My Wallet's Empty

Kirk

Ok, I'm still single, and my wallets empty. I am putting a home theater system together prior to getting engaged. It is my felling that when I get engaged, I won't be a gettin' any of this equipment after that day. So, I'm buyin' it all up now.... So far I have the video end all set up and ISF calibrated.. Thanks to my girlfriend I now have a full set of Rti12 fronts.. I bought the Csi5 center, Fxi5 surrounds, and a PSW404 sub... The cables thanks to all of your opinions will be coming from Signal Cable. Now, I was looking into the Marantz SR8500 as my receiver, and in the future a Carver amp to power the 500w Rti12's... Any opinions on that receiver amp combination? The room this set up will be going in is about 15' x 15'.. I am kind of confused by all this crossover talk, and the setting of the fronts to large and all the other speakers to small and how to integrate the sub into all this. I am fully aware that I will need to calibrate the room, but this will be the last step, I hope... Thank's for any of your help KIRK

jarros

Sounds like you've got quite the setup in the works! I don't have any experience with that receiver, but I'll tell you what I know about Large/Small speaker settings.

When you set a speaker to large, the receiver will send the complete frequency signal to that speaker. To have this setup, your speakers will have to be able to handle all these frequences, particularily the low ones. The RTi12's should have no problems with these.

When you set a speaker to small, the receiver will automatically redirect the frequencies below a certain point (called a crossover, which is typically adjusted on the receiver) to a subwoofer. So, if you set your center channel to small and set your crossover to 80Hz, the receiver will send all frequencies above 80Hz to the center channel speaker, while frequencies below 80Hz will be sent to the subwoofer.

Be careful though. By setting a speaker to large, it will put more strain on the receiver as it has to amplify those low frequences. Low frequencies draw a lot more power than higher frequencies do. Getting a seperate power amp right off the bat isn't a bad idea, especially if you plan to drive RTi12's. You could get a 2 channel power amp to drive the RTi12's and run the other channels off of the receiver.

Airplay355

I don't know how much you are paying for the sr8500 but for $1500 you can get the outlaw audio b stock 750/7100 stack. I think this would sound much better then the receiver. I have a marantz receiver and it sounds good, but I got it for $500. If you are going to be spending upwards of $1000 I think theres no way you can do better then the b stock outlaw audio combo.

Edit: forgot the link http://www.outlawaudio.com/holiday-sale.html

Tour2ma

Kirk,

Welcome to the Club... ambitious little set up there. jarros pretty well nailed your questions, but here's a bit more...

For HT, setting surrounds to small is almost universal. Majority tends to do the same for the mains as well, but there are those that favor running them 'Large'. Running mains set to small does decrease amp duty as mentioned, but it also simplifies bass management. Multiple sources of low frequency info can increase the liklihood of problematic peaks and nulls in a listening room. Play with both set ups and see which you prefer.

LFE should go to the sub only in either case.

With mains set to small cross-over decision comes into play. 80 Hz is a very common choice and may be a good one during your AVR only period. It is also generally the highest you want to go. But as deep as the 12's can dig, you can go lower... 60 for sure, maybe 50. Again some playtime is in order...

Enjoy...

Dennis Gardner

Wow Kirk,

You will have one of the best theater rigs in town with the choices you have made. The best part I see about your choices is that you may be less prone to upgraditis than most of us here, since you opened your wallet "wide" early in the selection process.

Setting the towers to large or small is strictly a personal preference as you will find out. I set my towers to small for HT use, because it really cleaned up the mids and bass when I did, but then again, I run a dual 12" sub that can take anything I throw its way. I like to unleash the towers with full range without the sub for music, but YMMV.

Welcome to CP and enjoy your stay,

DG

kberg

Originally posted by Kirk
I am putting a home theater system together prior to getting engaged.

Cool - yet another person who has his priorities straight!

danger boy

Kirk,

your room isn't that large.. and it appears to me that the set up you described should sound really, really good.

I use an older Marantz receiver.. and while it's dated now.. it sounds ok. If you haven't already purchased the Marantz.. go out and take a listen to a few other brands out there. Namely Denon, Onkyo, NAD, B&K.

Seperates really is the way to go here. Unless you intend to listen to alot of FM radio.. I find that a receiver isn't really necessary. A seperate amp and pre amp will most always sound better than a all in one receiver.

Sounds like you've done your home work too. Going with Signal Cable will make everything sound really good. Just give the cables 70+ hours to burn in.

come back and ask more questions.

al

Kirk

Thank's to everyone that replied to my questions... I now understand a bit about crossover settings and the large small issue with the speakers.. I guess i'll be trying all the different setups when I get the receiver and amp.. I'll be asking a few more questions about the bass set up and the bi-pole/di-pole issue with the rear speakers in the future.. The more I get involved with this home theater set up, the more I become addicted to the correct set up, and all the errors in all the configurations my friends have.. You wouldn't believe the way their systems are set up.. They have HD-TV's and HD cableboxes, and they are hooked up to the composite video rca jacks on the rear of the tv's.. I installed a HDMI cable, and viola.. HD-TV.. Now they all want a real HT set up , and are getting rid of that HT in a box crap.. All their wives hate me now... Tee Hee.. Thank's again... KIRK

Mike Reeter

Kirk,I can tell you that your 12's will like the extra power you're planning on giving them...I have ours bi-amped with 325 wpc,and they love it.

The Carver you mention would make for a killer set-up for 2-channel also...