Fxi 50 V. Fxi 30

brasil

Ok in the last post all of you except one, agreed that the CSI 40 would not outpower the RTI 38's up front. Now the question is: Will the FXI 30 keep up with the front main speakers? I don't want to spend the extra money for the FXI 50's right now. The surround speakers never seem to produce much of a midbass anyway right? The tweeters in both models are the same. Please give me your opinions

PS: I did some more research on the CSI 40. I has a sensitivity of 91 and handles 250 watts. The RTI 38 has a sensitivity of 89 and hadles 150 watts. I love the idea of having more midbass upfront, but are you guys sure that the CSI 40 wont outpower and play substantially louder than the RTI 38? I don't quite want to spend the extra money right now to purchase RTI 70's.

ChrisDurano

Do you have these speakers already? If not.....go with the CSi30's, or wait until you can get the RTi70's. If you go with the CSi30, the FXi30's will be perfect.

brasil

not yet, I had 4 RTI 25's with the CSI 30. I sent them back to Crutchfield to upgrade to the RTI 38's up front. I want more midbass than the RTi 25 coud produce, plus the silk dome tweeters from the CSI 30 sounded crisper and brighter than the trilaminate from the old RTI series. I will order new speakers this week when my mercahndise certificate is issued. There was a big lack of midbass in my system. I kept the PSW 650

brasil

fresno

Dr. Spec

Assuming you have an SPL meter and a test tone capability, the relative difference in efficiencies can easily be overcome by your individual speaker volume settings. The larger speaker will not "overpower" anything if it is calibrated properly.

I have found larger speakers to have a more effortless room filling nature and I recommend them over their smaller brothers in any application, even if they are run on "small". Go with the CSi40 and the FXi50 if you can.

kberg

Well, I can tell you that I'm real pleased with my setup, as you can see below. The 30's work just fine and it is VERY important, as Doc said, to calibrate all speakers with an SPL meter and a calibration disc. With calibration, everything sounds seamless (regardless of the driver size difference between the 30's and my 40/70's, and the 30's match my rear center perfectly).

Also, believe the Polk System Builder information - it is very helpful and when you select your options, you will see that the speaker system recommendations that result shows that you aren't required to have the same size drivers in all speakers to get excellent sound. BUT, I think it IS critical to have the same size drivers for at least the front soundstage.

With that said, my recommendation is to first focus on your front soundstage by getting the CSi40 center, and more preferably, save up for the RTi70's for a PERFECT match. I know you said you didn't want want to spend the extra money right now on the 70's, but I really believe in the long run, you'll wish you had.

Hope that helps.

kberg

Let me add that I also agree with Doc that with proper calibration, the CSi40 will NOT overpower the RTi38's, and the RTi38's would still be matched "driver-size wise" with the CSi40. But hey, since I have and love the RTi70's, I have to be somewhat biased in my recommendation, right?

brasil

Berg, I just moved and have many expenses. Although I would love to get the the RTI 70's, I really shouldn't at this moment. Please tell me how much better the following proposed setup will sound compared to my old one:

Proposed setup:
2 RTI 38's up front, CSI 40 center, FXI 30 for the rear, PSW 650

Old setup:
2 RTI 25's up front, CSI 30 center, RTI 25's for the rear, PSW 650

For the proposed setup I will spend an extra $400. Will I notice a substantial difference in sound quality and midbass with the proposed setup than with the old one?

kberg

Originally posted by brasil
Proposed setup:
2 RTI 38's up front, CSI 40 center, FXI 30 for the rear, PSW 650

Old setup:
2 RTI 25's up front, CSI 30 center, RTI 25's for the rear, PSW 650

Between the above two options, I'd go with the proposed setup, if only because the CSi40 blows away the CSi30, and will not "overpower" the 38's with proper calibration. And I (personally) prefer bipole/dipole surround speakers over direct radiating, but you need to decide for yourself on that "dilemma". If you like direct radiating, the RTi25's would do the trick.