New to Polk, need advise

macdaman

Hi,

I am new to Polk, I bought an Onkyo HTIB HT-SP904 5.1 setup last year. I am in the process of upgrading the speakers with Polk speakers.

My living room is 10 ft wide and 20 ft length wise.

I bought a pair of RTi4 from a local dealer for $90.

One combination which was suggested by the local Polk dealer was RTi6 as front and Csi3 for center and Rti4 in the rear.
Can I use the Monitor series if so which one can I use in combination of RTi4s ?

What would be the best combination for a center channel.

Today I saw a deal for Polk Audio T90e Floor-Standing Speaker 200$ for a pair can I use them as fronts and RTi4 in the rear if so , what center channel should I be using ?

I am a newbie, I am slowly trying to learn more about the Polk speakers.

I will using this home theater setup mostly for watching movies and listening to music.

Thanks in advance.

-Mac

wutadumsn23

I don't know if the Monitor 60's (T90e's) would play well with the rti4's as your surrounds, usually the recommended surrounds for the Monitors are the Monitor 30/40's or the new TSi 100/200's (which are basically the same as the Monitors) I would go with the recommended RTi6's for your fronts, the CSi3 as your center, and the RTi4'a as your surrounds. If you choose the Monitor series I would go with the Monitor 60's (T90e's) CS2 as your center, and the Monitor 40's for your surrounds. If you choose the TSi series I would get the TSi 400's as your fronts, the CS20 for your center, and the TSi 200's for your surrounds. There won't be much difference between the Monitors and the TSi's since they are basically the same speaker, but the Monitors will be cheaper, if you can get their hands on them still. Hopefully someone will have better information on the RTi's for you, and welcome to Club Polk.

comfortablycurt

That's a killer deal on the RTi4's. Congrats!

Personally I think you'd be best off going with the dealers recommendations. Pick up a pair of RTi6's for the fronts, or possibly some RTi8's if you want some floorstanding units, and use the RTi4's for surrounds. The CSi3 would be a good choice for the center channel, but you might also want to look into the bigger version of it, the CSi5. The bigger center channel will always be a better choice...but of course you have to work with your budget, and your space constraints. The CSi5 is a BIG speaker, and if you have limited room for your center channel the CSi3 might work better.

The Monitor series isn't voice matched to the RTi's, and probably wouldn't blend as well.

By the way, welcome to Club Polk.

chemical

am new at this....so please don't laugh too hard .....i'm starting to put a system together....don't have a lot of finances right now .....but i was pretty impressed with a set of polk rm6750's...i heard at the local worst buy store.....can get a set elsewhere for $230......have been looking into the onkyo 606...i see you have one....every thing i've read about it is positive......i'd be using the set up mostly for movies......i'd appreciate your opinion....thanks

comfortablycurt

chemical-The Onkyo 606 is a great receiver for what it is. It's one biggest drawback though, is the lack of pre-amp outputs. A lot of people, myself included, have bought the 606, and ended up realizing later on that they can't really expand with it. The lack of pre-amp outputs prevents you from being able to hook up an external amp to it. Just something to keep in mind.

The 606 really is a nice receiver though, and is about the best bang for the buck on the market in my opinion. It's got the newest sound Codecs, Dolby True HD, and DTS HD Master Audio, which is great if you're, like you said, mainly a movie watcher. Those are Blu-ray exclusive formats, but even if you're still on DVD, it has great sound through Dolby Digital, DTS Digital etc.

It's a great receiver, without a lot of the high end frills that the higher priced receivers have, but if you're not ever really looking to expand your system I'd say the 606 is a good way to go.

For 230 bucks for the setup, that RM package sounds like a pretty good deal. I don't have any experience with those speakers though myself...so I can't really say how well they perform.

/sales pitch...lol no affiliation.

By the way, welcome to Club Polk.:)

chemical

comfortablycurt......thanks for taking the time to respond to my questions......the 606 sounds like a great receiver for the price.....thanks for the info ...and the welcome

macdaman

wutadumsn23 and comfortablycurt .....Thank you for your response and the welcome.

Since I already purchased the RTi4s I would definitely go using the CSi3 or CSi5 as Center and the RTi6s or the towers RTi8s as the front.

I have Onkyo 575 receiver, will that be sufficient to drive the towers RTi8s or do I have to add anything else ?

What would be the ideal height for the bookshelfs since my 50-inch plasma is wall mounted, I would like to wall mount the speakers.

Because of the odd design of the living room, I can only do a 5.1 setup so what would be the recommended location of the rear speakers.

Thank you all for your response once again.

Mac

wutadumsn23

The 575 will get the job done with whatever you choose. It is not the biggest baddest offering from Onkyo, but 80W (or so) a channel will power the RTi series since they are 8 Ohm speakers. It wouldn't hurt getting a better receiver, but IMO not a necessity. If you want to wall mount the speakers then the 8's are out the window since they are floorstanding, as far as where they should be located, ear level is usually a good place to start. Move them around if they are the ones you get, and see what works best for you. I am including a link to DD website for "correctly" setting up a 5.1 system according to their specs. Hope this helps.


http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/roomlayout2.html

macdaman

Thanks wutadumsn23 for the link. I will start looking for any sale going on for RTi8s or RTi6s and CSi3.

What type of subwoofer would be good to fill a room size of 10ft x 20ft?

Thank you for your response.

Mac

Erik Tracy

macdaman wrote: »

wutadumsn23 and comfortablycurt .....Thank you for your response and the welcome.

Since I already purchased the RTi4s I would definitely go using the CSi3 or CSi5 as Center and the RTi6s or the towers RTi8s as the front.

I have Onkyo 575 receiver, will that be sufficient to drive the towers RTi8s or do I have to add anything else ?

What would be the ideal height for the bookshelfs since my 50-inch plasma is wall mounted, I would like to wall mount the speakers.

Because of the odd design of the living room, I can only do a 5.1 setup so what would be the recommended location of the rear speakers.

Thank you all for your response once again.

Mac

I have a 50" plasma mounted to my wall. I also have a 5.1 setup because my couch is up against the back wall.

I also anguished over where to mount my front speakers (then RTi4s, now RTiA3s) as it was a trade off of space constraints (equipment below the plasma, length of front wall, speaker and listening spot locations, etc).

I ended up buying mounts that could tilt down so I could get 'straight line of sight' between the speakers and ear level at my listening spot.
http://erikt.cts.com/Pictures/hometheater/home-theater-valor.JPG

Is it a perfect set up that follows all of the rules and recommendations for *best* layout? Nope.

But it was layed out with these in mind, and is a compromise given the constraints.

Does it sound good? I think so:p

I'm sure if you give it some thought, you can noodle something out that works - and the advice here is free

Erik

danlarson

You might want to keep an eye on the Polk ebay store for the RTiA5s for the fronts.

macdaman

Thanks Erik for the information. I like your setup.

My couch is up against the wall too, how were your rears placed are they wall mounted too or on stands. What would be the best position of the rears.

Thanks
Mac

Erik Tracy

macdaman wrote: »

Thanks Erik for the information. I like your setup.

My couch is up against the wall too, how were your rears placed are they wall mounted too or on stands. What would be the best position of the rears.

Thanks
Mac

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures or a room layout diagram....

My HT room adjoins to the kitchen so there is no left hand "wall" (when seated on the couch). And the right hand wall has windows in the corners.

So...I had to ceiling mount my RTi4s using Omnimount20.0s (by using the Powerport on the back of the RTi4s and some additional washers & bolts to use the Keyhole slot) on either side of my couch and angle them down and toed them in so that they point over/past the couch - but not directly at my listening position.

Ideal? Nope.

Another compromise - but it works pretty good.

Erik

cnh

macdaman wrote: »

Thanks wutadumsn23 for the link. I will start looking for any sale going on for RTi8s or RTi6s and CSi3.

What type of subwoofer would be good to fill a room size of 10ft x 20ft?

Thank you for your response.

Mac

Hi,

You might want to consider buying a reconditioned (Onkyo) certified 706 from Accessories4less.com if you're worried about pre-outs for hooking up more power for the RTI series--which can 'use' it! Even the M70s sound 'sooo' much better with at least 130 watts of power from an Onkyo. These receivers are cheaper and carry a one year instead of two year warranty from Onkyo. It's not a bad way to get a 700 dollar receiver for 400?

As for subs. It depends on what you want to spend-you can never have enough sub regardless of room size. You have a mid-size room there. I'd recommend getting a PSW 505 if you want a decent cheap Polk sub--they're practically giving those things away at less than 300 dollars.

Not as good as the MicroPro series but not a bad sub as Polk goes?

Otherwise get a Velodyne, Hsu or SVS that's over 500 dollars if you can find one. Try to get your frequency range into the sub 30hz bottom, the lower the better and the more wattage the better. Heavy cabinetry and a BASH or class D amp are also preferred for efficiency and power.

By the way, once you've matched those front three speakers I don't see any problem in matching Ms to Rtis of vice versa. Surrounds don't matter as much and unless you have bat ears you won't hear it?

cnh

macdaman

Erik, That is a nice mount. I have a 2 ft wall on either side of the couch, I am planning to mount the rear speakers. Based on the suggestions made by wutadumsn23 I was able to identify the correct placement for the L and R surround speakers, in terms of the angle. But what would be the ideal height for the rear surround speakers ?

Cnh, Thanks for the suggestion, I am not in a position to upgrade the reciever, in future when my budget permits I would definitely upgrade to Onkyo 705 or 805 as suggested.
I saw on craigslist Velodyne CT-100 subwoofer on sale for $100, do you think that it is a good sub woofer for my setup.

Thank you all for the responses.
Mac

wutadumsn23

macdaman wrote: »

But what would be the ideal height for the rear surround speakers ?

Again, ear level is a good place to start.... However, people can't always accomodate this, so if you have to wall mount them, angle them down pointing into your listening position. Or put them on stands at about ear level.

macdaman

Thank you wutadumsn23, I would place the speakers at ear level.

Thanks
Mac

chemical

comfortablycurt-due to finances i went with the monitor 50's and monitor 30's, a cs1,and a psw10....however i did get an onkyo 606.....just got them today so i have not had time to set them up yet....thanks for your help

comfortablycurt

chemical wrote: »

comfortablycurt-due to finances i went with the monitor 50's and monitor 30's, a cs1,and a psw10....however i did get an onkyo 606.....just got them today so i have not had time to set them up yet....thanks for your help

Nice. That should be a nice sounding setup once you get it going. Let us know how you like it. If you need any help setting up the 606 shoot me a message. I'm really familiar with that AVR, and I'd be happy to help.

wutadumsn23

Well done chemical, you will be pleased by that setup.... P.S. check your other thread....

lectronicjunkie

Mac,

By all means, if you can swing getting a Velodyne then grab it. I've had mine for about 8 years now and I have loved every minute of it.

macdaman

lectronicjunkie, I am waiting for a response from the original poster from craigslist. Thanks for your suggestion.

Thanks

Mac