Help with center channel.

rsway77

First of all I would like to applaud all the polk owners here in the form. Seems like everyone has been so helpful to each other, so that's why I'm here to ask you experts.

So here's by problem. I bought a pair of RTi4s for my fronts and I decided to match it with the CSI a4. After reading all the post, they seem like they should be a good match..but they are not, well not for me. I'm running the speakers through a yammy 663 (which I heard was really good too). So my problem is that the RTi4 seem clearer at the higher end, while the CSI a4 sounds a bit muffled. I tried swapping the CSI a4 and the left front RTi and that did seem to make a little improvement on the sound coming out CSI a4 but not that great.

So my questions are

1) Is it possible that the CSI a4 got damaged during transport, and would a damaged tweeter be very obvious to detect?

2) Is the center channel sound supposed to sound a little different compared to the front speaker especially when listening to test tones?

3) Is the older RTI line slightly brighter than the RTi A series? or do they use the same tweeter?

Much appreciated

disneyjoe7

First off Welcome.


Did you balance the system with an HT Setup disk like Avia and sound meter? All system should be balanced for proper sound.

curved

Agree with Disneyjoe - you should run the setup on the AVR to configure it properly.

The A4 will match just fine with the RTi series.

It's possible that it got damaged....although I would think it would be a driver and not the tweeter (shifting magnet). Is there any visual damage to the tweeter?

leroyjr1

rsway77 wrote: »

First of all I would like to applaud all the polk owners here in the form. Seems like everyone has been so helpful to each other, so that's why I'm here to ask you experts.

So here's by problem. I bought a pair of RTi4s for my fronts and I decided to match it with the CSI a4. After reading all the post, they seem like they should be a good match..but they are not, well not for me. I'm running the speakers through a yammy 663 (which I heard was really good too). So my problem is that the RTi4 seem clearer at the higher end, while the CSI a4 sounds a bit muffled. I tried swapping the CSI a4 and the left front RTi and that did seem to make a little improvement on the sound coming out CSI a4 but not that great.

So my questions are

1) Is it possible that the CSI a4 got damaged during transport, and would a damaged tweeter be very obvious to detect?

2) Is the center channel sound supposed to sound a little different compared to the front speaker especially when listening to test tones?

3) Is the older RTI line slightly brighter than the RTi A series? or do they use the same tweeter?

Much appreciated

I had the same problem when I was running my Denon 1708. Took it back and got another one, still same thing. For some reason that model Denon was made that way.

Heres the THREAD

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66370

seeclear

curved wrote: »

It's possible that it got damaged....although I would think it would be a driver and not the tweeter (shifting magnet). Is there any visual damage to the tweeter?

Loose wire inside?

rsway77

Thank you all for responding.

I don't have avia or a sound meter. Is it hard to do? Can I get on at radio shack or somewhere? Is there a link on how to do this?

There's is no visual damage to the speaker, but the box that it came in wasn't in the best condition. I tried covering each of the speaker ie tweeter/mids with a pillow as directed by the Polk Tech support and it seems like all the speakers are working

I reran the YPAO a couple of times and it sounds better on my most recent try. The first couple of times it detected the front and the center as large, but on this very last time, it detected the front as large but the center as small, which is kind of strange.

Finally, how do I check if there's a loose wire. Wouldn't that mean the sound should cut in and out?

Thanks again for everyone's help. I'm very glad I choose polk not only for the speakers but for people that already own them, who are all so willing to help out.

Kex

rsway77 wrote: »

... I reran the YPAO a couple of times and it sounds better on my most recent try. The first couple of times it detected the front and the center as large, but on this very last time, it detected the front as large but the center as small, which is kind of strange. ...

It's quite normal for auto-calibration methods to switch size like this. YPAO has probably already set the distances and speaker levels for you at this point. See if you can now switch to manual and adjust the settings further (hopefully they do not get erased by this). If the distances look right to you, I would then switch ALL your speakers to SMALL, not large, and set the crossover at 80Hz and see how it sounds.

Igo

Check the polarity of your wires on the back of the center then do a manual calibration. Trust your ears.

comfortablycurt

I had the same problem with my Onk' 606 when I first got it. I ran Audyssey, and it sounded great for the most part, except for the center channel. So I just went into the settings and turned the center channels level up a bit higher until it sounded right to me. It didn't mess up the other settings that Audyssey made either, and it's dialed in perfect for my ears now.

I'd recommend trying the same thing.