Polk Confusion

jmzoot

Hope you can help me out:

I currently have:

Rti8 Front
Csi3 Center
Rti6 Rear

First question: Do the 6's make a good rear speaker. I am having a diffcult time finding a way to mount these speakers since they are quite large. I am debating whether I should purchase the Fxi3 in places of the 6's. The Fxi3's will cost me and additional $50 but seem to be alot smaller then the 6's I can't finsd any store that has the Fxi3's setup to listen to them. Are the Fxi3's considered an upgrade or downgrade from the 6's ???

Secondly, is the Csi5 that much better then the Csi3. I only paid 135 for the Csi3 and the Csi5 would cost me 400. Just wondering if it is worth triple the price or should I put the extra cash towards a good sub??

Lastly, can anyone recommend a good receiver to power these speakers. I bought the HK AVR330 and having been reading lots of info that they have a problem with audio dropout and am having second thoughts since this AVR has no RS232 port for possible sotware upgrades to get rid of this problem.

VR3

Either will do great for surrounds.

CSi5 is a definite upgrade over the CSi3

Receiver....ummm - others gonna have to help ya there

Terrax

Hi and welcome to the forum. First, in my opinion, you would do much better with the FXi3's for rears, as that is what they were designed for. And yes, they would make locating and mounting a much easier task. THe 6's will work of course, but they really weren't intended to serve that role, IMO. So, as far as my opinion goes, it would be better to go with the FXi3's as rears.

As to your question of the CSi5 vs. CSi3, I believe it would depend on your room size, the volume you use, and type of movies you watch. That is aconsiderable amount of coin to drop on the 5, as opposed to what you have in the 3. If you dont have your system set-up in a rather large room, then I think you would be fine staying with the 3.

And lastly, HK makes nice products, but it seems you are already second quessing you choice. It really depends on your budget, to which receiver chioce you make. Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, HK, Onkyo, Pioneer Elite, all seem to mate well with Polks. Price and features I think will be more of a deciding factor that compatibility. The only really suggestion I could make would be, try to find some places offering these brands and Polks, and take a listen to them, then make a choice. I doubt that helps much, but it really depends on what you like.

PolkThug

Get the FXi3's.

Keep the Csi3.

Onkyo 700 series is good for powering these.

Regards,
PolkThug

jefft1314

Denon avr-2803 refurbed would be a good choice. It's a pretty well regarded receiver from what I understand and my avr-1804 sounds great with my polks.

fireshoes

The 5 is a big improvement. I know it's a big increase in price. Value is in the eye of the beholder, so only you know if the difference is worth it. Maybe you can catch a CSi5 on clearance at CC or something. Regarding the rear speakers, how about you get the FXi3's too and run 7.1? For the receiver, I like Yamaha, like the RXV1400. But you can probably find a good deal on a Denon 3803, and it would sound good too.

jmzoot

I would consider running 7.1, but the couch actually sits against the rear wall so the rear surrounds would basically sit on top of my head.

I think my best bet is to get the Fxi3 and mount them on the side wall if that is the correct place to position the speakers. I can always add the 6's or 4's in the future if I upgrade my living quarters with a bigger room.

I tried to jump on the Csi5 at the sale price of 249 but was unable to find it. Unfortunately, at CC one store tells me they are discontinuing the Csi5 while the other store says it is not discontinued. It is now back up to the $399 price. If I can pick it up for 249 I will jump on it. Is it undesirable to mount the center beneath the TV. I plan on getting a Rear Projection LCD in the near future and it looks like their is no possible way to mount it on the top of the TV