Bi-Amp RTi A7's

sigsooie

I am getting a set of RTi A7's in a few days. I currently have a Denon AVR 2309CI which is 100 watts per channel. I was getting a little concerned that the Denon might be under powered for the A7's??? So... I am wondering if bi-amping would help the issue, if there is one. My Denon allows me to use my surround back channel as a bi-amp for my fronts. I am not real sure about all of this and could use a little guidance from the guru's. 1) Does that basically double the power to the speaker? 2) Does it matter which set of speaker terminals I use to connect the surround back speaker wires to? 3) Does that help my possible problem with having a 100watt per channel amp?

Thanks!!!

wutadumsn23

Contrary to popular belief, Bi-Amping with your AVR does not double the power to your speakers. The only way to increase the power to your speakers is with a stand alone amp, Emotiva, Adcom etc. You may notice a small difference with Bi-Amping from your AVR, but nothing that is going to knock your socks off. Typically you use your front L/R channels on your AVR for you tweeters and the surround back L/R for your woofers, but your manual should have detailed instructions on Bi-Amping. Make sure you remove the jumper connecting the posts before doing so. The A7's can handle up to 300W and the Denon only puts out aprox. 100W according to their specs. The A7's are not underpowered at 100W, since the specs. say they will operate down to 20W, but more is always better right, lol. It looks like your AVR has pre-outs for adding an external amp (I may be wrong, but it looked like it did on Denon's webpage) so you may want to go that route for the best possible end result. Hopefully the real experts will have better/more information for you, and welcome to Club Polk.

comfortablycurt

Yep...like wutadum said, there aren't any real benefits from bi-amping with your receiver. Even though you have it hooked up to multiple terminals, it's still drawing all of the power from the same amplifier. You're not really pushing the speakers with any more power. Some people have reported slight benefits from doing it, and other people have reported that it's not worth the price of the extra speaker wire. Doesn't hurt to try though if you've got some speaker wire laying around.

Top terminals are for the tweeters, which should be driven with the main left and right outputs, bottom terminals are for the woofers, which use the surround back left and right terminals.

The 100 watts that your Denon advertises is probably pretty over rated. You're probably only getting a real world power output of like 50 watts per channel. It should do an alright job powering your A7's, but some external amps would really help open them up a lot.

By the way, welcome to Club Polk!

leroyjr1

sigsooie wrote: »

I am getting a set of RTi A7's in a few days. I currently have a Denon AVR 2309CI which is 100 watts per channel. I was getting a little concerned that the Denon might be under powered for the A7's??? So... I am wondering if bi-amping would help the issue, if there is one. My Denon allows me to use my surround back channel as a bi-amp for my fronts. I am not real sure about all of this and could use a little guidance from the guru's. 1) Does that basically double the power to the speaker? 2) Does it matter which set of speaker terminals I use to connect the surround back speaker wires to? 3) Does that help my possible problem with having a 100watt per channel amp?

Thanks!!!

Forget bi amping and get yourself some real power, external amplification

Flipnotic

Several days ago I purchased 2 RTi A7's and am doing a 5.1 setup. I have never seen so much confusion about this. In the Onkyo NR-906 manual, it says on the left side of page 27 "the Front L/R terminal posts connect to the front speakers' TWEETER terminals", then it says on the right side of the same page "Connect the AV receiver's FRONT R positive (+) terminal to the right speakers positive (+) WOOFER (low) terminal.". The CORRECT way is with the Front L/R terminal posts connected to the WOOFER (low) terminals on these speakers. I called Polk Audio TWICE today and spoke to TWO different reps who told me this is the correct way, yet folks at Fry's Electronics have it wrong and so do many people on these threads. This makes sense if you think about how the front two channels push the most of the information. You want these channels going to the woofers, NOT the tweeters. The background sounds from the surround channels need to be directed at the mid-range and tweeter speakers. Now that I've disconnected and reconnected my speaker wires I'm ready to scream! I, for one, can't believe Onkyo's manuals are so poorly written.

Now that I've connected my speakers correctly maybe I can start enjoying them. Finally!

Mike21

Hi sigsooie.

I recommend that the first thing you do is try your new speakers with your Denon and see how that sounds. I would allow at least 100 hours for speaker burn in.

After the speakers are burned, try bi-amping with the 2 back channel outputs. I doubt it would sound better, but you won't know if you don't try.

Then, if you feel the A7s are not getting enough power you can investigate adding an external 2 channel amp or maybe even 2 monoblocks.

I could be wrong, but if I had A7s I would drive them with at least 300wpc. My Dalis are rated at up to 150wpc and I have no problem driving them with a 200wpc amp. I like to go 30% over whatever the manufacturer recomends as max. But, I'm a power freak. :cool:

comfortablycurt

Flipnotic wrote: »

Several days ago I purchased 2 RTi A7's and am doing a 5.1 setup. I have never seen so much confusion about this. In the Onkyo NR-906 manual, it says on the left side of page 27 "the Front L/R terminal posts connect to the front speakers' TWEETER terminals", then it says on the right side of the same page "Connect the AV receiver's FRONT R positive (+) terminal to the right speakers positive (+) WOOFER (low) terminal.". The CORRECT way is with the Front L/R terminal posts connected to the WOOFER (low) terminals on these speakers. I called Polk Audio TWICE today and spoke to TWO different reps who told me this is the correct way, yet folks at Fry's Electronics have it wrong and so do many people on these threads. This makes sense if you think about how the front two channels push the most of the information. You want these channels going to the woofers, NOT the tweeters. The background sounds from the surround channels need to be directed at the mid-range and tweeter speakers. Now that I've disconnected and reconnected my speaker wires I'm ready to scream! I, for one, can't believe Onkyo's manuals are so poorly written.

Now that I've connected my speakers correctly maybe I can start enjoying them. Finally!

Actually...The tweeters/mids would benefit more from the "extra power" than the woofers will. The "background sounds" from the surround channels shouldn't be going to your front channels in any situation. The only information going to the front channels should be...well...the front channels.

In all actuality, it probably makes little difference with this method though, as you're still getting the same amount of power, and the exact same signal from each pair of terminals. As stated earlier in the thread, this isn't truly bi-amping, but rather, bi-wiring. You aren't pushing the speakers with additional power by hooking them up to multiple pairs of inputs. All the power in your AVR is coming from the same power block...and it's not as if it can magically double it's power output by hooking them up to multiple terminals.

The internal crossovers of the speakers are what determines which signal goes where, not the different pairs of outputs on the AVR. The AVR is sending an identical signal out of each pair of terminals, assuming of course that you went into the menu and switched it to bi-amp mode. I'm hoping your not running them in normal mode, with both channels hooked up to the same speaker.

If you hear a difference using this method...congrats, you're one of the very few. Enjoy!

By the way, welcome to Club Polk.:)