Help me!

guinsdan

What should I do? Why did I start looking into this?

Option A:
Fronts RTi8
Rears RTi8
Center Csi5
Sub Add later

Option B:
Fronts Add later
Rears RTi A3 (use for fronts)
Center CSi A4
Sub PSW10

Option C:
Fronts TSi300
Rears TSi100
Center CS10
Sub Add later

comfortablycurt

As long as your budget and space allows...option A. Hands down.

That's going to be the best sounding of all the above systems.

You could look into some of the bookshelves for the surrounds though, and use the saved money to put towards a sub. That's my recommendation.

By the way, welcome to Club Polk.

guinsdan

Thanks for the welcome! I was thinking A and switching the rears too. Since I won't have a sub for a little while I wasn't sure though. I can also bi-amp the fronts with my receiver and use 5.1 instead of 7.1...

asd1234

What is your budget?

comfortablycurt

Bi-amping with an AVR is going to give you very minimal, if even any advantages. It's not really bi-amping, it's technically bi-wiring. The power is still all coming from the same power amp, so it's not as if hooking it up to two pairs of terminals is going to double the power going to the fronts. It's still going to be receiving the same amount of power.

Some people have reported very slight improvements when bi-amping with their AVR's, but most people have reported that it wasn't worth the cost of extra speaker wire.

The RTi8's would make a better surround speaker than any of the bookshelves, but as I said, going with the smaller ones for surrounds would save you a few bucks, and let you get a sub sooner. You wouldn't notice a ton of extra bass output due to the bigger rears anyway. In a home theater setup, the majority of your bass output is going to come through the fronts/sub.

I'd definitely try to get a sub as soon as you can though. The RTi8's will still sound good without a sub, but they do kind of lack in the real low end, and they really need a sub to fill out the whole frequency range. Taking away the low bass duties from the RTi8's frees them up to do what they do best-midrange and highs.

nooshinjohn

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1237600642&/Polk-Audio-RTi8-cherry-nordost

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1236114210&/Polk-Audio-RT-1000p-5-pc-Speak

these links might be of interest, especially the second one as I think these might sound better in theater applications the fisrt link would be a great buy and may save some coin

guinsdan

Ok. My receiver does 7.1, but you have the option to bi-amp and cut it to 5.1. If I went 5.1 I would have 4x100 for the fronts instead of 2x100.

I have no exact budget, but I am trying to keep this low and start with a 3.1 or 5 system. I think I would rather build the 3.1-5 and a little older than a great 2.1. After my initial build my wife will KILL me if I do anything else for some time...

comfortablycurt wrote: »

Bi-amping with an AVR is going to give you very minimal, if even any advantages. It's not really bi-amping, it's technically bi-wiring. The power is still all coming from the same power amp, so it's not as if hooking it up to two pairs of terminals is going to double the power going to the fronts. It's still going to be receiving the same amount of power.

Some people have reported very slight improvements when bi-amping with their AVR's, but most people have reported that it wasn't worth the cost of extra speaker wire.

The RTi8's would make a better surround speaker than any of the bookshelves, but as I said, going with the smaller ones for surrounds would save you a few bucks, and let you get a sub sooner. You wouldn't notice a ton of extra bass output due to the bigger rears anyway. In a home theater setup, the majority of your bass output is going to come through the fronts/sub.

I'd definitely try to get a sub as soon as you can though. The RTi8's will still sound good without a sub, but they do kind of lack in the real low end, and they really need a sub to fill out the whole frequency range. Taking away the low bass duties from the RTi8's frees them up to do what they do best-midrange and highs.

dpljr

I'd go with option A. I think you will get the best sound from it.

asd1234

Have you thought about rti a5's for your fronts? You can get a pair from polkdirect for $469 shipped!
Depending on how high the bidding goes you can get a csi a4 between $100-$150 shipped.

That would be a sweet front stage to start you out.

comfortablycurt

guinsdan wrote: »

Ok. My receiver does 7.1, but you have the option to bi-amp and cut it to 5.1. If I went 5.1 I would have 4x100 for the fronts instead of 2x100.

That's not at all how it works. Your front channels, as well as every other channel on the receiver all draw their power from the same power block. It's not as if hooking the fronts up to the front channels, and the surround back channels is going to double the power output. That's not even what it's supposed to do. They use the term "bi-amp" kind of loosely in that context. It's actually bi-wiring. The speakers are still drawing the same amount of power from the amp. The amplifier isn't going to miraculously double it's power output because you have the the speakers hooked up to two pairs of outputs.

Bi-wiring still theoretically does have some advantages, in that the mid/tweeter array are getting a separate signal than the woofers. This supposedly provides a more accurate signal to each of the separate drivers...as I said earlier though, most people have reported absolutely no improvements in sound quality.

By all means try it though, and if it sounds better to you, then great. Don't expect to be completely blown away by it though.

cnh

I've bi-amped M70s with a Denon 887 a while back, the way Curt describes above and listened to them for a day or two with the jumpers off bi-wired and with them on single wiring. I really couldn't hear a true difference between the two? Just my two cents.

But a lot of this is subjective so please go ahead and give it a shot..

cnh