RTi A7 vs RTi A9?

ivanlee13

Hi guys,

New here, need your help on something, any help or suggestions will be very much appreciated! Currently, I am running a 7.1.4 home theatre using a Yamaha RX-A3060 with a Speakercraft SC2-50 power amp powering the two rear Atmos-enabled ceiling-firing speakers. The rest of the speakers are just powered by the RX-A3060 itself including my RTi A7's. This week, I have the opportunity to upgrade the RTiA7's to RTiA9's for only $150 more in trade-in, so I have been very tempted. I've been told the RTiA9's require a lot of power, so I want to see the opinions if I should make this upgrade? Will it sound worse since I don't have a power amp hooking up the front speakers currently? If I were to add a power-amp, what should I be looking at, how many watts, which model and brand? My budget is $800 or under if possible for the power amp. Below is full list of my speakers that are currently used in the 7.1.4:

Receiver: Yamaha RX-A3060
Power Amplifier: Speakercraft SC2-50 Two Channel, High Current Power Amp; 2 x 50W; 225W Bridged; Multivoltage
Front Speakers: Polk Audio RTIA7 300-Watt Tower Speaker
Subwoofer: Polk Audio PSW125 12" 300-Watt Powered Subwoofer
Centre Speaker: Polk Audio CSiA6 200-Watt Centre Channel Speaker
Surround Speakers: Polk Audio RTIA1 125-Watt Bookshelf Speakers
Surround Back Speakers: Polk Audio T300 100-Watt Bookshelf Speakers
Atmos Speakers: Onkyo SKH-410 Dolby Atmos Speakers
Atmos Speakers: Pioneer SP-T22A-LR Add-on Speaker

Appreciate all comments, thanks in advance!

txcoastal1

Welcome,

Honestly you don't have enough power from your receiver for the RTiA9's

Many discussions on the forum about the A9's and need for power

ivanlee13

Thanks for the reply! I have limited access to a lot of the suggested power amps as I am in Canada and lots of places only ship within the US.

However my local dealer does sell speakercraft, would this sufficiently power the RTiA9's: SC2-150 http://www.speakercraft.com/product/two-channel-high-current-power-amp-2-x-150w-550w-bridged-multivoltage-SC2-150

Please let me know, thanks!

txcoastal1

I'm not sure how big your room is, but IMHO the weak link in your HT setup are the subs.

ivanlee13

Not a very big room to be honest, don't have dimensions, I'm very bad with my measurements, so can't even estimate. Are you suggesting instead of upgrading from the rtia7 to rtia9, I should instead get a better subwoofer(s)? Any suggestions what would pair well with my current set up? Thanks again for the help.

rpf65

I would keep the A7's, and look into a new sub. The biggest benefit of upgrading the A7's to A9's would be more bass. For $800 I would look at SVS, PB 2000, or HSU VTF2 MK5.

Either that or look for a used 2 channel amp for the A7's. Either would be a better upgrade than the A9's without separate amplification.

ivanlee13

Thanks for the suggestion! I will see if those subwoofers are available in Canada, how many watts should I be looking at to power the A7's? How much would the A9's need?

txcoastal1

What percentage are you using the system for home theater vs music?

If you are setting this up for primarily home theater, by the time you set the HT processors xover settings you pretty much cut off the bottom end of what your speakers produce and send the bass signal to the subs, really negating the need for the RtiA9's

Also if you are are having problems locating subs above, Polk Dsw 550 wouldn't be a shabby upgrade

ivanlee13

I would say roughly 75% blu-ray/uhd blu-ray movies (been getting most discs with dolby atmos tracks) and 25% music.

The Polk DSW PRO 550WI seems readily available in Canada at a very low cost too, thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely look into getting this.

Ricardo

Agree with the recommendation to upgrade the sub. Get the biggest, baddest you can afford. It will make a huge difference for your movies.

SVS would be my preference.....but not sure if available in Canada.

ivanlee13

Thanks Ricardo, since everyone is in agreement that I need an upgrade on subwoofer, I will shop around and see what's available at local stores and online for Canada.

This leads me to another question (sorry I'm still very new to home audio), for my set up, I just ran YPAO on my yamaha avr when I first hooked up everything and kept it as is. Should I be setting my front speakers to small instead of large? Is there any settings I should be changing after running YPAO to make better use of the sub (current psw125 or future upgraded sub)?

txcoastal1

Try crossover at 80

60-100, not sure if you have increments of 5,10, or 20...spend the day jacking with it

txcoastal1

and yes with a sub go big or go home...or get a pair

teekay0007

ivanlee13 wrote: »

The Polk DSW PRO 550WI seems readily available in Canada at a very low cost too, thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely look into getting this.

I love my two (2 different systems) 550s! Great subs, very reasonably priced and a nice upgrade from the psw125.

If it were me, I'd keep the A7s and get a nice 2-channel amp (minimum 200W at 8 ohms and high current output) - to remove their load from the avr - and put the 550 in place of the 125. I think you'd notice a nice difference and you could do it under your budget.

ivanlee13

If I were to choose between Polk DSW PRO 550WI or the SVS PB-1000, which should be my choice? (they are roughly the same price on Amazon Canada).

Don't currently have the budget yet for SVS PB-2000, they are roughly double the cost compared to the above two options.

I am a complete newbie on all of this, how do I set the crossover or know what is correct? Do I do this on the AVR?

txcoastal1

Yes on the AVR, should go through an on screen menu
set fronts to small and try 80hz first

http://media.datatail.com/docs/manual/339858_en.pdf

Start on page 53. My guess is you haven't done the DSP microphone settings?

You will go through steps and questions i.e.
Subwoofer yes
Speakers small or large...(small)

You'll run the test with microphone at your listening position where you head/ears are.
Remember to get the room as quiet as possible including AC/Heat and any fans need to be off.

just go through step-by-step

If you haven't done any of this...then WOW you are going to be in for a big surprise optimizing your system.

Also, nice receiver

txcoastal1

Wait, there's more....Welcome to the rabbit hole

rooftop59

ivanlee13 wrote: »

If I were to choose between Polk DSW PRO 550WI or the SVS PB-1000, which should be my choice? (they are roughly the same price on Amazon Canada).

Don't currently have the budget yet for SVS PB-2000, they are roughly double the cost compared to the above two options.

I am a complete newbie on all of this, how do I set the crossover or know what is correct? Do I do this on the AVR?

SVS every day and twice on Sunday. It will dig about 6-8 hz deeper and have greater output as well.

I would personally not set those 7s any lower than 60hz. That's a powerful receiver; I would run them full range, but definitely not higher than 60hz.