Question on Subwoofer

anil_nandagopan

Hi,

I am planning to put together a home theater system and am considering the following combination:

- Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K 7-Channel A/V Receiver
- LG BD 370 Network Blu-ray Disc Player
- Polk Audio Monitor 70 3-Way Floorstanding Speakers
- Polk Audio CS2 Center Channel Speaker
- Polk Audio PSW10 10-Inch Monitor Series Powered Subwoofer
- Polk OWM3 on wall speakers

I have a suspicion that the Subwoofer is maybe a bit weak in this combination. I heard a demo of PSW 110 and it sounded OK. A friend of mine has suggested PSW 125. Is that a good Subwoofer and more importantly, does that match the other components?

How about Infinity PS 10?

Please provide your valuable suggestions. Room - 25 x 22 and budget below $300 preferred, but can go up to $400 max.

One more question - any benefit in going for Monitor 40s in place of OWM3s?

Anil

obieone

Welcome to Club Polk.
Yes, I'd upgrade the sub, and the rears to Monitor 40's. Checkout the ebay store, top of this page, under 'where to buy'. They JUST put up a couple of micropro's.

apphd

Welcome to CP anil. IMHO in that size room you should definitely get something more than the PSW10, with $300-$400 you can do much better.
As far as the Mon 40's and OWM3 again IMO they both will do ok surround duties. I would consider mounting options and space you have to locate them for my deciding factor. If you can use/mount either one without any issues in your room I would probably go with the 40's.

anil_nandagopan

Thank you!

One question - I am told that for a 7.1 channel Receiver, one should ideally have two side Surrounds and 2 rear Surrounds. Is this really required?

Also, if I only have rear Surrounds and if I place them "below" the level of the tweeters of the Center and Floor Standing Tower Speakers, is that OK? I know that ideally the rear Surrounds should be 'above' the plane of the tweeters of the other components mentioned.

Appreciate your help.

Anil

danz1906

Welcome to the Club!

anil_nandagopan

Thank you!

Request you to answer my earlier question also - I am told that for a 7.1 channel Receiver, one should ideally have two side Surrounds and 2 rear Surrounds. Is this really required?

Also, if I only have rear Surrounds and if I place them "below" the level of the tweeters of the Center and Floor Standing Tower Speakers, is that OK? I know that ideally the rear Surrounds should be 'above' the plane of the tweeters of the other components mentioned.

Appreciate your help.

Anil

jacob.simpson

anil_nandagopan wrote: »

Thank you!

Request you to answer my earlier question also - I am told that for a 7.1 channel Receiver, one should ideally have two side Surrounds and 2 rear Surrounds. Is this really required?

Also, if I only have rear Surrounds and if I place them "below" the level of the tweeters of the Center and Floor Standing Tower Speakers, is that OK? I know that ideally the rear Surrounds should be 'above' the plane of the tweeters of the other components mentioned.

Appreciate your help.

Anil

Hi Anil,
Welcome to Club Polk, i would strongly suggest psw 505 as suggested by others, infact if possible you can try the SVS though i have not heard one through the forum it has a huge fan following, for the Rears i would strongly suggest the Monitor 30 or 40 you can get a great deal in newegg, i have both and i infact feel 30 is relatively more filling than the 40, you can try 30 for both rear surround and back.

apphd

anil_nandagopan wrote: »

Thank you!

Request you to answer my earlier question also - I am told that for a 7.1 channel Receiver, one should ideally have two side Surrounds and 2 rear Surrounds. Is this really required?

Also, if I only have rear Surrounds and if I place them "below" the level of the tweeters of the Center and Floor Standing Tower Speakers, is that OK? I know that ideally the rear Surrounds should be 'above' the plane of the tweeters of the other components mentioned.

Appreciate your help.

Anil

Not familiar with the 1019 but I would be surprised if you do not have all options open to you from 2.0 to 7.1. Not sure if you are asking can you run 5.0/5.1 (surrounds only no rears), or 6.0/6.1 (surrounds and 1 rear). If you are talking 6.0/6.1 look in your manual, or closely at the back of the AVR as if you choose this option you may need to use one specific speaker output of the 2 rear surround outputs, maybe labeled rear surrounds SINGLE.

Yes you can place the rear surrounds tweeters below the plane of the mains tweeter, and yes you are correct this is NOT IDEAL.

anil_nandagopan

Hey,

Thanks for your response. Really appreciate that.

Sorry my other question was not very articulate. I am a beginner and am still getting used to the terminologies. What I am trying to figure out is - I have the Monitor 70s and CS2 at the far end of the room near the TV. Do I need a pair of speakers on the side AND rear of where I sit? I know that it is ideal for a 7.1 to have both these pairs, but because of space constraints and budget constraints if somebody wants only one pair (side or rear) will it still sound good? In other words, what will I be missing?

Anil

jacob.simpson

anil_nandagopan wrote: »

Hey,

Thanks for your response. Really appreciate that.

Sorry my other question was not very articulate. I am a beginner and am still getting used to the terminologies. What I am trying to figure out is - I have the Monitor 70s and CS2 at the far end of the room near the TV. Do I need a pair of speakers on the side AND rear of where I sit? I know that it is ideal for a 7.1 to have both these pairs, but because of space constraints and budget constraints if somebody wants only one pair (side or rear) will it still sound good? In other words, what will I be missing?

Anil

i dont think so you will miss much on 7.1 vs 5.1 right now,
in that case i recommend Fxi3 from polk ebay direct which has very good offer and you get almost new pieces except the sticker which says refurb.
Or just get Monitor 30 thats also very good as a surround.

apphd

anil_nandagopan wrote: »

Hey,

Thanks for your response. Really appreciate that.

Sorry my other question was not very articulate. I am a beginner and am still getting used to the terminologies. What I am trying to figure out is - I have the Monitor 70s and CS2 at the far end of the room near the TV. Do I need a pair of speakers on the side AND rear of where I sit? I know that it is ideal for a 7.1 to have both these pairs, but because of space constraints and budget constraints if somebody wants only one pair (side or rear) will it still sound good? In other words, what will I be missing?

Anil

What you are describing is a 5.1 set up rather than a 7.1 set up. As jacob said the number of 7.1 recorded movies is limited (but growing) so most of your BR movies would only have 5.1 on them anyway. But the AVR would still use the side ch information to send signals to both the side and rear surrounds. Some people like this, some do not. One thing that most people agree on is that running 7.1 in a room that is too small for good speaker placement of all speakers does not gain anything or even sounds worse than a 5.1 set up. If you feel you do not have the room for 7.1 then I suggest you stick to 5.1. To get the most enjoyment out of your system (which should sound pretty good) keep spending time here/other audio sites and in front of your gear and manuals becoming familiar with everything and how to tweak it.

This may help a little with speaker set up.

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/speaker-setup-guide/index.html

anil_nandagopan

Guys,

Thank you so much for your articulate answers. I will be setting up everything this week and will get back to you guys shorly on how it worked out.

Anil