will bi wiring make it sound better?

hexumjunkie

i have the 4 places for bannana plugs and im new at all this...i have the red and black plugged into the top...should i put in bottom instead and how do i bi-wire will it make things sound better...i have the monitor 60's and i think the should be louder for 600 i paid for them!

PolkThug

How loud do you want them to be?

At 1 meter for the Monitor 60's that have a sensitivity of 90 you will need the following real watts per channel:

1 watt = 90db
2 watt = 93 db
4 watt = 96 db
8 watt = 99 db
16 watt = 102 db
32 watt = 105 db
64 watt = 108 db
128 watt = 111 db
256 watt = 114 db (max recommended by Polk is 200 for th M60)
512 watt = 117 db

hexumjunkie

your speaking chinesee man here sth amp i have sony stre597 700 watt 6.1

Toxis

The reason they're not louder is because of your receiver. If you sell that and get into something a lot better (Denon, Onkyo, Marantz...hell even a Yamaha), you'll have a lot cleaner sound with true power. Your receiver claims 600w but in reality, it's about 30w/ch at full tilt. They rate the power at one channel driven at .7% THD (just below audible) for a split second to get 100w. It's not all day long, all channels driven, while watching a movie at reference level. Sorry. Get a better amp, you'll be much better off.

hexumjunkie

what do u recommend...harmon kardon?

hexumjunkie

350 watts of total system power (50 watts x 7, 20Hz – 20kHz , 8 ohms, 00.7% THD) thats some specs on the hk? still has that 00.7

hexumjunkie

and say i dont get a new reciver...should i bi wire?

steveinaz

I don't think bi-wiring would be advantageous (only costly) with a receiver.

I've given up on bi-wiring as I could not tell any difference, and didn't like paying for 2 sets of speaker cables.

MSkeezer

Don't worry with biwiring. I've never been able to tell any difference. The Harman you mentioned would be a great choice. I'm going to assume you're talking about the AVR 330 or 335. I've got the 330, and it powers my Polk RTi70's just fine. It'll drive my system to ear splitting levels with no distortion whatsoever. The other receivers Toxis mentioned are also great, and will give you much better performance than that Sony ever will.

AsSiMiLaTeD

couple of questions:

1 - You say you have the speaker wire connected to the top posts. I assume then that you have the jumper in place that connects the top and bottom posts? This would be critical to volume. If you have the top posts connected, but no jumpers to the lower posts, then you're not feeding the lows any power and won't get any sound from them (i.e. no bass)

2 - How loud do you want them? That Sony isn't a great amp, but it should still be able to give you plenty of volume (maybe not the best sound quality, but still loud). Those aren't PA speakers, so if you're looking to play at concert levels at 120 db, then you need to look at other speakers. They are, however, a fine speaker for average listening, even for those of us who like to listen at high volumes...just saying they're not PA speakers and should not be treated as such. Do you have a SPL meter to measure sound volume? If so, how loud are you listening?

hexumjunkie

by jumper u mean that gold thing?

AsSiMiLaTeD

Originally posted by hexumjunkie
by jumper u mean that gold thing?

Yes...

I'd get a SPL meter and see what kind of volume you're getting at the listening position. Loudness is all relative until you can put a number to it...what may not be loud enough for you may be too loud for me, so we all use decibels as our universal sound volume language so we can communicate.

No doubt, replacing that Sony should be a priority for you, but it may not get you what you want if what you want is not realistic for those speakers...

hexumjunkie

you really think that sony amp is that bad and why?

AsSiMiLaTeD

I'm actually the one person on here NOT saying that the amp is your issue. Yes, that amp is relatively poor when compared with better amps and you can do better, but I still don't know that it'll fix your issue because I don't know how loud you're looking for.

As for why that amp is bad, there are many factors. Why is a Porsche better than a Pinto...better parts, more expensive, better workmanship...it just it. Same thing applies with your receiver.

I think there's a home theater handbook somewhere on the Polk site...you should look through that, it will help get you started.

Whadyasay

Since you do have floorstanders, and if you're sending full-range (e.g. including deep bass) into the speakers, the low frequencies combined with the multiple woofers may be taxing your receiver's amps too much. There really aren't many low-mid-priced receivers out there that will comfortably handle full-range frequencies into large floorstanding speakers in the 80-something dB levels. Most are better-suited to small bookshelf-sized or sattelite speakers, inly sending frequencies of 80-100Hz and up to the speakers and letting a powered subwoofer handle the low end. I would look into getting a separate amp for at least your mains.

hexumjunkie

i have a 100 watt powered sub....

Whadyasay

100 watts isn't a whole lot for a subwoofer, especially compared to what the Monitor 60's can handle (depending on the size of your room). But it may be just enough to fill out some of the bottom. If it's a 100watt/10-inch driver sub, then it's not really adding much more than if you were going full-range into the floorstanders. It's better suited to small sattelite speaker systems that don't go very loud.

If you can set your receiver for variable crossover when setting the speakers to small, try 60Hz. This way, there's still considerable bass content in the mains, but the sub fills out what's left at the bottom. Maybe you'll get better overall performance. But still...since you have the Monitor 60's, I'd seriously look into either getting a separate amp for them or maybe a new receiver with at least 120w/ch from one of the following manufacturers...budget allowing, of course:

Harmon Kardon
NAD
B&K
Denon (at least the 3805)

These receivers have pretty good amp sections, as far as mid-priced receiver/amps go...but in terms of cost, you can find good used (or new) 2-ch power amps for less than the cost of a new receiver...and a quality separate amp will almost always give you better performance than the ones in receivers at the same power rating. Maybe start looking into used amps from Adcom on various sites like ebay or Audiogon. If you really like the inherent sound qualities of your speakers, then it's worth it to feed them appropriate power. Good luck.

Pinktulip7

Ofcourse u should biwire!!you will get much better sound if u have much better ear...

hexumjunkie

anyone got a pic of bi wiring? and im thinking baout getting a harmom kardon avr 430? its 799 is this any good?

Frank Z

Bi-wire or Biwire threads.

disneyjoe7

Originally posted by Frank Z
Bi-wire or Biwire threads.

Gee Frank, you must be pissed to put a list together like that.

Frank Z

Pissed? Not at all. All I did was use the search function to find Bi-Wire or Biwire threads. There are quite a few.

hexumjunkie

ok thank you guys for all your inputs.......

hexumjunkie

So i did it i bi-wired(pain in the ****) when i shouldnt haven been execpt the jackets for the bannaa clips would not allow 2 wires to pass through.....that was killing me...you would think monster would make some bi-wire cables....also my center channel was set to large making the towers not sound as good. so im all set wish i had a better way to bi-wire..

Willow

there is a better wayand easier way ! Don't bi-wire and just replace the jumpers and forget about it !

the money you'll spend on extra cables can put put to use on something else.