Need your expert Polk assistance!

trubluluc · March 2005

....with 60 posts and 550 views,
and no nudity?

I may change my signature to Lucinda.:p

jmierzur · March 2005

Originally posted by Laura Palmer
Oh and the Pioneer amp I'm considering says "Audio Preamp Output - 7 Channel "

I suppose I'm safe with this? Then down the road I just buy a so-called "Pre-Amp"?

I'm happy with this suggestion instead of paying 3x as much for a receiver now. Any Canadians here know if FutureShop sells pre-amps or do I have to go to a high quality Audio Shop for that?... like Audio Shop, Audio Center, or Audiotronic?

Unless they have recently added to the audio lines they sell, FutureShop does not sell seperate components such as two-channel pre-amps, multi-channel pre-amps/processors or power amps. Did not know FS sold phono pre-amps.

HT Receiver = SSP (surround sound processor) + multi-channel pre-amp + multi-channel power amp in one component. In most cases it will include a tuner (I think as I have not looked at receivers for many years).

A phono-pre-amp takes the weak output from a turntable and makes the signal 'line level' that can be input into the receiver's line level inputs (usually all the inputs unless specifically labeled as phono). There is also MM and MC cartridges for turntables that we will leave for another discussion.

Having the seven-channel pre-outputs from the receiver gives you the option to use the receiver as the above mentioned SSP and multi-channel pre-amp. You can then drive your speakers with external seperate amp(s). In most cases, this will yield a better sound quality than using the internal amps in the receiver.

For example, you could use a two-channel amp for the L (left) + R (right) OR you could use a 3-channel amp for the L+C+R OR you could use a 5-channel power amp to power L+C+R+SL+SR speakers OR... The choice would be yours in the future as budget allows.

Happy hunting.

Edit:

....with 60 posts and 550 views,
and no nudity?

:rolleyes:

cfrizz · March 2005

You will do just fine with a receiver, you are not ready to jump into separates. Your receiver is a combination of both amplifier and preprocesser, in short an all in one box! This will run rest of your equipment and speakers just fine.

All we are telling you is that if the upgrade bug hits, all you will have to do to maximize your system is get a separate amplifier which will power your speakers rather than using the lower powered amplifiers in the receiver, which will in turn have more power to give to your other speakers.

Again which Pioneer receiver are you looking at? Give us the number so that we can look it over for you.

Originally posted by Laura Palmer
I did some quick searching on Audiotronic.ca and FutureShop.ca and I can't find any pre-amps. Only phono-pre-amps (which I need one of those too actually).

Is there a pre-amp that you guys recommend that goes well with Polk that's relatively affordable? Does it also do phono-amping so I can kill two birds with one stone?

I just checked Audio Shop's website and their pre-amps start at $900-$1600!! I had no idea they were going to be that expensive. Does it make sense that the cost of the pre-amp would be 2-3 times more expensive than what I'm going to pay for my receiver?

Thanks!
Laura,

Laura Palmer · March 2005

hehe, actually I mentioned the Pioneer amplifier twice already

It's okay though, we're getting on about 4 pages now and I wouldn't want anyone to have to search through for it.

Lemme give you the full model number though.
It is the Pioneer VSX-1014-TX-K.

And here is a link to it.

I'm actually kind of relieved to hear that I'm not really ready to get into amplifiers and pre-amplifiers especially considering it's gonna run me back at least another grand it seems. It's just not in my budget at this time.

I am ALSO happy to hear that my speakers will sound EVEN BETTER when I *can* afford to buy a pre-amp for it. I'm glad my receiver will be expandable in this sense.

One more question about powering speakers and stuff. I suppose my receiver would have way more trouble trying to work with the RTi12's than the RTi8's right?

My amp says it can do 110 watts per channel, and the RTi12s say it needs 50-500 watts, meanwhile the RTi8s only need 20-250 watts.

Can my receiver handle both or should I just stick with the RTi8s? I mean if the RTi12s blow me away in the store will I get okay quality on this Pioneer 1014 receiver?

Oh one more thing, does the power port need room to breathe? Cause I currently have my RTi6s pressed right up against the cabinet. Does the vent need to have room to take air in...or let it out...or??

Laura Palmer · March 2005

Oh and my friend doesn't work in the home theater department unfortunately, which is why I'm completely on my own here.

So I'll have to convince the salesman to take the RTi12s out of the box and hook them up for me

I wish I could test with the Pioneer amp but unfortunately they don't stock it. It seems Best Buy is the only place that does.

Ah well. I'm sure it will sound okay on it. I've been testing with my own music though, so at least I'm getting that right. Hehe.

jmierzur · March 2005

Thanks for the link to the receiver.

Originally posted by Laura Palmer
I am ALSO happy to hear that my speakers will sound EVEN BETTER when I *can* afford to buy a pre-amp for it. I'm glad my receiver will be expandable in this sense.

Power amp. You would use the receiver as the SSP/pre-amp.

Originally posted by Laura Palmer
My amp says it can do 110 watts per channel, and the RTi12s say it needs 50-500 watts, meanwhile the RTi8s only need 20-250 watts.

Don't worry about that at this time as you will find many conflicting and misleading opinions. You will be fine regardless of your choice of speakers.

Make that saleperson work for their pay and listen to the 12's to remove any doubts regarding your purchase.

Toxis · March 2005

Interesting how some people come on here, ask a gang load of qustions and gets 12 times more help than needed. Other's come on here, ask less questions and get no help at all. Funny how women get the guys to start talking...

Laura Palmer · March 2005

Well I don't really know what to say about all that, to be honest. I just get the impression that everybody here is helpful -- nevermind me being a woman.

But I'm not being completely self-indulgent am I? I would suppose that other people reading this thread are also learning something.

As I said, before I posted my own thread I went back and re-read all 6 pages of threads I could see.

I won't stop thanking all of you for your input and opinions though. I also don't really believe in "too much help", no one's *forcing* people to contribute.

TroyD · March 2005

Originally posted by RuSsMaN
How about all you DOGS shut up for a bit, and lets let Cathy and Laura talk for a while. You know, a little girl on girl action?

Cheers,
Russell the Love Muscle

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

GOLD, JERRY, GOLD!!!!

I do find it telling that I've never seen any other...'what should I buy' thread hit three pages.

Sorry, the sicko in me thought it was funny.

BDT

Laura Palmer · March 2005

To be fair, I've probably contributed 60% of this thread with my own posts and incessant questioning process.

Toxis · March 2005

Originally posted by Laura Palmer
Well I don't really know what to say about all that, to be honest. I just get the impression that everybody here is helpful -- nevermind me being a woman.

But I'm not being completely self-indulgent am I? I would suppose that other people reading this thread are also learning something.

As I said, before I posted my own thread I went back and re-read all 6 pages of threads I could see.

I won't stop thanking all of you for your input and opinions though. I also don't really believe in "too much help", no one's *forcing* people to contribute.

no don't worry about it. You're helping a lot more people than yourself. I was just commenting on how some people on this board pick and choose their threads. Some people will ask technical questions and get absolutely no help yet other's will post generic questions like "What speakers match?" and get 30 people jumping to help. It's not like the knowledge isn't there, it's more that some people just don't like to help everyone... kinda funny IMO.

cfrizz · March 2005

Laura, your Pioneer RECEIVER looks like a terrific place to start a home theater setup. It will give either one of the Polks 110 watts, and will sound just fine. But the more power you feed to the speakers the greater the clarity, and loudness, and you won't have to turn up the volume too much to get it.

Which is why we want you to have the preouts on the Pioneer for when you are ready to connect a separate amplifier to the Pioneer to power only your speakers.

All of the pre-amp functions will still be run through the Pioneer Receiver. You will not need to buy another preamp which is working just fine in your receiver. You just will want to give more power to the speakers which is what a separate amplifier will do.

Again these a 3 separate pieces of equipment and have separate funtions. They are not interchangable as you are using them. Your Pioneer Receiver has all of the functions in one box, but it is not as powerful as having a separate amplifier connected to a preamplifier. But these cost a lot more money as you discovered.

Originally posted by Laura Palmer
hehe, actually I mentioned the Pioneer amplifier twice already
It's okay though, we're getting on about 4 pages now and I wouldn't want anyone to have to search through for it.

Lemme give you the full model number though.
It is the Pioneer VSX-1014-TX-K.

And here is a link to it.

I'm actually kind of relieved to hear that I'm not really ready to get into amplifiers and pre-amplifiers especially considering it's gonna run me back at least another grand it seems. It's just not in my budget at this time.

I am ALSO happy to hear that my speakers will sound EVEN BETTER when I *can* afford to buy a pre-amp for it. I'm glad my receiver will be expandable in this sense.

One more question about powering speakers and stuff. I suppose my receiver would have way more trouble trying to work with the RTi12's than the RTi8's right?

My amp says it can do 110 watts per channel, and the RTi12s say it needs 50-500 watts, meanwhile the RTi8s only need 20-250 watts.

Can my receiver handle both or should I just stick with the RTi8s? I mean if the RTi12s blow me away in the store will I get okay quality on this Pioneer 1014 receiver?

Oh one more thing, does the power port need room to breathe? Cause I currently have my RTi6s pressed right up against the cabinet. Does the vent need to have room to take air in...or let it out...or??

jmierzur · March 2005

Laura,

Ask as many questions from as many sources as you can until you understand and feel comfortable with the knowledge. Hope my $0.02 helped.

michael_w · March 2005

If I were you I wouldn't get too caught up on wattage ratings of receivers... they tend to be blown way out of poportion. I upgraded from a 100 watt / ch receiver to an 80 watt / ch integrated amplifier and I can't begin to tell you how much more easily the integrated amp drives my speakers. (receiver struggles to get moderate volume where as integrated amp bearly gets warm)

jmierzur · March 2005

Originally posted by cfrizz
But the more power you feed to the speakers the greater the clarity

Not quite true. Power and clarity are not necessarily related. Clarity is more a function of quality.

TroyD · March 2005

Originally posted by jmierzur
Not quite true. Power and clarity are not necessarily related. Clarity is more a function of quality.

Maybe not, however, all things being equal: more (power) is better.

BDT

cfrizz · March 2005

But the quality of what? The speakers, the receiver, or the amplifier?

I think I have a quality receiver & speakers, but until I added the more powerful quality amp, I didn't know I was missing a lot of clarity from my speakers.

Originally posted by jmierzur
Not quite true. Power and clarity are not necessarily related. Clarity is more a function of quality.

F1nut · March 2005

Originally posted by PolkThug
The RTi's are great for music, period.

I stand by my statement that they are not good music speakers, way to much sibilance from a overly bright tweeter. A group of us got to listen to a production issue of the RTi 10's or 12's (can't remember which) at Polk HQ before they hit the streets on some very decent higher end gear. The unanimous opinion of the group was they sounded very good for HT, bad for music. I rest my case.

michael_w · March 2005

Cfrizz, You probably didn't notice the clarity until the more powerful amp because now your gear has a much lighter load on it, leaving less distortion.

Mike Reeter · March 2005

Laura,I will through my nickels worth out here...If you like the sound of the RTi8's,then by all means,get them...The 8's coupled with a GOOD sub will be MORE than sufficient in an apartment HT.

But,when I say a GOOD sub,I not talken about a Polk,I've had two Polk subs in the past and they will not hold a candle to an SVS or HSU,a little more money,but BIG returns in sound.

The RTi12's are also a very good HT speaker,but to make them really perform at their best,they need more power than what most AVR's can produce...More power=more money...

The 8's are much easier to drive with the AVR's that you're looking at,even the 6's with a good sub,I think,would sound great in your situation.

Good luck on your audio adventure,I've built two new homes in the past,and did'nt spend as much time researching those projects as I have trying to put together a Home Theater...

steveinaz · March 2005

Laura, listen to Cathy. If you listen to the rest of these knuckleheads you'll need a second mortgage to finance your home theater....:)

KLD2246 · March 2005

Hi Laura, well let me give you my two cents in. I found out the hard way. You build the best you can afford. I started with the RTi10s. Then I upgraded the center from the CSi3 to the CSi5 and then I was stuck on the rears and the sub. I went on line, bought the FXi5 and got a $150 certificate from Crutchfield. I will use that on my Sub in the next week. Now I have a great great system that I cant wait to go home to. It screams. It is awesome and you will get the best advise in this forum. The people will help you in your decision and hopefully you got something out of this. Good luck to you.

cfrizz · March 2005

Precisely Michael. But until I got the amp I thought that all of my speakers were getting 110 watts each, I didn't realize that the 110 watts was being split 3 ways to power my front 3 channels at the time. Thereby weakening the overall clarity of all of them.

And I didn't understand it by reading the specs, hell I still don't understand all the specs.

I still wouldn't have known now if I hadn't planned on upgrading to the LSI15's but was informed via this board that my receiver could'nt withstand powering them. So I got the Parasound amp. Now my 15 yr old speakers sound so good, powerful & clear that I have dropped the idea of the LSI15's.

Hearing is believing! Thus my conversion to always having a separate amp connected to my receiver to power my speakers.

Originally posted by michael_w
Cfrizz, You probably didn't notice the clarity until the more powerful amp because now your gear has a much lighter load on it, leaving less distortion.

cfrizz · March 2005

Steve you just made my night!

Originally posted by steveinaz
Laura, listen to Cathy. If you listen to the rest of these knuckleheads you'll need a second mortgage to finance your home theater....:)

jmierzur · March 2005

Originally posted by cfrizz
But the quality of what? The speakers, the receiver, or the amplifier?

I think I have a quality receiver & speakers, but until I added the more powerful quality amp, I didn't know I was missing a lot of clarity from my speakers.

I believe it was in reference to power amps.

Yes, I agree with this:

"but until I added the more powerful quality amp"

No, I do not agree with all this:

"But the more power you feed to the speakers the greater the clarity, and loudness, and you won't have to turn up the volume too much to get it. "

I have three amps in house. All have 120 wpc. The Pioneer has the best paper specs out of the three by a wide margin. Which would you want?

-Pioneer A-7 (integrated amp)
-Rotel RB-980BX
-Simaudio Moon W-3

Originally posted by TroyD
Maybe not, however, all things being equal: more (power) is better.

Things are rarely equal and more power is not always better. As the saying goes, "If the first watt sucks, why continue".

Hint: from good to better.

Loud & Clear · March 2005

I'm in the lay low camp on this one.

I'd keep the RTi6's in the front, and match it with whatever center channel it's supposed to be matched with. The receiver is fine (5.1, right?).

As far as surround speakers go, I'd get another pair of RTi6, or whatever is reasonable at a lesser cost (ex: 'R' series), and focus on the best placement to get the most out of them; side, rear, whatever works best. Of course placement will be critical with all of your speakers.

The one element that I'd be tempted to go big on, is the subwoofer. The subwoofer makes a HUGE difference in the quality of the home theater experience, imo. That said, you live in an apartment, so perhaps it isn't practical to.

Good luck with putting everything together.

And yes, I'm totally hot.

michael_w · March 2005

Originally posted by Loud & Clear
And yes, I'm totally hot.

For some reason I found that really funny .... just so random and out of the blue

TroyD · March 2005

Originally posted by jmierzur
I believe it was in reference to power amps.

Yes, I agree with this:

"but until I added the more powerful quality amp"

No, I do not agree with all this:

"But the more power you feed to the speakers the greater the clarity, and loudness, and you won't have to turn up the volume too much to get it. "

I have three amps in house. All have 120 wpc. The Pioneer has the best paper specs out of the three by a wide margin. Which would you want?

-Pioneer A-7 (integrated amp)
-Rotel RB-980BX
-Simaudio Moon W-3

Things are rarely equal and more power is not always better. As the saying goes, "If the first watt sucks, why continue".

Hint: from good to better.

And I agree with Kantors, Klosses and Carvers of the world in regards to solid state amps. If you have two solid state amps of roughly equal power ratings and one of them sounds radically different, one is broken.

BDT

disneyjoe7 · March 2005

Laura,

My $.02 RTi are ok for music, that what I use RTi150's. And the statement of being bright I find RTxxxi series brighter. I can say there's better Polk music speakers, but a for a dual setup the RTi's work great. I believe for music that the front speakers should hold their own without the help of a sub.

HBombToo · March 2005

Originally posted by steveinaz
Laura, listen to Cathy. If you listen to the rest of these knuckleheads you'll need a second mortgage to finance your home theater....:)

this is funny stuff and I'll admit Sherry is a Saint. That said, Laura could be a pen name, then what if its Larry:p

1/4twin;)

Need your expert Polk assistance!

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