Bookshelves vs Floors?

reubenray

Here is my setup. Due to Katrina I now have a new house in LA. and am renting a house in TX. I am splitting up my HDTV's between the two. My current A/V setup is a Sony receiver, Sony floor fronts & rears, a Sony sub and a JBL center. These are all about 5 years old.

I am planning on getting a Yamaha HTR 5890 receiver, but have not decided on speakers yet. I will keep the Sony sub for the time being and take the Sony receiver and the other speakers to the house in LA. The new and improved (I hope) system will go into the Texas house being we are there 90% of the time.

Now here is the reason of the main question. I move every year or so due to my work and the floor speakers are starting to wear on me. I am hoping to get a system that will last us, being I am wanting to retire in 8 to 10 years. Both of these systems will be used mainly for home theater.

I have been looking at the Rti6 (front), Rti4 or FXi for the rears and the CSi3 for the center. Eventually I will upgrade to a 7.1 system when we are at home for good.

My main concern concerning the question is can bookshelf speakers put out enough sound and special effects.

Thanks for any help.

kmartin971

Go with the LSi series (books) and go with a different receiver. Look at Onkyo, Marantz, or HK.

reubenray

I was checking into the Onkyo 703 to start off, but thought the Yamaha 5890 was better. What is wrong with the Yamaha?

reubenray

Whew - I checked some prices on the LSi series and it is way out of my budget. Would like to get something around $800 to $1000. Is the RTi series considered an entry level setup?

Early B.

Go with floorstanders as your front speakers -- maybe a set of Rti8's, especially for HT and if you plan to keep them for a long time. Floorstanders will provide a fuller sound than bookshelves.

BrentMcGhee

No the monitor series is considered entryl level. The RTI series is the middle guy on the food chain. The RTI's would be great for a hometheater granted the LSI's are alot better but being like you said out of your price range dont worry about them. There have been plenty of people in this forum including myself that have made great home theaters based off of the RTI series, they are very good speakers.

jcaut

LSi's are overkill if you're not going to be 1.) Doing serious music listening, and 2.) Driving them with something better than a mainstream HT receiver.

For receiver-powered home theater, I don't think the LSi's gain you much, if anything, over RTi's. Certainly not enough to justify the additional cost. In fact, you might be just as happy with the Monitor series. Just my two cents.

Whether or not you'll be happy with bookshelf speakers rather than floorstanding towers, depends mainly on whether or not you have a good subwoofer. The Sony sub will be outclassed by the Polks, and won't cut it, regardless of whether you choose bookshelf speakers or towers, IMO.

Jason

reubenray

The sub was to be replaced at a later date, but if the whole system is screwed up I may have to get it sooner.

jcaut

The sub's a pretty critical part of multi-channel home theater. You could get by with it, for sure. But I'm just saying that if you're looking at upgrading your speakers, you should probably consider the sub a part of the package.
From what I know of Sony subwoofers, they're on a completely different level from even the Monitor series Polks, and I don't think you'd be happy with it for long.

Jason

danger boy

go to your local stereo store and check out both the bookshelf and floor standing speakers... none one here can tell you what you like.;. and sound best to your ears..

I prefer floorstanding speakers.. but that's just me. Some people use bookshelf speakers with great success.. all depends on what you want to accomplish audio wise.

reubenray

danger boy wrote:

go to your local stereo store and check out both the bookshelf and floor standing speakers... none one here can tell you what you like.;. and sound best to your ears..

I prefer floorstanding speakers.. but that's just me. Some people use bookshelf speakers with great success.. all depends on what you want to accomplish audio wise.

That is what I tried to do at the very begining. Went to 3 locations and not one of them had a setup that you could listen to. Fry's was the closet to any setup at all, but you could only listen to one single speaker at a time.

reubenray

Would this be a good set that will work together? RTi8's for the fronts, CSi3 for the cener and FXi3's for the rears/surrounds. I can get this for a little over $1,000.
If not what would I need to change?

*Seby*-Polk-

Get the Yamaha receiver...For Movies it's the best option (for me and for lot of people ears ) The performance with music is excellent (if you like the bright sound - NOT TOO BRIGHT -)

And the speakers...YES, the monitor series is the entry level...BUT great quality. I have a pair of Monitor 50 as fronts, and enjoy movies and music every minute of my life !!!!! .

Obviously, the RTi series sounds better..but you pay a lot more !!!! BYE BYE

Early B.

reubenray wrote:

Would this be a good set that will work together? RTi8's for the fronts, CSi3 for the cener and FXi3's for the rears/surrounds. I can get this for a little over $1,000.
If not what would I need to change?

That would be great.

If you can swing it, get the Csi5 instead of the Csi3. The center channel is the most important speaker, so don't skimp here, if possible. If not, the Csi3 will work very well.

reubenray

This sounds like it may be the system. Now I need to find the best prices I can get.

Any ideas?

wingnut4772

Get the Yamaha receiver...For Movies it's the best option (for me and for lot of people ears ) The performance with music is excellent (if you like the bright sound - NOT TOO BRIGHT -)

:eek:

Bright is the Devil!!!!

aaharvel

bright IS the devil.
warm is Kelly Clarkson.

reubenray

After searching for speaker deals I may just go with this setup instead. RTi6's for the fronts, FXi3's for the rears and CSi3 for the center. Could not see spending an additiona $400+ for the RTi8's.

How would this sound?

Also what do you mean by the statement that Yamaha receivers are to bright?

Holydoc

Reubenray,

I think I missed it. What sub do you currently have? The difference in the RTi6's and the RTi8-12's would be the amount of bass that you can produce through those speakers for 2 channel listening. If you are working on just HT reproduction and care little for 2-channel music, then the RTi6 should be satisfactory IF you have a nice subwoofer.

Personnaly, I liked your original choice of speakers better. Though I would splurge on the CSi5 instead of CSi3. A clear center channel is almost as important as the subwoofer's impact.

So...what sub do you have?

reubenray

Holydoc wrote:

Reubenray,

I think I missed it. What sub do you currently have? The difference in the RTi6's and the RTi8-12's would be the amount of bass that you can produce through those speakers for 2 channel listening. If you are working on just HT reproduction and care little for 2-channel music, then the RTi6 should be satisfactory IF you have a nice subwoofer.

Personnaly, I liked your original choice of speakers better. Though I would splurge on the CSi5 instead of CSi3. A clear center channel is almost as important as the subwoofer's impact.

So...what sub do you have?

Now I have been given the green light to get the RTi8's instead of the 6's. Right now I have a Sony sub, but will get something new within a month or two of the speaker purchase.

*Seby*-Polk-

reubenray wrote:

After searching for speaker deals I may just go with this setup instead. RTi6's for the fronts, FXi3's for the rears and CSi3 for the center. Could not see spending an additiona $400+ for the RTi8's.

How would this sound?

Also what do you mean by the statement that Yamaha receivers are to bright?

Is one tye of sound. if you like the sound little bright (NOT EXTREMELY BRIGHT) listen the Yammies. For me, the performance with movies and music it's great.

Anywere, you can adjust the tone controls "bass" and "treeble" for get the correct sound. My configuration for music in DIRECT STERO is: Bass +2db Treeble -1.5db and sounds great with rock, ballad, jazz. TRY IT !!!