Polk Rti 800's & Sony Receivers

philipsavory
philipsavory Posts: 2
edited April 2002 in Technical/Setup
This is my first time posting in this forum, but I have been using Polk speakers for a while. About six monts ago I purchased a set of Rti 800's, initially when I was testing these speakers I was blown away, but after I got them home I was a little disapointed. I am using a sony ES receiver to drive these speakers (V44ES). I have been playing with the setting for a couple of months and nothing really seems to make any difference. I am just wondering if anyone else is using a Sony ES receiver to drive there polks, and if so how do they find it. I am also open to any suggestions about a possible upgrade to my receiver.
Post edited by philipsavory on

Comments

  • nascarmann
    nascarmann Posts: 1,464
    edited April 2002
    The talk around the forum is that Sony receivers and the Polk's don't match? I do not have first hand knowledge of this and can not give you a reason for this? I can only tell you I have read it many time on this forum. There are good receivers out there that you will be please with. The one thing I suggest, is to get a receiver with the 5 channel or better stereo. (Denon,Yamaha,Onkyo,ect.) :)
    Oh, the bottle has been to me, my closes friend, my worse enemy!
  • shack
    shack Posts: 11,154
    edited April 2002
    Before I got my new Denon I was running my rt55i speakers (The bookshelf version of the rt800i) on a 8 year old cheap Sony pro logic receiver. It was one that stated it had 100wpc in 2 channel stereo and 70-70-70-20-20 in 5 channel pro logic. It did not do a bad job of pushing the 55s in the stereo mode and this was before they were broken in. The Denon is better but the Sony sounded pretty good. I have a feeling though that low end Sony was better several years ago than it is now.
    "Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right." - Ricky Gervais

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  • jcaut
    jcaut Posts: 1,849
    edited April 2002
    As I said in a previous thread, I had a Sony V333ES when I first got my RT800i's. It sounded pretty good with the Advent speakers I was using previously, but not with the 800i's. I don't have a good explanation for it, other than it sounded like a gutless amp trying to drive the Polks. Boomy bass, steely, one-note midrange---very fatiguing to listen to.

    I switched to a Denon 3801 and it was a huge improvement.

    It seems like the ES stuff should be better than that, for the price you pay for it. I know some on here have had good luck with the ES stuff, especially the top-line ES equipment and the DA___ES receivers.

    Is there any way you could borrow and try out a Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha, B&K, Pioneer Elite, Marantz, etc. receiver? Even the better JVC's and Kenwoods seem to do better with the Polks, in my experience.

    Jason
  • Aaron
    Aaron Posts: 1,853
    edited April 2002
    I'm running my RT800's with a DA50ES receiver, but I've only listened to them critically about once in the past year. They're being used in a HT setup, so I rarely listen to music on them. In that one listening session I wasn't impressed with what I heard, but that was shortly after listening to a nice Magnepan/Classe/Theta setup. My separates system with RT55's handily outperforms them. No real surprise, though.

    Aaron
  • chefsdm
    chefsdm Posts: 17
    edited April 2002
    I am running rt800i's with the sony 555 es. Although I find the reciever overly complex and difficult to adjust, the sound, once dialed in for my room, is very clean and powerfull. I ended up making a large eq adjustment in order to improve the top end(without this adjustment it sounded flat and muddy). In hindsight ii would probably purchase a different reciever, but I got a good deal ($750 new in box) and overall it processes all my audio sources (dvd, cd, sat, vcr) very well and is versatile in video switching as well. hope this helps. ( also be sure all settings are as they should be i.e. large vs small, distance set correctly and level adjustments dialed in for your room)
  • chefsdm
    chefsdm Posts: 17
    edited April 2002
    I am running rt800i's with the sony 555 es. Although I find the reciever overly complex and difficult to adjust, the sound, once dialed in for my room, is very clean and powerfull. I ended up making a large eq adjustment in order to improve the top end(without this adjustment it sounded flat and muddy). In hindsight ii would probably purchase a different reciever, but I got a good deal ($750 new in box) and overall it processes all my audio sources (dvd, cd, sat, vcr) very well and is versatile in video switching as well. hope this helps. ( also be sure all settings are as they should be i.e. large vs small, distance set correctly and level adjustments dialed in for your room)
  • OrangeToupee
    OrangeToupee Posts: 488
    edited April 2002
    It's so true, I have a newer Denon receiver that sounds fine flat with my 800i's. I also have a five year old Sony receiver that simply cannot be run flat with those same speakers, it sounds absolutely nasal and not unlike a few tiny band members playing from inside of a small box. They need to opened up, and in a big way. Of course, once you've got it figured out, then it sounds great.