TC65i or RC85i

lazypineapple

Hi,
The wife is wanting(no ordered:eek:) me to ditch all my spkr cabnets,(I only had 7)
so we are wanting to go In-wall,
room is 14x20, I have a 50" Pasma-HD wall mounted on one of the 14' walls,(offset because of a door)
I have a old,JVC1028a/v reciever doing my 5.1
so I'm thinking about either the TC65i or RC85i ,

I want good TV sound and good Music sound, and low cost:D

I was leaning toward the RC85i because I figured 8" would be a better choice of Music and more bass, but was told by the salesman that the TC65i
were better over all,

so here's my plan:
2 main front spkrs in-wall each side of the Plasma
2 rears spkr in ceiling above couches and my chair(est,17' away)
center in-wall either above tv or below
box sub in the corner for now.

question : should i go 5, TC65i or RC85i ?
I play it loud and soft........blues to rock......and Nascar Sunday CRANK-IT -UP....:eek::D

question about mounting in-walls on the TV wall.
Is ear level while sitting the prefered choice?

thanks

Racker99

Like yourself I had some similar questions when I was moving forward with equipping my house both for surround sound in a dedicated theater room and for music in different zones in my house.

The larger question for me was comparing the TC615i vs. the RC85i as their price per pair is almost equivalent. I ended up e-mailing Polk directly to find out their thoughts, and they indicated that I would get better separation and imaging with the TC615i's.

Based upon that information here's what I went with:
TC615's as the surround sound speakers (mounted at about 5') in the theater room. I then used RC85i as the speaker pairs in the different rooms where I wanted audio only since they wouldn't have a matching subwoofer to provide additional bass.

Given your theater situation, what I would suggest is:

Use TC615's as your surrounds (not as much sound going through and you want better imaging.) Use a pair of RC 85i's as your front left /right to get a little bigger boom for explosions / Sfx.
And the most important part is: Get a single TC265i as your center channel speaker. I have a pair of these in one of my rooms that acts as a dance floor and they have terrific separation of sound and great mid-ranges. You will thank yourself for getting this as your center channel. Oh, and also still use some form of a subwoofer. Especially since you're doing the rest in-wall this will be important to make it as optimial as it can get for theater sound.

Just my .02.

~Jonathan

dorokusai

I agree somewhat but would suggest sticking with the TCi series overall for this application. The RC series is timbre matched to the Monitor series, the TC to the RTi series. They sound different and while a surround application may not stand out, front stage differences may be pronounced.

The suggestion of the TC265i as a center channel is excellent. I would suggest that you use the TC65i for the front L&R moreso because of the adjustability and dispersion of the tweeter, level controls and power port. You get great bass response from your front stage and there is no need for an 8" woofer since a subwoofer is on your list.

If you want to save some money on surrounds, go with the TC615i. You still get aimable tweeters which may come in handy. Level controls are not as neccesary here but I really do like the power port feature of the TC65i.

Good luck.

Racker99

And you should be able to order a TC265i as a separate speaker, and not be required to order a pair. I'd guess it's around $300 to $400 for that single speaker, but worth it.

~Jonathan

DollarDave

dorokusai wrote: »

I agree somewhat but would suggest sticking with the TCi series overall for this application. The RC series is timbre matched to the Monitor series, the TC to the RTi series. They sound different and while a surround application may not stand out, front stage differences may be pronounced.

The suggestion of the TC265i as a center channel is excellent. I would suggest that you use the TC615i for the front L&R moreso because of the adjustability and dispersion of the tweeter, level controls and power port. You get great bass response from your front stage and there is no need for an 8" woofer since a subwoofer is on your list.

If you want to save some money on surrounds, go with the TC65i. You still get aimable tweeters which may come in handy. Level controls are not as neccesary here but I really do like the power port feature of the TC615i.

Good luck.

The 65's have the power port, the 615's don't. The 615's are the slightly less expensive speaker and would be the better rears. I think Mark just referred to them in vis-versa.

dorokusai

They are sold individually, so that's definitly possible.

Dave - Thanks man, got my model numbers mixed up. You are correct.

dfranks

I have the RC85I's and am currently running them as the rear/surrounds with my fronts being RTI-A5. My centre is CSI -A6.

I like the sound of 85I's they work quite seamlesley with the RTI'S I wouldn't change anything.

When I run full 7 channel enhanced they blend right in and fill the room quite nicely.
I paid $400 + shipping Canada for 2 pairs of them. So for the price point I am quite pleased.

lazypineapple

thanks for info yall,
its' gonna be hard to get the TC65i's out of the banker since i found the TC615i's at 80.00 each. (now she knows) best i found on the tc65i's is 170.00 each

since i will be piece'n this together a pair at a time, i'm leaning toward 4 TC615's

as for th center is there a round center for a second choice you all might recommend

I will probaly change my sub, it's a JBL TLX CSS SUB1
(the kind you hook your fronts from the amp to ,then the ft spkr to the sub output.
so i'm in the market for a powered sub, in-wall too.
thanks

Racker99

You might want to save up a little bit and go for the TC65is as your Left and Right channels. The TC615is work great for me as surround channels, but I wouldn't expect them to fill the room for the majority of SFX that left and rights carry. You'll get good imaging from them, but they might not envelope you with as much overall sound during explosions, etc. They're only around 5 feet from my head as surround speakers, but they'd have to project the sound around 15' before I'd hear it if I used them as left & right channels (Theater room is 14' x 23').

As for using a round speaker as your center channel, my recommendation is: Don't!

In a home theather / TV Viewing situation the center channel is where 90%+ of your audio will be travelling through. Allowing it to be projected from a few different mid range drivers & a separate tweeter give you much better sound separation than a single round speaker can provide. So I'd strongly urge you to stick with the TC265i.

If you must get a round, consider a TC80i, or even get a pair and amp them so you can run them both as your center channel.

lazypineapple

hey thanks,

I knew you was gonna say that
I'm watching some LC265i on flebay now,

I useally have the pasma sound on too. for center with my A/V unit
my Panasonic has pretty desent surround built in.