RT1000I hook up

Dcalebaugh

Just received my new RT1000's on friday and quickly hooked them up. I used the diagram reccomended in setup #1. I really wanted to get a new sub woofer and decided to use the powered subs in the RT's. Sounded good but not exactly what I had hoped for. Was starting to wonder if all the rave reviews were hype. Then I tried using my powered sub and the RT1000's hooked up for powered mid range. Talk about night and day. Have others had similar experiences? Cant wait till my CS400 gets here tuesday(I hope). Now If I can just convince the wife we NEED the FX500's I will be done(for this month, anyway).

juice21

congrats on your new speaks! i'm running 800's up front, but a stand alone sub makes all the difference in my opinion.

you need the f/x500's....:D

welcome to the forum...:D

johnnyamerika

Yeah, the 1000s are great sounding, and pretty damn near full range, but for serious HT you need a stand alone sub too. Don't fret the decision, tho...they're incredible speakers! Coupled with something big (like a Hsu or Velodyne, damn I wish I could get one ) they sound stellar!

schumach

Dcalebaugh,

I have the RT1000p's (they are close to the RT1000i's) and had them hooked up via option 1 and later tried option 2 and found that I had fuller and cleaner bass. I have also setup my system with VE and a SLM and it made all the difference.

For the surround speakers I have the F/X 300i's and they sound great. You will melt when you hear the CS400i, it is just amazing. Hope you enjoy you system.

Greg

lax01

I don't remember the options but here is how I have my 1000i's set up:

I tried a y-split from the sub out to the rt1000i's and the sub. I then hooked from the line out on one of the 1000i's to line in on the other with an RCA cable. I then connected speaker cable to the top binding post w/o the gold plate. I didn't like it.

Second: Removed the Y-Split and just hooked up the speaker cable to the top binding post with the gold plate. I liked it.

And that is how I have been runing it since. I have a seperate small sub that runs and still use the internal sub in the 1000i's.

It works great.

Dcalebaugh

Thats how I have them now. Awesome. Watched The Gift last night with Keanu Reeves, I jumped at some of the scenes the sound was so intense. The new CS400 will be here tuesday and now I got to have those FX500's

Dave

schumach

lax01,

Have you tried hooking the subs in the 1000's to the line level from you amp to the line level on the subs? I found that I was able to keep a more consistent bass in low and high volumes better then using the connections between the posts. I would agree that running the subs from the sub port on the receiver does not sound clean. I also think we have the same system: RT1000's front, CS400i center and F/X300i rear. Do you like the 300's, I think they sound great? I hope you don't mind me asking.

Greg

lax01

Thanks for the tip, I will try that.

No not at all. I also love the f/x300i's in rear though if I had the chance to upgrade them to the 500i's for cheap I might do so. But for now, they provide very good sound. Much better than my old Optimus Pro LX5s.

I am starting to find that the bass is inconsistent during some test tones. When using Avia and setting speaker volumes I find the two front channels to kind of rumble up and down. When I do these test I simply turn off the sub and all is quiet. Does anyone know why it makes this weird noise during pink noise?

BTW, I just figured out how to biwire the 400i and I think it is a very small improvement. When I get more speaker wire, I will do the same for the front channels.

schumach

lax01,

I have the VE setup disc and I don't have any such issue, sorry I can't help with the AVIA. I am not sure the size of your room, but mine is about 12x15 and I have found that I only need to set the sub volume at about 25%. I get a very clean and consistent bass.
I originally had them set to high until I used the VE disc and SLM. I spent over a thousand dollars on speakers and pondered over another $70 for over a year. If I would have known the difference it would have giving me in the sound and picture arena I would have done it sooner. Good luck on finding out what that rumble in the speaker is.

I also notice a difference with the bi-wiring of the CS400i, but I think I read a thread that said that the 1000's should not be bi-wired, you might want to check that out. Instead Polk says to use the line levels on the receiver and subs.

Greg

pdebaum

Aye, indeed, if you hear that rumble from the integrated subs, by all means, reduce the sub volume. Like schumach, I also have to set the sub volume to about 25% (or about 9 to 10 o'clock) on my RT2000i. Sub volume tweaking is pretty much an art; it's so dependent on the size and make-up of your room. Don't be afraid to experiment.

johnnyamerika

Do you guys have the 1000s installed with the carpet/floor spikes? If you don't, that could cause some rumbling.

schumach

I use the carpet spikes.

Greg

lax01

I use the carpet spikes.

Wow maybe I better try setting up the subs. I have mine past 12 o'clock. Since my dedicated sub is very small and can't output very much (6" 40 watts?< I only know the size, this is a Harmon Kardon sub that I stole from my computer, gotta get a job and get my HSU VTF2) I tried boosting the overall sub volume with the 1000i's subs. I guess I will actually do the subwoofer setup with Avia and see where it gets me.

Thanks!

johnnyamerika

If you have the 1000s line-leveled you could adjust the db setting on the reciever without effecting the mids and highs...very interesting? I assume that's what you mean by boosting the overall sub volume. I should try that.

lax01

Sorry Johning that isn't what I mean. I meant by overall sub volume the 3 subs I have (the 2 in the RT1000i's and the one dedicated sub) would be correctly calibrated. I can't change the dB for each individual speakers from the line outs anyway.

Hope this makes more sense.

Sorry.

johnnyamerika

Oh, I gotcha, I think I meant the same thing, but I don't have a seperate sub, so if I did it, I'd only affect the 1000s.

Have you ever tried running line outs from the left and right main channels to the 1000s? I'd like to, but I have an Onkyo 595 (no channel pre-outs!!!)

lax01

Just tried using the line out for my receiver to the line in and it works much better. I also calibrated it with Avia and all is well. Thanks for the suggestion, I am going to stick with it.

pdebaum

Dang, here's another one that prefers line-in My beef with line-level is a real bass mismatch between music and HT listening. It's too boomy for my music but on the other hand it sure sounds better for LFE in movies. With the speaker-level input, there is something with the speaker's crossover network, that, at least to my taste, tighten the bass considerably. It suits my music listening better while maintaining an adequate bass for HT.
And I have another beef about the ridiculously low sensitivity of the sub's amp auto on/off circuitry at the line-level input. The subs have a tendency to shut down or not turn on at all when I watch TV at reasonably low volume, which requires me to boost front speaker levels on the receiver to compensate.
Anyway, definitely an area where personal preference is a huge factor

lax01

pdebaum: After hooking up my 1000i's with the line in option I listen to Linkin Park: Hybrid Theory in stereo (the two fronts and sub) and found the bass to be very nice, pounding but still refined. I have yet to try it out with HT but I think Friday will be the first test, first with Jay and Silent Bob and the second with The Musketeer.

pdebaum

lax01,

Good to know you found a setup you like. Bass is definitely one area where personal preference rules, especially since it's so influenced by room acoustics and type of listening (i.e. music vs HT).
Also, I have the RT2000i, whose sub is a tad larger, and probably is a wilder beast to tame especially with line-in. I was doing the sub tone sweeping test with a calibration DVD, and the speaker-level input definitely gave me less work to tune it up properly. With line-in, I had big holes in the volume output because of receiver level and sub level mismatch. But I'm sure that with good tweaking, line-level can be really nice.

danger boy

Okay here is what i have and if someone could explain it would be much appreciated. I know how to hook it up, but not sure what would happen with the sound.

I have 800i's for fronts, PSW350 sub,
CS400i center.. etc.

so my question is. if I hook up my fronts to the subwoofer what would happen to the sound? Will the fronts then be powered too? like piggy backing off the sub's power amp? what about crossovers? would it open up the bass or the highs too? so many questions... maybe I should try it.. and why would someone do this anyway? I have mine right now. all speakers from the receiver the usual way..
thanks

lax01

danger boy: I am not talking about hooking up the RT1000i's (or in your case the RT800i's) to the sub line out but the actual left and right front speaker line outs on my receiver. I tried hooking it up through the receiver's sub line out but got poor results. With the line outs from the receiver's front speakers, it has produced much better results in my system.

pdebaum: I agree that bass is very opinionated. I try to tell my friend who has a new Celica that his woofers are bottoming out but he won't listen. How are the 2000i's? What is the size difference between the 1000 subs and the 2000 subs? I am guessing the amp is higher powered too, right?

pdebaum

lax01 : indeed, each RT2000i sub is a 100W amp with two 8'' woofers. I think each RT1000i is 50W single 6.5'' woofer. When I was comparing in the demo room the difference between the RT1000i and the RT2000i it was like night and day basswise. Actually I had the demo guy switch on the fly from RT600i to RT800i to RT1000i to RT2000i and it was obvious Polk's numbering scheme is here for a reason. I was set before demoing on getting the RT600i and I just couldn't help myself on not getting the RT2000i, despite close to double the price. It's really dangerous demo-ing :P

lax01

Ohh I know that. Demoing can ruin one's wallet. Before I really got into the HT craze, I was dead set on a Sony DE receiver! My dad talked me into a Yamaha RX-V800 and I really can't thank enough for making me switch. Then for speakers, I was actually looking at BOSE! My dad then told me about a little company that originated in Baltimore MD (College Park) and wanted me to go listen to them. Boy did he make a huge mistake. Since the initial purchase of the CS245i I have bought (in order): RT1000i's, Sony Standalone dvd player (upgrade from PS2), f/x300i's, and CS400i (upgrade from 245i). My next purchase will either be a sony crt 7" front projector (want to find one used with low hours somewhere) or an HSU Research VTF-2. I will probably go with both if I can get a job!