My first HT, Polk, and my love for the british sound

alibaba128

Hi guys,

I'm building my first HT system!

It's my first post on the forums, so let me introduce myself.

I'm a mechanical engineer and weekend musician. My dad introduced me to hi-fi in 1995 at age 14. I told my dad I needed help to buy one of those cheap all-in-one stereo chains. He said no. Then lended me a Kenwood receiver he had laying around, and his Rogers LS3/5A bookshelves that he bought in England back in the 70s and that were not seeing much usage in the living room since he was mainly using his other pair of Rogers (bigger ones). I bought a Nad 3 disc carousel CD player to complete the system.

In 2007 the Kenwood was starting to show its age so I bought a Nad C320BEE amp. Just after that my dad requested to have his Rogers back. I was on a budget. It was boxing day, enter Polk Audio: I bought a pair of RTi4.

Now I'm moving to a HT system. Considering:
1. I've listened to the Rogers for so many years, I just love the british sound.
2. I just don't have enough money for a complete 5.1 B&W system.
3. I have a pair of RTi4s already, which sound good to my ear even though it's a different sound.
4. The RTi6 and PSW505 12" sub are on boxing day sale at very attractive prices.

So I went ahead and ordered a pair of RTi6 and the PWS505.

My plan was then to buy an affordable AVR. But after listening to a couple of them, something annoys me with the typical sound of most japanese AVRs. I think I could live with it for movies, but not for listening to music. I'll think I'll try to find an AVR with pre-outs to drive the RTi6's in the front through the Nad C320BEE.

And, eventually (maybe next year), buy a pair of B&W fronts to use with the C320 as a music only setup.

Now I'm fairly new to HT so I have a few concerns:

1- The CSiA4 is on sale right now around here, I guess it would be a good match to the RTi6's?

2- I need a center channel speaker... or do I? I've heard something about phantom centers where the center channel is split on both front channels. Does that give good results?

3- About the PSW505 sub, after ordering it I read comments about Polk subs beeing not very good. Is it in general or model-specific?

4- I'm having after thoughts. I am crazy to plan for two sets of fronts, one for music and the other for HT? Since I like the british sound should I invest in B&W fronts instead of buying the RTi6's? Then how would the Polk RTi4 rears, CSiA4 center and PSW505 sub match with B&W fronts

genjivn

I think you should keep the rti4 as surround and buy B&W fronts and center.

How much you pay for the 505? If it is below $300 then I say keep it.

alibaba128

genjivn wrote: »

I think you should keep the rti4 as surround and buy B&W fronts and center.

How much you pay for the 505? If it is below $300 then I say keep it.

I'm not so sure if we're allowed to post prices but... I got the 505 for 200 canadian which in USD is about half what you mentionned, so I guess it's a good deal!?

Jim Shearer

Personally, I'm not into HT, and I don't care much for what an AVR does to music.

With that bias stated, there are quality AVRs which have a 'pure direct mode' for listening to music in stereo. This by-passes the AVR's signal processing circuits.

Another option is to have a music system separate from your HT. If you have the space and the $$$, this is probably the best option.

Cheers, Jim

alibaba128

genjivn wrote: »

I think you should keep the rti4 as surround and buy B&W fronts and center.

Yeah... but man, a pair of B&W 685 is about 580 $CAD.
On the other hand the RTi6 fronts, RTi4 surrounds and PSW505, together, add up to just a tad cheaper than the 685s. Quite a lot of sound for the money if you ask me!