Polk Monitors, Rear Port and Wall Mounting

mikeinnj

Hey all, Loving my currently 3.1 monitor setup, soon to be 5.1. Right now I've got two Monitor 30s as fronts and a CS1 center, and will be picking up the Monitor 60s as my fronts and moving the Monitor 30s to surround duties. Right now I've got all the speakers wall mounted as seen in this pic:


My only real gripe is how the speakers are so close to the walls and are rear ported, creating a sort of boomy bass effect. I was considering flipping the center channel over on the metal arms that it is on and that would probably aim the port away from the wall and at an angle instead. BUT, my real concern here, is the 30s that are going to be mounted about 6ft up on the rear walls as surrounds. Any suggestions on how to either aim the port away from the wall in such a way that it would make a difference. I thought of maybe unscrewing the rear rubber spacers on the bottom and putting a longer screw in the wall for it to hang off. This I'm thinking should move the back away from the wall more and aim the port at an upward angle and at the same time, point the speaker down a bit. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Also, will a CS2 match well with the M60s? I'm not too thrilled with the CS1 right now for movies. Seems it struggles to keep up at higher volumes. Thanks again for any advice!

jaysonbarnett

I think you need to put the fronts on stands and put the center on a shelve. I did the same thing with my center (mounted directly on wall) but then made a shelve and that allowed me to pull it away from the wall a little. You can find really nice stands for the fronts so you can keep that clean look. You can find stands that are the same height as your speakers now so the wire from the wall can just go right into the back of the speaker. Nice set-up though. Also ihave the same center and it sounded fuuny until i ran audyessy and it now sounds great. What do you have the center crossed over at? Also i just notived your wall outlet is close to your center this might cause some interference. This is just me opinion and i am no expert. Also your monitors have 5 and halfs in them and so does your center so that should be a good match.

mikeinnj

I won't need stands for the fronts once I get the Monitor 60s though, as they are floor standers. I do not notice any distortion coming out of the center, it just sounds harsh at high volumes. Right now, I've got the whole front stage crossed at 80hz on my Onkyo 605. I can actually move the center and arms outward away from the wall as far as 14 inches as the brackets I have them on are telescopic. I just want to minimize the distance that it is sticking out from the wall and still be far enough away to not totally block the port. I'm thinking that flipping the center may be a good compromise between distance from the wall and port to wall distance.

jaysonbarnett

That is a great idea and also the old rti series has been discontinued. I got my polk rti8's i got for 149.00 at frys but im sure you can find them elsewhere. The new rti series is the same speakers but new box and they are charging 400.00 dollars again. they go really well with that center. Monitors are great but you might at least listen to the rti8's or rti'10's.

mikeinnj

Really?? I'd love to use the RTi's atleast for the fronts. The only reason why I did not go all RTi was, a) I missed out on the good deals on the old ones and b) there was no surround bookshelf in the series BELOW 12" high. I needed something below 12" high in order to fit on the wall in between the ceiling and the window frame. So the monitor 30s were a perfect fit at 11" high or so. However, if there is no real timbre matching problems I will definitely check out the RTi towers. Right now I am 75% music and 25% movies and TV. Do you really not notice a difference in sound when going between the monitors and RTis during Dolby 5.1 movies?

jaysonbarnett

YES and you could also can use those fronts you have now as your rears. if you can not find them monitors are great too. amazon has them and ebay has the rti8's

maximillian

mikeinnj wrote: »

Do you really not notice a difference in sound when going between the monitors and RTis during Dolby 5.1 movies?

Generally speaking, it's good to match all speakers. In practice you really should match the front speakers. The rears aren't as important. I have SONY POS's bookshelves for my rears (RTi6's and CSi5 in front) and I don't notice a problem. In HT the most important speaker is the center; get the best you can in the space/budget you have. For music, you really should listen in 2 channel mode, so the front L/R are the most important.

BTW, checkout Tweeter's clearance section. They still have some RTi stuff left. Amazon is still selling the RTi10's ($500 per pair) I believe. I saw a couple auctions for a pair of Cherry RTi4's go for $150 shipped on Ebay (buy it now) the last two weeks. Generally they go for higher. Finally, watch FS section on this Forum. I got my 6's here and they were in great condition. Then there is used LSi line, but that is a whole new level.

mikeinnj

maximillian wrote: »

Generally speaking, it's good to match all speakers. In practice you really should match the front speakers. The rears aren't as important. I have SONY POS's bookshelves for my rears (RTi6's and CSi5 in front) and I don't notice a problem. In HT the most important speaker is the center; get the best you can in the space/budget you have. For music, you really should listen in 2 channel mode, so the front L/R are the most important.

BTW, checkout Tweeter's clearance section. They still have some RTi stuff left. Amazon is still selling the RTi10's ($500 per pair) I believe. I saw a couple auctions for a pair of Cherry RTi4's go for $150 shipped on Ebay (buy it now) the last two weeks. Generally they go for higher. Finally, watch FS section on this Forum. I got my 6's here and they were in great condition. Then there is used LSi line, but that is a whole new level.

Yeah, I'm going to stick with the monitor series. I found a pair of the Monitor 60s new on ebay for $360 shipped from the same company that I bought the center from. I ALWAYS listen to music in two channel mode. I don't believe in using the different sound fields for 2 channel music. I hear you on the surrounds. I've got two old POS logitech speakers up there right now as place holders until I can get the floor standers. As for the center, I'm much happier with it now that I flipped it.
Pic:


So far it sounds MUCH better. Not only can it get a good bit louder without a problem, but the overall imaging has improved since the tweeter is aiming right up at me now. Should have done that a long time ago. The port on the back is facing down and has about 1.5" of clearance at the widest part.

jaysonbarnett

Nice you got it and remember you are always going to think you need to do something better (no wait thats me) ha ha. nice set though it looks great. i have the same panasonic but in silver, and I LOVE IT

maximillian

jaysonbarnett wrote: »

Nice you got it and remember you are always going to think you need to do something better (no wait thats me) ha ha.

Heed this warning Mike.

I have always been so proud that I haven't had any addictions in my life. Then I bought those cheap r50's from Fry's and have been spending money ever since. Curse this hobby.

mmadden28

Being able to flip the center to aim up a bit is the purpose of that angle being there (other than for looks). Its good to hear that a simple fix made such a good improvement for you.

mmadden28

jaysonbarnett wrote: »

Nice you got it and remember you are always going to think you need to do something better (no wait thats me) ha ha.

Yeah, a $1200 power cord will work wonders on your system.

maximillian

mmadden28 wrote: »

Yeah, a $1200 power cord will work wonders on your system.

I don't even know why people buy a $50 power cord. The only thing I see a $50 cord adding to a system is aesthetics.

Erik Tracy

Mike,
I'm using RTi4's all around in my 5.1 HT setup along with a CS3(front ported).

I've got the fronts on BTechs BT-77 wall mounts - work great - adjustable and it gets the rear facing ports away from the wall by about 4".

I considered stands but I needed the 'space' under the speakers for my setup.

It looks clean - sounds great!



Cheers,
Erik

obieone

Hey Mike, check out 'humptoomuch' on Youtube-he's got a set of 60's that sound awsome-BUT, they're amplified. I own a pr., but haven't pulled the trigger yet on an amp.
It's frustrating to KNOW what they're capable of, and still don't spend the money:(

mikeinnj

Thanks for the info on those vids. That jazz vid even for a cam recording and put on Youtube sounds incredible. I'm excited for these now.