New Polk Virgin

cutlass

Hi, I was hoping you guys could give me some advice about what I have set up for a system. I'm terribly uneducated with home audio stuff. I have a HK AVR235 Receiver and just picked up RTi10 front speakers and RTi6 for rears and I have a Bose VCS-10 center channel and Athena 10" AS-P400 sub. I have all the Polk speakers bi-wired with 12 gauge Monster wire. Is the avr235 good enough to power the set up I have? Any suggestions? Thanks.

cbl117

cutlass wrote:

Hi, I was hoping you guys could give me some advice about what I have set up for a system. I'm terribly uneducated with home audio stuff. I have a HK AVR235 Receiver and just picked up RTi10 front speakers and RTi6 for rears and I have a Bose VCS-10 center channel and Athena 10" AS-P400 sub. I have all the Polk speakers bi-wired with 12 gauge Monster wire. Is the avr235 good enough to power the set up I have? Any suggestions? Thanks.

I'm learning as well, but I can try and help. I would say the avr235 will power your set-up, but you'd be getting a lot more with a separate amp to power the front speakers and center channel. I've seem 3-channel amps around for such setups. I'd also look into getting a CSi3 or CSi5 center channel. Your front stage will blend better when your speaks are matched.

danger boy

cbl117 wrote:

I'm learning as well, but I can try and help. I would say the avr235 will power your set-up, but you'd be getting a lot more with a separate amp to power the front speakers and center channel. I've seem 3-channel amps around for such setups. I'd also look into getting a CSi3 or CSi5 center channel. Your front stage will blend better when your speaks are matched.

good advice..

cutlass, it all depends on what level you want to take your home theater system to.. yes the HK will work fine. as cbl said.. you would be best to match your center channel with your main fronts. will blend and sound better.
Followed by a more powerful sub.. but that can wait if needed.

A seperate amp is always a great idea.. it's all for the better... rarely will an external amp lower the sound quality.. there again... if you are looking to put together a decent home theater system... you're on your way man.. just how far do you want to take it? How deep are your pockets?

schwarcw

Hi Cutlass and welcome to the forum. Your HK is nice and will d a good job. As danger boy said an external amp for the front speakers will add to your sound quality. Plan your upgrades according to your budget and needs. Remember that your source (CDP or DVD) is the most important piece in your system. Welcome and good luck with this hobby:)

*Seby*-Polk-

All HK receivers has great quality. You'll never will be dissapointed with brands like HK, Marantz, Denon Yamaha, POLK !!!!!!

I can't say the same with brands like Pioneer, Sony, etc .....

cmy330go

All in all your system is pretty good! However the biggest weakness in your system would be the Bose center channel. Please don't take this personal, but that is by far the worst center channel I have ever heard at any price. I would heavily recommend a Polk CSi5, or if you don't have the space for that you could also get good results with the CSi3. I can not even begin to describe how much better the CSi center will sound over the Bose. In fact if it were my system I would be tempted to turn the center off in the receivers settings and let the RTi10s take care of the dialog in the meantime.

Also as mentioned before your RTi10s could benefit from more power, but that is always something that can be done later if you choose.

Hope this gets you headed in the right direction. And remember CHANGE THAT CENTER!:D

Welcome to the Club!!!!!
Dave

AndyGwis

This could be the funniest thing I've read on this forum so far:

"Please don't take this personal, but that is by far the worst center channel I have ever heard at any price."

Thanks for brightening my day, Dave.

cmy330go

Wow. Glad I could help.:)

cutlass

Thanks for all the input. If future shop has a csi5 in stock, I'm going to pick one up today. You're right the Bose doesn't cut it. As far as another amp goes any brand suggestions?

halo

Parasound & Rotel

cmy330go

I would do some searching around the forums for recommendations. There are many good options.

Just a few off the top of my head.

Adcom
Outlaw Audio
Rotel
Parasound
B&K
Sunfire
NAD
Eathquake
QSC (pro audio stuff)
Krell

Keep in mind there are many good deals to be had on the used market.
Dave

tdogroeder

You should deffinately have the same timbre match for your RTi10's. You should get the CSi5.

Musophile

You can thank Audiobliss. Here's a link to my message thread where he posted links to all these manufacturers. I think it's the third message down.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38982

cutlass

Thanks guys! After an hour in the pathetic Future Shop in our city, I went over to another store that carries the CS series of Polk. Ended up buying a CS1 center channel. I know it's not as big and powerfull as a CSi5, but Holy crap, it's like night and day compared to that Bose. I can't believe I used that thing for the last 2 years. So now I'll spend a bunch of time researching amps based on the info you guys have given me.
Thanks again, it's great to see an online forum where people actually reply to questions and are so helpful.

Toxis

honestly, you wasted your money. At least you should've went with the CSi3 but even then the 10's will overpower it. You should've either kept the bose til you can afford the 5 or go ahead and spring for it now. I know it was a big upgrade but all you did was delay the inevitable.

welcome to the forum.

cmy330go

Sorry Cutlass....but Toxis is right. If you can I would return the CS1 and get a CSi3 or 5. It truly is worth the extra. I know that CS1 is a HUGE improvement over the bose, but it still is not properly timbre matched to the RTi10s. Just try to imagine sound even better than what you have now that perfectly blends with your 10's. All I can say is it's, worth it, worth it, worth it!

Just tryin' to get you and your system up to it's potential.;)
Dave

cutlass

Hey guys, point taken. Just got back from returning the CS1. Got a shiney new CSi5 sitting on my tv. Definately an improvement over the CS1. I had pretty much came to the same conclusion today before I read any of these comments after listening to it for a couple of hours.

Dave.

Toxis

GOOD MOVE!!! Now give it a few days to break in and you'll really start enjoying it.

cmy330go

SWEET!! You made the right choice. Congratulations.

It should give you years of enjoyment. That is if you can keep the upgrade bug away that long.:D

*Seby*-Polk-

cmy330go wrote:

Sorry Cutlass....but Toxis is right. If you can I would return the CS1 and get a CSi3 or 5. It truly is worth the extra. I know that CS1 is a HUGE improvement over the bose, but it still is not properly timbre matched to the RTi10s. Just try to imagine sound even better than what you have now that perfectly blends with your 10's. All I can say is it's, worth it, worth it, worth it!

Just tryin' to get you and your system up to it's potential.;)
Dave

Hi Cmy !!!

A question....The CS1 is a perfect match, for example, with Monitor 50 floorstanding...or maybe i should look CS2 ????

cmy330go

*Seby*-Polk- wrote:

Hi Cmy !!!

A question....The CS1 is a perfect match, for example, with Monitor 50 floorstanding...or maybe i should look CS2 ????

Either of those centers are timbre matched to the Monitors. I have found in the past, mainly with the RTi series, that sometimes a small center can be somewhat overpowered by large towers at medium to high volume. Your monitor 50s in my opinion are probably right on the edge. I have not had extended time to listen to the Monitors so I can't really give you a strong opinion. By what i can see on paper I would be tempted to say that the CS1 might be a slightly better match for the 50s because all the drivers match. I would think the CS2 would be a better match for the Monitor70 since they both have 6-1/2" drivers.

Hope that makes sense. Haven't had the morning coffee yet.:)

EDIT: As always, if possible. Try both and see what sounds better to you.

Dave

SuperDave

All good advice, but if this was a boating forum everyone would recommend a yacht.

cmy330go

SuperDave wrote:

All good advice, but if this was a boating forum everyone would recommend a yacht.

A simple Runabout will do. We can even keep it music related.:D

http://www.therunabout.com/

I think you'll find it has a very modest base price.;)

*Seby*-Polk-

cmy330go wrote:

Either of those centers are timbre matched to the Monitors. I have found in the past, mainly with the RTi series, that sometimes a small center can be somewhat overpowered by large towers at medium to high volume. Your monitor 50s in my opinion are probably right on the edge. I have not had extended time to listen to the Monitors so I can't really give you a strong opinion. By what i can see on paper I would be tempted to say that the CS1 might be a slightly better match for the 50s because all the drivers match. I would think the CS2 would be a better match for the Monitor70 since they both have 6-1/2" drivers.

Hope that makes sense. Haven't had the morning coffee yet.:)

EDIT: As always, if possible. Try both and see what sounds better to you.

Dave

Ha ha ... ok Dave....The CS1 sounds better with monitor 50's....that's right..(5"1/4) same timbre.

Toxis

SuperDave wrote:

All good advice, but if this was a boating forum everyone would recommend a yacht.

would it be honest for all of us to say "Sell your LSi's, Get R30's all around!!" or would it be to tell people to get what will sound best for their setup? If this was a car forum and I had 3 20" rims and wanted a 16" just to get me by, do you think anyone would actually tell me that would be ok?