Biamping my polk rti10'

dekuda

I am new on this forum and I find the advice useful and honest and I thank all of you that respond.. Here is my question. I have a Yamaha RX-V2600 reciever(130 watts/ch) that is running my two RTI10 front speakers,CSI5 center and FXI5 rears. Though the sound is decent my CSI5 center sound so much better in music and theater and I believe I am not getting the best out of the RTI10's.I am in the process of buying a external Carver amp rated at 225 watts per channel and biamping my RTI10's running them from my preamp outs on my receiver to my RTI10's.Since the external amp is just a 2 channel amp should I run the 225watts from my external amp to my woofer section of my speaker and keep the 130 watts from my receiver to the high end section of the speaker or vice versa. I understand that low range woofers would probably do better with the added power but I would appreciate your opinion. Has anybody biamped these speakers and notice a improvement?
Thanks !

kawizx9r

Curt recommended the upgrade to the rti12's. I cant say anything personally as ive never owned an rti series speaker but if you do bi amp them, id do them on the woofer portion. Just my .02

tcrossma

I would first try to let the new Carver power the speakers by itself. Run it that way for a while to get a feel for it, and then try bi-amping with the AVR. That amp may very well provide plenty of power and the best sound by itself.

Systems

tcrossma wrote: »

I would first try to let the new Carver power the speakers by itself. Run it that way for a while to get a feel for it, and then try bi-amping with the AVR. That amp may very well provide plenty of power and the best sound by itself.

+1
Also be aware that if you do try biamping that the gains of the Yammy 's amp section and that of the Carver need to be the same or you will throw off the frequency balance of the speaker.

jimmydep

tcrossma wrote: »

I would first try to let the new Carver power the speakers by itself. Run it that way for a while to get a feel for it, and then try bi-amping with the AVR. That amp may very well provide plenty of power and the best sound by itself.

++2, The Amp should be enough, I have my LSI-15's bi-amped with a minimal difference in sound quality, although my amp has more than enough power.

It's not just the Watts per channel that make the speaker sound good it's more important to have the clean power of the seperate amp.


Welcome to Club Polk

Jimmy

dekuda

Thanks for all of the responses.GV, I was not aware that there would be a problem with biamping my speakers both with the carver and my Yamaha. I was hoping by biaming and sending the 225 watts to the woofers and the 130 watts from my amp to the mids/tweeters it would only improve upon the sound. From most of the responses it looks like I should just send the 225 watts to the speaker and forget about the biamp theory. Is it that Polks do not benifit from biamping as much as other speakers?Maybe I should try and get the RTI12's or maybe the RTIA9's (believe they would be timber matched with my center/surrounds)

tcrossma

dekuda wrote: »

Thanks for all of the responses.GV, I was not aware that there would be a problem with biamping my speakers both with the carver and my Yamaha. I was hoping by biaming and sending the 225 watts to the woofers and the 130 watts from my amp to the mids/tweeters it would only improve upon the sound. From most of the responses it looks like I should just send the 225 watts to the speaker and forget about the biamp theory. Is it that Polks do not benifit from biamping as much as other speakers?Maybe I should try and get the RTI12's or maybe the RTIA9's (believe they would be timber matched with my center/surrounds)

It's not that they wouldn't necessarily benefit from bi-amping, but an AVR is likely to be not as good as the dedicated amp. Plus, as GV mentioned, you need to be careful about matching gain when using different types of amps in a bi-amp setup.

comfortablycurt

tcrossma wrote: »

It's not that they wouldn't necessarily benefit from bi-amping, but an AVR is likely to be not as good as the dedicated amp. Plus, as GV mentioned, you need to be careful about matching gain when using different types of amps in a bi-amp setup.

+1

Generally when you're bi-amping, you want to use the same, or very similar amps on both the highs and the lows. You can use different ones too, but the gains have to be matched to one another.

Your AVR's sound isn't going to be anywhere near as good as the sound from that Carver, so in this situation you'd likely be better off just using the Carver. It's already going to make a huge difference jumping to external amps.

Now if you were to get another one of those Carver's...that would be an entirely different story.;)

mdaudioguy

tcrossma wrote: »

I would first try to let the new Carver power the speakers by itself. Run it that way for a while to get a feel for it, and then try bi-amping with the AVR. That amp may very well provide plenty of power and the best sound by itself.

Agreed (+3?). Mine sound really good with just an amp (no bi-amp). The difference between having an amp and running off my AVR was quite noticeable, especially in pure direct mode. I think you'll be pleased. Good luck.:)

dekuda

Thanks,it is just not the power. My RTI10's just do not come to life like the rest of my system. I had a older Marantz that I really like that had about 110w/channel that I thought would make rti10's sing but didn't. Then bought this Yamaha(RX-v2600) from a friend. Heard great things about the amp in this AVR tested under differant loads and at differant frequenzies. My CSI5 center outshines my fronts so much that I have to go into the reciever settings to up the db's to the fronts.(or down the db's to my center) I will let you guys know when I get my carver amp how much the differance is. Like you guys said,a separate amp may be what is needed for cleaner power and I am giving to much credit to the amps in these avr's . If the carver does not improve my sound, I am going to look at upgrading to the RTI 12's (if I can find them) or A9's. Any opinion how much better the RTI A9's are compared to the RTI12's.I know the drivers are similar but the cabinet has been upgraded.

mdaudioguy

dekuda wrote: »

Thanks,it is just not the power. [...] Like you guys said,a separate amp may be what is needed for cleaner power and I am giving to much credit to the amps in these avr's . If the carver does not improve my sound[...]

Why make contingency plans for something you haven't tried yet?
Sounds like you're expecting to be disappointed... so, why not go out and buy those A9's right now?;)

tcrossma

dekuda wrote: »

My CSI5 center outshines my fronts so much that I have to go into the reciever settings to up the db's to the fronts.(or down the db's to my center)

It is normal to have to adjust the levels on channels so that they all match. Did you run the auto-calibration on the AVR?

mdk5068

+1 for the a9's

I have the a7's but only chose them because of the price. If I could have had the 9's I would have done so in a heartbeat.

mdaudioguy wrote: »

Why make contingency plans for something you haven't tried yet?
Sounds like you're expecting to be disappointed... so, why not go out and buy those A9's right now?;)

dekuda

Yes, I ran the auto calibration which is a nice feature of the Yamaha receiver. You are right and my amp that I bought on agon will be arriving soon and I will give it a try. This is the problem with reading too many posts from differant sites. Biamp this,biwire that,use these interconnects,use this amp,these settings. Sometimes it is info overload and I have to start with some nice clean power and see what these speakers will do. Still would like to find a nice pair of RTI12's. I believe they would go better with my CSI5. Back when they were available I just did not have the coin.

dekuda

I would just like to follow up on what improvements I found that helped me with my RTI10's sounding better. First I purchased a separate amp (Carver TFM25) and used them just for my RTI10's. Little improvement but not that notiicble from my my AVR (Yamaha RXV2600) Then I found a pair of RTI12's used for a great price with Monster Ultra1000 cables . Nice improvement but the cables made the biggest change with my RTI10's and 12's. So here I am thinking all you guys are off your rocker talking about all of these differant speaker cables and the improvements they can make.And I had a few laughs at what people were spending on these. Well now I have a pair of Audioquest type 4's and I am finally happy !!!!! I can't believe it but cables definately make a differance!! I realize how little I know and how much I can learn from reading CP. Thanks guys...... I am a cable believer:o Now should I consider biamping my RTI12's

slowpolky

I would use a 3 channel amp instead of a 2 channel because the csi5 is going to sound off during movies

Intel92

slowpolky wrote: »

I would use a 3 channel amp instead of a 2 channel because the csi5 is going to sound off during movies

i thought this was going to be an issue as well but i have to disagree. i am running external amps on my fronts only and my center channel sounds great with it and has never sounded "off".