FXi50 or 500i for 6.1???

rodneyat
rodneyat Posts: 67
edited February 2002 in Technical/Setup
I am looking at replacing my current Yamaha rear surrounds with either the new FXi50 or 500i speakers. I am currently running in 5.1 with RT800i's up front and 400i in the center and the Yamahas in the rear. My question is whether or not I can or should use a third 500i or i50 in the center rear. I definitely want to take advantage of the 6.1 that my Yamaha RX-V1200 is capable of but am not sure the dipole/bipole speaker will work in this situation. Any suggestions???
Polk RT 800i mains, CS 400i center, FX 500i surrounds, RT 35i rear centers, Definitive Supercube II, Yamaha RX-V3800, Samsung PN58C8000
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  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited February 2002
    i would actaully go with an rt35i or cs245i for your rear surround.
    it seems that direct radiating speakers are become the industry standard for the 6th and 7th channels, this is the speaker type preferred by THX. again, speaker choice is user preference, so what ever you think sounds best is the way to go. the rt35i is a good choice if you think you will ever want to upgrade to 7.1...
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  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited February 2002
    bye the way, welcome to the forum...:D
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  • rodneyat
    rodneyat Posts: 67
    edited February 2002
    Thanks for the welcome and the info!
    I had not thought of using the RT35i....Maybe I can find a deal with all of the new speakers coming out. My first priority, though, is finding a pair of FX500i's!
    Polk RT 800i mains, CS 400i center, FX 500i surrounds, RT 35i rear centers, Definitive Supercube II, Yamaha RX-V3800, Samsung PN58C8000
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  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited February 2002
    i have 35i's as my side surrounds now, i am looking for a good deal on the f/x500's as well to replace them. brandnamez.com has them for $329/pair, best price i've seen so far. there not an authorized dealer though. i am hoping that CC will drop the price sometime soon on them...
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  • mhetman
    mhetman Posts: 25
    edited February 2002
    Originally posted by juice21
    i have 35i's as my side surrounds now, i am looking for a good deal on the f/x500's as well to replace them. brandnamez.com has them for $329/pair, best price i've seen so far. there not an authorized dealer though. i am hoping that CC will drop the price sometime soon on them...

    I am leaning toward the FXi50's or the FX500i's. They are designed for a flush mount to the wall while the 35i's I believe have a port on the rear. I am not sure if they should be mounted flush with the wall. I must do a flush mount at the rear which is above my stairs. These will become my 7.1 rear channel speakers. The FXi50's are suppose to be out in March 02, so I will probably wait and get a pair of them.
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  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited February 2002
    mhetman - the rt35i rear port designed is actaully designed to be wall mounted or placed on a bookshelf with the back on or very close to the wall. knowing this is the position this speaker would be in, in many situations, polk took it into account and designed it to work well in 'tight' situations...
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  • mhetman
    mhetman Posts: 25
    edited February 2002
    Originally posted by juice21
    mhetman - the rt35i rear port designed is actaully designed to be wall mounted or placed on a bookshelf with the back on or very close to the wall. knowing this is the position this speaker would be in, in many situations, polk took it into account and designed it to work well in 'tight' situations...

    Thanks...Are there mounts on the back of the rt35i's for hanging on the wall? I don't want to put up a shelf to support it.
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  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited February 2002
    there is a key-hole in the port to hang the speakers from. i think polk recommends a 25 lb. capacity wall anchor if not able to hang into a stud...

    good luck!:D
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  • goingganzo
    goingganzo Posts: 2,793
    edited February 2002
    i have the fx 500i for my surounds and rear surounds they are awsome and i love them but i am running a 7.1 setup
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  • mhetman
    mhetman Posts: 25
    edited February 2002
    Originally posted by goingganzo
    i have the fx 500i for my surounds and rear surounds they are awsome and i love them but i am running a 7.1 setup

    That's what I am trying to setup. I am between using 500i's, FXi50's or rt35's.
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  • mhetman
    mhetman Posts: 25
    edited February 2002
    Would someone explain to me why two RT35i's on the rear wall, elevated 6.5 feet above the floor in a 7.1 setup might be preferred over a pair of fx500's in the bipole mode? To me, it would be similar to having the Rt35's angled toward the sweet spot. What is the rational behind the Rt35's being preferred over the fx500's in this role? The fx500's as dipoles makes sense as a no no but not as bipoles. Since the rear 2 channels of a 7.1 system are mono anyway, I am speculating that the use of bipoles in this case would give you a broader spread of the sound coming from the rear wall. Am I all wrong on these assumptions? If so, please explain...
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  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited February 2002
    it really is just a preference, i think that either a bi-pole speaker or a direct speaker could be used in a 6.1 or 7.1 channel system, and i would imagine some will prefer one method over another. the reason that i brought up the option of the rt35i, is that i have direct radiating for my rear 4 speakers now, and i think it sounds great. THX is also looking for direct radiating speakers for their systems in the 6th and 7th channels... not to say taht this is 'right' or the way it has to be done, but i think with THX leading the way, created the 'ultra 2' certification for 7.1 channel systems preferring the direct radiating, i can see this becoming the industry standard for this format...
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  • joe logston
    joe logston Posts: 882
    edited February 2002
    the industrys standard wont be 7.1 it will be 5.1 or 6.1 they only make soft ware for 2.1, 3.1, 4.1 5.1 and 6.1 no 7.1 your receiver matrex the 7.1 from the 5.1 or splits the 6.1 channels
    . rt-7 mains
    rt-20p surounds
    cs-400i front center
    cs-350 ls rear center
    2 energy take 5, efects
    2- psw-650 , subs
    1- 15" audiosource sub

    lets all go to the next ces.
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  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited February 2002
    i was reffering more toward where the industry standard would go with a 7.1 channel speaker set-up, not that the industry standard recording format would soon become 7.1. 5.1 as a recording format will be the stardard for a while to come...

    the 6tha dn 6th channel HT set-up is become very popular though, and already THX has implemented the ultra2 cerification acknowlegding this speaker set-up...

    just wanted to make it clear...
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  • joe logston
    joe logston Posts: 882
    edited February 2002
    juice you are right, they are thinking about it because a lot of people cant put a center channel right behind them so it makes sense for them the movie industres to have a lot off oppions on the # of channels so a person can choose what they want so the future soltware will have a channel choice to choose. that will be great, thanks juice for your post , joe
    . rt-7 mains
    rt-20p surounds
    cs-400i front center
    cs-350 ls rear center
    2 energy take 5, efects
    2- psw-650 , subs
    1- 15" audiosource sub

    lets all go to the next ces.
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