fxi 3's

JordanR

I just bought a 7.1 set up consisting of

rti 8's in the front
csi 5
rti 4's for surround
fxi 3's for rear
velodyne sub

Anyway, I am having a hard time appreciating the fxi's. I have tried to position them at my side in both bipole and dipole, and neither have seemed too involved. I finally ended up putting them behind me in bipole, and they sound a little better, but I still feel like the rti 4's are a lot more involved, so there must be something wrong I'm doing. I already have them turned up to the max. Any help will be appreciated.

cfrizz

Have you calibrated you system? Also, I wasn't all that impressed with them initially myself, However, one day they just seemed to come to life! So much so I had to go in and re-adjust the settings a little.

It just might be a case of waiting for them to break in.

If you have an sacd or a dvd-a disc play it in 5.1 surround. That will give you a good idea whether or not there is a problem. Perhaps putting it on low and letting it run for several hours will make a difference.

aaharvel

Jordan welcome to the forum. It might not be what you're doing wrong- just your preference in surround playback. You might be the kind of listener that wants to hear where surround effects are coming from- in this case monopole speakers like the rti4 are the best route for you. I'm quite the opposite, but they're those on both sides of this fence. Give them a chance, let the speakers break in. Usually in a setup like yours- the fx's go to the side in dipole mode and the monopole rti4's will go in the rear- but do what you feel is best and let us know how it turns out.

http://www.hometheatermag.com/loudspeakers/25/index1.html

landry_p2000

aaharvel wrote:

Jordan welcome to the forum. It might not be what you're doing wrong- just your preference in surround playback. You might be the kind of listener that wants to hear where surround effects are coming from- in this case monopole speakers like the rti4 are the best route for you. I'm quite the opposite, but they're those on both sides of this fence. Give them a chance, let the speakers break in. Usually in a setup like yours- the fx's go to the side in dipole mode and the monopole rti4's will go in the rear- but do what you feel is best and let us know how it turns out.

http://www.hometheatermag.com/loudspeakers/25/index1.html

Same thing that I was thinking. The FXi3s are usually set up on the sides in a 7.1 set-up. Try switching the RTi4s around with the FXi3s and let us know what you think after you give that a try. IMO, that is the best thing to do before you give up on those FX speakers. I love mine, and wouldn't trade them for anything. (well maybe a set of FXi5s of course)

I have a 6.1 set-up, and my single RTi4 is at the back, and my FXi3s are on the side. Give it a shot Jordan.

Landry

bigsexy1

Actually, in that linked article from HTM, 4 out of 4 people on the panel all liked monopoles better at the sides with bipoles at the rear in that scenerio of pair of each.

PolkThug

Put the Fxi3's at your sides, but make sure that they are connected to the 4/5 channels on your receiver, then put the Rti4's behind you, routed back to the 6/7 channel.

Ricardo

One more thing you should consider...there is a lot more "sound" going to channels "4&5" than "6&7"; this might also be another reason why you feel the RTi4's more involved. Try listening "all channels stereo" just to confirm all connections are ok; this should direct relatively the same amount of sound to all channels

JordanR

Thanks for all of the replies everybody. One thing that I didnt mention is I have a Yamaha htr 5860 with an auto calibration feature. I ran that, and also did a little tweaking myself. I'm gonna switch the fxi's to the rear, re-calibrate and post the results.

JordanR

Yeah, I just switched the fxi's to the side and they sound a lot better. Any more helpful hints are still appreciated. Thanks in advance.

aaharvel

awesome. Try the side fx's on dipole mode (if your system is for movies and such)

landry_p2000

JordanR wrote:

Yeah, I just switched the fxi's to the side and they sound a lot better. Any more helpful hints are still appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Good deal jordan.

Holydoc

aaharvel wrote:

awesome. Try the side fx's on dipole mode (if your system is for movies and such)

Aaharvel,

I have all 4 of my FXi3's set up as bipole (surround L&R, back L&R). I have a Great Room that connects to the kitchen and dining area. Should I be using Dipole for the sides and why?

Just trying to do it right.

aaharvel

Holydoc wrote:

Aaharvel,

I have all 4 of my FXi3's set up as bipole (surround L&R, back L&R). I have a Great Room that connects to the kitchen and dining area. Should I be using Dipole for the sides and why?

Just trying to do it right.

If all you're doing is video and dvds- yes I would do dipole. Actually If it was just movies- i would do ALL 4 of them dipole. I know Polk 'experts' say differently but I digress.

However, I use my setup for SACDS and music at least half the time- so I just put all of mine on bipole.

Holydoc

aaharvel wrote:

If all you're doing is video and dvds- yes I would do dipole. Actually If it was just movies- i would do ALL 4 of them dipole. I know Polk 'experts' say differently but I digress. However, I use my setup for SACDS and music at least half the time- so I just put all of mine on bipole.

Ok, I know what you said I should do. Can you tell me why I should do that? What advantage over bipole is dipole? Why do you think music sounds better in bipole while movies sound better in dipole? What am I trying to achieve?

Sorry...I am a terrible newbie at this.

aaharvel

Holydoc wrote:

Ok, I know what you said I should do. Can you tell me why I should do that? What advantage over bipole is dipole? Why do you think music sounds better in bipole while movies sound better in dipole? What am I trying to achieve?

Sorry...I am a terrible newbie at this.

You're trying to achieve a realistic side and rear surround field. Surrounds in dipole mode are more ambient in nature- which provides for good realism for movies. (think outside and listen around you- it's hard to pinpoint ambience isn't it?) But for music it's a different story altogether.

Bipoles are for more discrete surround effects but still maintains some sort of diffuseness that dipoles possess. It's a perfect middle ground between monopoles and dipoles. It is Good For movies and is GREAT for music- because musical instruments tend to sound better when they have some sort of pinpoint accuracy to them. If you listen to music on your system as well as movies- to me it's a no brainer. Bipole all the way around.

Experimentation is good. You can have 100's of people talk about which modes are best-but in the end it all depends on your ears. Imo your system prob. sounds the best the way you have it now; with all 4 f/x's in BIpole mode.