 4 are being used for surrounds/heights, I don't see that being an issue.

So I guess my main question is, are there any gaping flaws in my approach that I am missing? Are there any gains to be had for less or nearly the same amount of money? Is there anything I am leaving out? I appreciate you guys taking the time to read my massive wall of text, and I look forward to hearing from you all!

Nightfall

That room is not really big enough to accommodate a 7.2 setup, nor would I worry about Atmos. In my opinion stick with a five channel setup.

atrus

If that is the case, it might be worthwhile to grab a pair of A3's instead of the four T15. Better timbre matching, and probably significantly better surround quality for the five channel setup.

chumlie

Or get a set of FXI A6 if your looking for surround.
https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Surround-Speakers-Black/dp/B000V2SEZU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1479490719&sr=1-1&keywords=polk+fxi+a6

atrus

I noticed those and have considered them, but am leaning towards the A1/A3 for two reasons:

1. I love the cherry finish on the rtia series in general, and if I'm gonna drop an extra hundred or so, having a full matching set would be better (IMHO) than not.
2. I have no real experience with monopole vs. dipole vs. bipole, but from what ten minutes of googling has told me is that dipole/bipoles create a bigger "sweet spot" if they don't get messed up by the room dynamics, but monopoles make for a really nice, simple, albeit smaller "sweet spot." I pretty much plan on sitting in the sweet spot for the majority of the time, which is why I'm currently leaning towards the A1/A3.

Feel free to correct me if I'm sorely mistaken!

chumlie

Love the sweet spot. Your good with The A1's or 3's. Sounds like a nice setup your putting together. That Parasound will do wonders with your front end.

rpf65

When dealing with surround speakers, you should consider their job. Although most people use direct firing speakers as surrounds, bi/di-pole speakers work much better. I've tried both.

Reason being is that surround speakers main duty is ambient information. For instance if the characters the scene is focused on are having a conversation in a restaurant, you mainly want to hear their dialogue. Of course hearing only their dialogue would be pretty unrealistic.

This is where the surrounds come into play. Other people are also talking, as well as glasses clanking, dirty dishes being stacked, etc. sending these to the surrounds gives the audience a more realistic experience. By sending it a more diffused pattern, you get more a sense the size of the room.

Same goes wth doors slamming, off screen, insect/animal sounds, traffic noise, and so forth. Not that direct firing speakers can't do this well, it's just that bi/do-pole speakers do it better.

If your budget doesn't allow the FXI A6 consider the A4's. Like you I like the cherry RTI A series speakers. Originally had the A3's as surrounds and A1's as rears. Decided to take advantage of a sale and tried the FXI A6, even though they're black. Probably wouldn't even have gone 7.1 had I bought the FXI A6's to begin with.

Whatever you decide, the most important thing is you like what you hear. Good luck.

atrus

This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you for the information. I am going to try out the fxi a6s and see how it goes. One last question, would there be any preference between the parasound hca-2003a and the b&k reference 3220? They both deliver 3 channels of 220W at 8ohms, but aside from that are somewhat different with respect to THD and frequency response. Which is better or is the difference negligible?

Thank you all for your help!!!

dalylaleahthor

Sorry I'm a little late to the party. I own what you're currently interested in such as the Rtia9, parasound, b&k and the fxia6. Great choice of amp for the speakers. They are different in sound so you'll have to be the judge and listen to both of them. B&k+ rtia9 = neutral. Parasound+rtia9 = same like the b&k but the high is a tad brighter but not by much. This is by my judgement so take it with a grain of salt. Hope this helps.

gp4jesus

atrus wrote: »

I noticed those and have considered them, but am leaning towards the A1/A3...

Sorry for my late arrival to your party.

Should you commit to RTi A1 or A3, see my "Rti a3s wall mounted as Surrounds"

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/173492/rti-a3s-wall-mounted-as-surrounds#latest

Brackets are rated to 33 lbs - important as the A1s & A3 are 11 & 16 lbs respectively.

They're easy & extremely flexible to focus those bookies into your listening space. For safety's sake make sure you have at least 1.5" or more into a stud. I used two 4" deck screws per speaker through a small 2 X 4 painted satin black. W/out which I couldn't get the angle necessary to prime seating.

Tony

Inspector 24

Spot on choices for making the A9's sing, and the HSU works great to compliment their already strong bass output.

Dmega

Maybe a bit late but I've run 5.1, 7.1 systems and they don't come close to even a 5.1.2 atoms setup. I'm currently running 7.1.4 atmos driven by anthem mrx1120 with the rtia9, sc60, psw125 but looking to replace the surrounds with better voice matching bookshelf speakers possibly Rtia line or the cheaper line.

I don't have a lack of power with my setup but having Preouts on the receiver probably mean you are getting a mid to top line plus flexibility which is good. I like the anthem obviously but have had good experience with denon. I would also look at the marantz.

For comparison sake my room is 11x19 so it's similar to yours with another half of the room being about 9x9. The 9s in stereo are deep and loud and I'm not driving hard at all. But the sub really helps as they can go lower than the 9's.

atrus

I'm actually about to make my purchase, thanks to all of you guys' help among other people.

Going with rti a9 as L/R, csi a6 as center, marantz sr5011 as receiver, hsu vtf-15h mk2 as sub, and I'm going to go with the fxi a4s (a6s are currently sold out on best buy and from what I've heard the main difference is a better bass response on the a6s, which will be made up for with a solid dedicated sub). Until I find a proper used parasound power amp I plan on bi-amping the rti a9s on the marantz, which leaves no slots for atmos, but when I do get a power amp I plan on upgrading to atmos and getting a pair for that. Does anyone recommend an rti or fxi speaker pair for atmos?

I'm also curious about a choice of speaker stand for the fxi a4s. Thanks!

Dmega

atrus wrote: »

I'm actually about to make my purchase, thanks to all of you guys' help among other people.

Going with rti a9 as L/R, csi a6 as center, marantz sr5011 as receiver, hsu vtf-15h mk2 as sub, and I'm going to go with the fxi a4s (a6s are currently sold out on best buy and from what I've heard the main difference is a better bass response on the a6s, which will be made up for with a solid dedicated sub). Until I find a proper used parasound power amp I plan on bi-amping the rti a9s on the marantz, which leaves no slots for atmos, but when I do get a power amp I plan on upgrading to atmos and getting a pair for that. Does anyone recommend an rti or fxi speaker pair for atmos?

I'm also curious about a choice of speaker stand for the fxi a4s. Thanks!

It is not recommended to have dipole or bipole speakers for atmos asper dolby. Better to go with bookshelfs. I'm almost 100% certain I will go with the rtia1.

mrloren

I would not bi-amp them speakers either. I tried it with my RTI8 and did not see any improvement other than another wire running to the speakers. Get some good Furez 10awg from Doug http://douglasconnection.com/Furez-10-AWG-2-Conductor-Speaker-Cable-Raw-FZ102.htm for the front 3 and 14awg for the surrounds http://douglasconnection.com/Furez-14AWG-2-Conductor-Speaker-Cable-Raw-FZ142.htm

You will like the HSU sub... your neighbors might too

Please post on how you like your setup. I was thinking of getting the Marantz 5010 to replace my Sony ES.

gp4jesus

To OP

mrloren wrote: »

...Furez 10awg from Doug http://douglasconnection.com/Furez-10-AWG-2-Conductor-Speaker-Cable-Raw-FZ102.htm for the front.

+1 on gauge, indifferent on your flavor (brand) of choice

mrloren wrote: »

...14awg

NOOOooooo! Even if your surround amp is located near/between* surround speakers, as I suspect it is NOT - minimum 12 gauge**.
* like mine ** currently 12 ga; 10 gauge following a bi-amp mod/rewire

Check my sig - I practice mo' bigga mo' betta wire.

If you can't $wing heavier Douglas cable, I urge you to consider Blue Jeans 10 or 12 gauge - just a few cents per foot more than some of PE's offerings. Otherwise you're "leaving performance on the table."

Merry CHIRSTmas, Luke 2:7-14

atrus

I actually already purchased a set of cables from monoprice (please don't burn me at the stake). Going to give them a shot and upgrade at some point later in the game as it was absurdly cheap and if I retire them soon I won't even feel bad.

I also purchased the speakers (minus the sub and amp, still looking for a good deal on the amp and need another paycheck to feel comfortable enough to grab the sub lol) and they should arrive next week. Its gonna be quite a learning experience!

atrus

I noticed a guy selling a parasound hca 1200ii on the forums here. That seems like a pretty solid amp to pair with the a9s. Am I correct in assuming that?

Inspector 24

Parasound and RTi's is a lovely combination. Power, Current, and the Parasound mellows the RTi's a bit. Everything they need.

Nightfall

Imagine if your walls and ceiling could be lined with something like 1ftx1ft sectional electrostats. Then you could have 50.50.50.50.50.2 (front, back, left, right, ceiling, subs). 5.1 would become completely unexciting and worthless.

atrus

Nightfall wrote: »

Imagine if your walls and ceiling could be lined with something like 1ftx1ft sectional electrostats. Then you could have 50.50.50.50.50.2 (front, back, left, right, ceiling, subs). 5.1 would become completely unexciting and worthless.

I don't understand the relevance or what you are saying

dalylaleahthor

Atrus the parasound will sound great with the a9. I have the a9 and that exact parasound amp but currently the a9 are hooked up to my B&K as it's a 5 channel used for movies night with the wife and kids. Buy it, you won't regret the combination of pairing the two.

gp4jesus

atrus wrote: »

Nightfall wrote: »

Imagine if your walls and ceiling could be lined with something like 1ftx1ft sectional electrostats. Then you could have 50.50.50.50.50.2 (front, back, left, right, ceiling, subs). 5.1 would become completely unexciting and worthless.

I don't understand the relevance or what you are saying

Ditto

gp4jesus

Atrus: if you have the cabling (size included) to experiment w/bi-amping go for it.

The RTi A7s & A9s* are a challenging load full range. They're both more reactive than the other RTi series speakers. They drop to 4 ohms in their lower 2 octaves and one or two other places in their impedance plot not to mention the back EMF from 3 & 5 drivers respectively
* especially

I'm curious to know if you:
connect your forthcoming P'sound to just the woofers and...
AVR driving just the MT*, would they* sound better?
That is compared to AVR full range or bi-amped, no P'sound in the equation.

Merry CHRISTmas! Luke 2:7-14

F1nut

Nightfall wrote: »

Imagine if your walls and ceiling could be lined with something like 1ftx1ft sectional electrostats. Then you could have 50.50.50.50.50.2 (front, back, left, right, ceiling, subs). 5.1 would become completely unexciting and worthless.

I get it.