The RM6200 installation was a success...though not without some minor setbacks...
VTHokie01
Posts: 12
As I drove home from work yesterday, I could only think of how quick and efficient I would be able to setup my first home theater system. The night before I connected all of the video connections and everything worked without a glitch, and of course, why should the speakers be any different? Little did I know that the little things add up.
First off, I laid everything out that was required: 80 ft. of Original Monster Speaker wire, 5 packs of banana and angled pin connectors, and wire cutters. My RM 6200s are mounted on Sanus speaker stands that allow you to run the wire through the pole and out of an opening at the top. As I glanced at the opening in the speaker stand, I thought to myself, S%^t, the speaker wire isnt going to fit and what would you know .I was right. The Original Monster Speaker wire was in no way shape or form going to fit into the opening of the speaker stands. This left me with a couple of options, return the speaker stands for ones that allow for larger wire, or return the Original Monster Speaker wire for Monster XP speaker wire. My decision? I went with the latter. So I called up Crutchfield told them what the deal was and then packaged up the Original Monster wire.
Now that I was switching to the Monster XP wire, all of the pin connectors I had purchased were of no use to me. So I drove up to Circuit City, returned 4 of 5 packs of connectors and exchanged it for 100 ft. of Monster XP speaker wire. I then had to return the last pack of pin connectors to Best Buy...so looked around for a DVD or CD to purchase, didnt find anything that I was dying to purchase, so for the sake of time, I returned home hoping for some better luck.
So lets try this again. Luckily, the Monster XP wire fit the opening in the speaker stands, though a touch snug, this prolonged the time it took to feed the amount of wire needed. I completed the first stand and connected the speaker wire to the sub and the speaker first speaker complete. To make the process a little easier on the next speaker, I broke out the drill and enlarged the hole on the back of the speaker stand to make the feeding of the wire a bit easier. This worked great and I had no problems with the second speaker. Once the second speaker was complete, the rest was a breeze. The center speaker sits on top of my TV and connects directly to the receiver...no problems. Then had to run speaker wire from my receiver to the inputs on the sub...done.
Finally, all speaker wires were connected and I then ran through the speaker setup on the receiver. I ran the Tone Test and was not getting sound from the left/right speakers, only the center. After moving the left/right speaker wire from one set of outputs on the receiver to the set where the center speaker is connected, they worked perfectly. Finally the setup was complete! (I cant hook up the surrounds until my wife and I remove the Christmas tree, so technically theres still work to be done)
Once I finished placing the wires and cleaning up the scraps lying around, I gave the system a test. I played the opening scene to Gladiator and was blown away by the magnitude of the sound. These speakers sound great!! I could not believe the difference in the movie watching experience its truly dramatic. Once the scene was finished, I gave the PS2 a try, now using optical audio, and the clarity of the sound was amazing. I cant wait to try it out tonight!
All in all I'd say it was a success. I had some minor problems along the way but in the end, everything worked out just fine.
First off, I laid everything out that was required: 80 ft. of Original Monster Speaker wire, 5 packs of banana and angled pin connectors, and wire cutters. My RM 6200s are mounted on Sanus speaker stands that allow you to run the wire through the pole and out of an opening at the top. As I glanced at the opening in the speaker stand, I thought to myself, S%^t, the speaker wire isnt going to fit and what would you know .I was right. The Original Monster Speaker wire was in no way shape or form going to fit into the opening of the speaker stands. This left me with a couple of options, return the speaker stands for ones that allow for larger wire, or return the Original Monster Speaker wire for Monster XP speaker wire. My decision? I went with the latter. So I called up Crutchfield told them what the deal was and then packaged up the Original Monster wire.
Now that I was switching to the Monster XP wire, all of the pin connectors I had purchased were of no use to me. So I drove up to Circuit City, returned 4 of 5 packs of connectors and exchanged it for 100 ft. of Monster XP speaker wire. I then had to return the last pack of pin connectors to Best Buy...so looked around for a DVD or CD to purchase, didnt find anything that I was dying to purchase, so for the sake of time, I returned home hoping for some better luck.
So lets try this again. Luckily, the Monster XP wire fit the opening in the speaker stands, though a touch snug, this prolonged the time it took to feed the amount of wire needed. I completed the first stand and connected the speaker wire to the sub and the speaker first speaker complete. To make the process a little easier on the next speaker, I broke out the drill and enlarged the hole on the back of the speaker stand to make the feeding of the wire a bit easier. This worked great and I had no problems with the second speaker. Once the second speaker was complete, the rest was a breeze. The center speaker sits on top of my TV and connects directly to the receiver...no problems. Then had to run speaker wire from my receiver to the inputs on the sub...done.
Finally, all speaker wires were connected and I then ran through the speaker setup on the receiver. I ran the Tone Test and was not getting sound from the left/right speakers, only the center. After moving the left/right speaker wire from one set of outputs on the receiver to the set where the center speaker is connected, they worked perfectly. Finally the setup was complete! (I cant hook up the surrounds until my wife and I remove the Christmas tree, so technically theres still work to be done)
Once I finished placing the wires and cleaning up the scraps lying around, I gave the system a test. I played the opening scene to Gladiator and was blown away by the magnitude of the sound. These speakers sound great!! I could not believe the difference in the movie watching experience its truly dramatic. Once the scene was finished, I gave the PS2 a try, now using optical audio, and the clarity of the sound was amazing. I cant wait to try it out tonight!
All in all I'd say it was a success. I had some minor problems along the way but in the end, everything worked out just fine.
32" Sony Wega
Kenwood VR6070
Panasonic DVD-CV51
Polk Audio RM6200
Polk Audio PSW250
Kenwood VR6070
Panasonic DVD-CV51
Polk Audio RM6200
Polk Audio PSW250
Post edited by VTHokie01 on
Comments
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Glad to hear it... I'm really impressed with my RM6700 setup and the 404 sub. I think polk made the wise decision to give everyone a $200 break if you buy the whole package. I was able to upgrade to the 404 for the price of the 202 had I really needed to buy it. I haven't gotten as fancy as you with the wire routing. Being that I'm the single man in the apartment, I just have wire running up the corners, but hey, I'm a guy and asthetics are second to good sound
. I regret taking forever to make the decision to go with a surround setup. I had a 6.1 surround reciever for over 6 months before I decided to get a speaker package. Till then I was pushing my tunes on some old JBL's that used to rock the college party scene. Not sure what kind of audio output the PS2 has, but I was completely immersed in pleasure when I hooked up my XBOX and turned on the DTS and Dolby D option and began playing some old games again as if they were completely new. Damn....8 lines...I've gotta put my sig on a diet now.... -
VTH - Thanks for the info. I just ordered the RM6005 from Crutchfield and will receive the speaker stands free also. I will make sure NOT to use original monster cable and use monster cable XP. What is the difference? I used the $200 credit to upgrade to a psw350, but now I have to sell the extra PSW202.
Tony - how do you like your Onkyo SR600? I just purchased one from Crutchfield. I only bought the RM6005 system with psw350 sub. Hopfully it will sound good. I am very excited about my new system, I love electronics and am still using my Kenwood 8030 and my Polk 5jr.+ series from 1991. Polk's are great speakers......
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Onkyo TX-SR600 receiver
Sony DVP-655 5 disc PS DVD changer
Polk RM6005 with psw350
Sony 40"XBR800 wega HD TV -
Originally posted by Zeus13
Tony - how do you like your Onkyo SR600? I just purchased one from Crutchfield. I only bought the RM6005 system with psw350 sub. Hopfully it will sound good. I am very excited about my new system, I love electronics and am still using my Kenwood 8030 and my Polk 5jr.+ series from 1991. Polk's are great speakers......
I really like the TX-SR600. It's a very good receiver with a lot of options for the pricing. Of course as always, i would have gone with the SR700 for the higher power rating 100W/channel as opposed to just 80W/channel, but at the time, I didn't have the cheese to spend and "settled" for something smaller. However, it was a much needed improvement over my old Onkyo TX-V940.Damn....8 lines...I've gotta put my sig on a diet now....
