Warning to all RTi10 owners! Don't be stupid. (like me)

landry_p2000 · January 2005

I was playing my music at a pretty loud volume on Wednesday night, and I decided to push the RTi10s. Not knowing that the treble was up way too high on my little Onkyo 601 model, I cranked it up too loud and after about 20 seconds later the tweeters popped! I was totally shocked until I had realized that I had the treble set too high. Basically it was my fault for not paying attention. (what a dumb a$$):rolleyes: From here on out you best believe that it will not happen again. First I want to apologize for being careless with my gear and to all of my Polk Audio brothers. I'm sorry man!:o Just wanted to share that with you guys.:D As you all know, we are some of the luckiest guys in the audio world. I called and talked to the wonderful staff at Polk Audio customer service, and was informed that the speakers 5 year warranty covered the replacement of speaker components. Yes that is right. All I had to do is remove the tweeters, send them to Polk, and wait for the new ones to return to me. This waiting is punishment enough for me. A weekend without my system! This sucks! Pray for me brothers.:D

Dennis Gardner · January 2005

Squarewaves will do that. You just pushed your Onk until it clipped.

Add an outboard amp with about 200WPC and this won't happen again, only your ears will bleed.:D

landry_p2000 · January 2005

That would be great! What type of passive unit and amps would you recommend for the RTi10s?

cfrizz · January 2005

Are you saying you would rather have your ears bleed????

ROFL!

landry_p2000 · January 2005

Nope. Just don't the tweets to pop again.:D By the way, what is ROFL mean?

cfrizz · January 2005

Well that's good to know. Otherwise, you would have good speakers but no ears to hear them with!:D

bobman1235 · January 2005

Originally posted by landry_p2000
Nope. Just don't the tweets to pop again.:D By the way, what is ROFL mean?

Rolling On the Floor Laughing.

And definitely would rather a good ear bleed than a broken tweet!

Dennis Gardner · January 2005

The 601 has preouts for all channels, so I would look into Parasound, Outlaw, Rotel or other brands that will drive the speakers well.

What you are looking for is enough reserve power (headroom) to drive the speakers to the level that you were listening at and still have power when the loudest passages require more.

By the way, the level of your treble may not have had anything to do with the tweets going. It may have been your amp trying to reproduce bass at the overall level of loudness you wanted. The tweeters just don't handle flattop waves as easy as the woofers.

landry_p2000 · January 2005

Thanks! I would have never got that. I feel so incomplete without my real system in action. From what I hear the Polk CS folks are pretty fast. Hopefully this won't last long.:(

okiepolkie · January 2005

I don't think the 601 has preouts for all channels. From looking at the back, and specs, it has a zone two L/R preout and sub, but nothing else. You have to move up to the 701 to get preouts for all channels.

You can look at the back here:Onkyo 601

Is it possible to use the second zone preout to feed the primary signal to a separate amplifier. This should be possible, but I would have to read the manual or play with the actual receiver to find out.

Early B. · January 2005

Hey landry -- Polk is pretty quick -- within a week or so and you'll be back up to full speed. I used to own a set of RTi10's and I blew the midrange. Took it out, sent it to Polk, and got another one with no problem. They were powered by a 205 wpc amp. Definitely get an amp if you can.

Dennis Gardner · January 2005

Your right Zach, it doesn't have a full set of preouts. I was looking at another site that had the wrong specs.

My Bad.

fireshoes · January 2005

I think Russman still has a Parasound amp for sale, and probably a pre or two as well. He is a quality guy to work with if you decide to go that route.

okiepolkie · January 2005

So will the second zone work as a preout? I'm currious as well just for future reference.

Toxis · January 2005

I wouldn't say this is a warning to RTi10 owners, more a warning for people who have electronics. Everything has a limit, and you crossed it. Granted, having a seperate amp would have a lot higher limit but it would still have a limit.

steveinaz · January 2005

Having your treble increased beyond flat didn't help matters either. But you most likely clipped the onkyo. Anyone who likes to listen to music loud (me included) should run no less than 150 watts/rms, and 200 watts would be better still.

Get an outboard amp and bypass or set your tone controls to their 0dB position. If you're a "treble-hound" it'll take awhile to get used to, but once you do you'll realize how much better music sounds without the artificial emphasis on the highs.

F1nut · January 2005

Why would anyone run the treble turned up with RTi's, the top end is bright as sunshine anyway.

mrmusicman · January 2005

Why would anyone run the treble turned up with RTi's, the top end is bright as sunshine anyway.

His system might not sound"bright" to him.

F1nut · January 2005

Yeah, I quess if one doesn't hear the highs too well.....

reeltrouble1 · January 2005

Using the 2nd zone to run the fronts is not going to solve the problem. You need an Onk/Receiver with pre-outs or a seperate Pre/pro.

B&K
NAD
Parasound--1500
Rotel
Carver

These are the amps (in no particular order) I would like at, you need a two channel if you get a new receiver. I would buy a used amp, you will like the differences you hear. In general the more watts the better, however, what you are really looking for is high current to keep from damaging your tweets.

Turning the treble up on RTi speakers seems a bit much for me but hey, if thats how you like it go for it.

RT1

scottnbnj · January 2005

Originally posted by F1nut
Why would anyone run the treble turned up with RTi's, the top end is bright as sunshine anyway.

don't know rti's, but, could be a dead room too.

)

madmax · January 2005

I keep looking for this treble control thingy on mine but can't find it...

madmax

F1nut · January 2005

LOL....now that you mention it, me either.

landry_p2000 · January 2005

Originally posted by Toxis
I wouldn't say this is a warning to RTi10 owners, more a warning for people who have electronics. Everything has a limit, and you crossed it. Granted, having a seperate amp would have a lot higher limit but it would still have a limit.

Just a name for the thread Toxis. I was just sharing my misfortune with the forum members. I learned a lesson from this experience and plan on getting a pre amp and couple of higher current amps later on, but for now I will watch my volume with the 601 until I can do better. I may end up having to go back to 5.1 because of the shape of my HT room. I am sure this will happen to others, hopefully not me again.:rolleyes: You guys taught me something about my gear. Basically I need more power. Who makes a decent pre-amp? How many amps will I need to add to the pre-amp? Thanks for the input.

landry_p2000 · January 2005

Finally got my tweets back. Just in time to watch AVP. Never realized how much I depended on my system for entertainment! That will not happen to me again. In the future I plan on new amps and a pre-amp for my HT set up.

mantis · January 2005

Always good advice when using todays electronics. Forget the bass and treble controls. Set them at flat and never look back. If you feel the need to adjust them, you should be feeling the need for a better sounding receiver.

Good luck with the new tweeters.
Dan

landry_p2000 · January 2005

Thanks Mantis.
That is exactly what I did. Treble is at 0 and bass is at 0 also. The sound is great like that. You live and learn.:D

Warning to all RTi10 owners! Don't be stupid. (like me)

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