Newbie (me) just purchased . .

ncstatesman

. . . my first ever set of Polk Speakers - the RM7600 with the PWS650 woofer to go with the new Onkyo TX-DS898 (7x110 Watts). I'd love to hear come comments/hints (hopefully good) from experienced enthusiasts . .

Also, in the future I plan to buy and additional pair of front L/R speakers and move the 4 RM7600 sattelites as surrounds so I can utliize all 7 channels. These two speakers need to be great for music, but also fit in with the 4 RM7600 sattelites, center speaker, and 650 sub - can anyone suggest an appropriate pair of Polks?
Thanks!

PS - by the way, this is my first post

Micah Cohen

WOW, are you ever in for a GRAND OLD HOME THEATER time! Awesome system! We all can't wait to hear about what you listen and love on it. Welcome to the forum! (Watch out for some of these sharks, they sense blood even from NC -- I was born in Hickory, BTW!)

Micah!

TroyD

I think you will enjoy that set up immensely, welcome to the group!

Micah,
You are unusually lighthearted today?? New medication?

Troy

ncstatesman

Hey guys, thanks! I'm really excited about this. I've been wanting to do this for a couple of years and finally went through with it. Spent alot of time reading up on the discont'd Polk 7500's system and the great reader reviews online and I just knew the 7600's had to be even better. Also heard good things about Onkyo and for the price, features and performance I felt this would work well with the Polk's. Not only do I plan to watch movies and play music, but I also have a PS2 game console and have pre-ordered the X-box game console too - THIS WILL ROCK with the new video games coming out that support 5.1!

I should get the speakers and reciever by sat/mon. I just orderd the Polk speaker stands, calibration DVD, and ground loop isolater too. I expect this will take me a week to all sort out, but I'll enjoy the ride. The biggest problem I expect to encounter is getting the 'Bass Mgmt' settings correct, ie, diabling the low pass filter on the Onkyo and using the correct 650's settings and speaker placement.

In the future I plan to add two more Polk speakers to fill out the 7 channels - these two should compliment the 7600 for home theater, yet have great musicality - can anyone suggest a good model for this?

Thanks!

ncstatesman

Hey Micha,

I graduated from NC Sate in '89 - tell me you're not a UNC fan, just say it ain't so! I live in Cary, work in Durham - lived most of my life here and hopefully won't ever leave.

GO STATE!

RuSsMaN

Good system choice, it hasn't been talked about alot around here, I would love to hear your impressions once you get down to it.

Good match? Anything with a tri-lam (tri-laminate 'silver' tweeter). Basically RT25i and up (as far as current models go)....you tell us, tower or stand-mount? I am personally biased on the RT800i, I had the non-i model myself. Even though you will probably use a sub for music, one of my golden rules is as follows:

Any speaker used for even SEMI serious music listening, should be able to stand on its own, top to bottom. Not to say a sub wouldn't add to the experience, but it should produce a minimum ACCEPTABLE level of bass tones (to you). RT800(i) will do this, and so will other models.

Don't get frustrated, take your time, and we are here for you....no question is a stupid one, trust me.

If you don't mind, a little background....is this your first system? Is this your first 'serious' system (one that is stretching your pocketbook, and possibly causing spousal tension). What are your tastes in music? What is your credit card number and your mothers madien name?

Look forward to your future questions AND answers.

Cheers,
Russ

scottvamp

Hey Welcome, thumbs up on the Onkyo TX-DS898. Like to hear what you think about it. I have last years TX-DS787. It's a 100 watt 6 channel. I heard a big difference from 5.1. Amazing stuff. Many of the newer DVD's are bringing new sound to the the 6 and 7 channel rear stages. Even Lucas's new THX sound check on TPM specifically hits the rear stage really hard when the thunder hits. What type of projection system or monitor are you using? In HT sound and vision work 50/50. In a well rounded aspect anyway. Have Fun, scottvamp

ncstatesman

Howdy Russman, Thanks a bunch for the welcome and the advice on the 2 additional speakers - this is stuff I need to know!! Yes, I'm pretty new to all this - all that I've learned has been from mags, catalogs,on-line resources and individual reader online reviews - consumer review.com gave 4.8 out of 5 to the old RM7500!(sample size was 40 or so reviews), etc, Other than an old Pioneer sx-350 reciever and KLH speakers from 1980, this is my first real system. Shameful to say, I did not go out an audition anything, some may say that's crazy, but based on all the research I've done and reader reviews, I'm not worried about the equipment, but I am concerned about:

1. getting speaker placement correct - my living room is way too small. I did order the AVAI Home Theater calibration DVD to help me out (I bought his system in mind with the knowledge thatI'd be buying a bigger house within the next year or two - assuming I survuve the layoff scares!)

2. getting the reciever & sub-wooffer settings right (ie, the "bass mgt" stuff). I've read some posts on this and the Polk Home Theater guide and it's still a little confusing to me. The speakers and reciever haven't arrived yet, but hopefully the 7600 user manual will be helpful.

3. is it ok to place the rear surrounds (on a 5.1 set-up) on adjustable speaker stands, or should I mount these on the wall (prefer not to)

4. should I buy an SPL meter from Radio Shack to help me with speaker placement?

5. getting the right speaker wire and inter-connects - do I buy monster cable?, or do I buy plain old 10 ga speaker wire? What wire/cable is used on the sub-woofer and what wire/ cable is used on the center and sattelites. I dont want to skimp on wire/cable given what the amount of $$$ I just spent on equipment. Do you know ofan online place that has good prices on these items?

I'll mostly watch DVD movies (comedy's, action/adventure, war, sci-fi) and play video games w/5.1 capability on an x-box and a PS2. However, when I do play music (and I will), it will have to sound very good. I'll listen to pop/rock and some metal

Hello Scott, and thanks for the welcome! I have a 36" JVC dual tuner TV which I bought 11 months ago - as expensive as HDTV is and limited availability, I don't plan on replacing this one for several years. On hindsight, I should have gotten a 16:9 TV - too late now! Also, I have a Toshiba sd-2300 DVD player - I may upgrade to a progressive scan unit next year.

I haven't got the equipment in yet (hopefully by Monday) and working at it a little at a time it'll probably take me a week or more to get everything just right.

I almost went for the 797, but I decided on the 898 because eventaully I wanted to move up to 7.1 - the factthat either unit has the 192Khz/24 bit DAC's was a nice plus. I may or may not need that capabilty, but in a sense, I felt it would allow my system to keep up with future technical advances. I take it that you are pleased with the 787, most people say good things about Onkyo. What speakers are you using with your reciever?

Thanks!

rskarvan

I think the RT55i's (for Main's) on speaker stands would
be your best value right now... $400 from Crutchfield.

Thats just too good of price to pass up.

Micah Cohen

I'm the first of my family to NOT GO to UNC. They say, "Teach a young child to HATE STATE." Sorry. The sky is Carolina Blue to my family.

Sounds like you're fitting right in here, ncstatesman. It's only a matter of time before we offend you, I guess.

I think you'll have an easier time of it than you're thinking. HT is really easy, but the industry for some reason has built this huge wall of scary info for the consumer to get over, when it's really not all that. You'd think they'd want to sell more stuff by making it easy!

Speaker placement? Put the fronts in front, the center on top of your TV, the sub up front there in a corner or between the right front speaker and your TV, put the rears behind and above you (tough to find stands that tall, better to wall mount them if you can) -- basically done!

Don't be frightened of bass management, either. It's pretty easy, especially with the system you have. You'll wire up the speakers using the speaker wire method (fronts thru the subwoofer, NO LFE, rears and center from the receiver) and you'll choose "LARGE" for the front L&R, "SMALL" for the rears and center, and "NO" for the sub setting on the receiver's bass management function. That's it basically. After that, it's all tweaking; setting bass levels, etc. AVIA will give you test tones (so should your Onkyo), and an analog RadioShack SPL meter is a good thing to have -- cheap and useful, even if you only use it every once in a while.

Wire everything up without spending a ton -- use Monster Cable or even Home Depot cabling -- by getting the thickest wire you can for your money. >> "plain old 10 ga speaker wire" << is pretty huge. I was gonna suggest Home Depot 12 gauge speaker wire, it's like 30c/ft and works fine. Banana plugs are at RadioShack, too.

Should have gone widescreen! But you'll be really happy when you get this system set up. I want to know how video games are in 5.1!

Micah

TroyD

Micah is correct. It can be as simple as you make it really. The fun part is fiddling with it (Micah does that too) and finding what sounds best to you. I generally find the Polk manuals to be pretty generic, but if you call Polk customer service, they are second to none. They will do anything possible for you. Hell they would even try to find Darrin's remote if he asked....

The wire thing is pretty subjective but to start out with, Home Depot 12 ga is fine, hell some of us are using 24 gauge lampcord...

Micah is pretty chatty for a dude with a setup that none of us can even purchase yet. Maybe that would explain the lighthearted mood. Sadistic ****.

Troy

ncstatesman

Micah, Troy, I think you've answered all my questions with the "simple" approach - I feel alot better about this now

Micha, I've already been offended by your carolina blue statement - (just kidding). Y'all do have a good fball team this year. I'm going to Va-NCSU game this Sat. I think if I choose my words carefully, I'll be ok in here!

rskarvan, thanks for the advice on the speakers.

I'll let everyone know as things progress
Thanks!

Micah Cohen

Two things, goddamnit:

>> I generally find the Polk manuals to be pretty generic <<

I resemble that remark! What can I do to make them better? How much info is too much? What am I leaving out? Help me make better manuals. (I HATE the way we do manuals, BTW. For a company that wants to be The Speaker Specialists, we have a constant battle between how much it costs to make a totally inclusive manual, let along getting the product in time for making a manual that actually works, and fitting in everything we want or need to fit in a manual. I think our manuals are actually more inclusive that other speaker brand manuals. Any dissenters? Any examples you like from other manufacturers? Help me, help you.)

>> Micah is pretty chatty for a dude with a setup that none of us can even purchase <<

I had to give my LSi's back. :mad:

:mad:

MC

TroyD

I didn't mean that in a neccessarily bad way. In a way, they have to be somewhat generic. I think the descriptions are good and well written, however, better illustrations and a little color would be nice. This may be somewhat petty but if I spend a bunch of cash, a nice manual is a nice touch. I am also a proponent of a separate manual for each item, more of a pain I suppose but that is just me. I am not much for one size fits all.

If you want to see a crappy manual, look at Paradigm's. The subwoofer manual pretty much says, "Yup it is a subwoofer, have fun!" I just find that manuals (and this is in general, not just audio equipment) tend to be written by people who assume you know what they are talking about.

I feel bad that you had to give your LSi's back, hell, I think Paul should have been a sport and told you to keep 'em. Being that we trust your judgement, what did you think of 'em vis a vis the 55i's....

Troy

Micah Cohen

See the "Movies" thread.

Micah Cohen

Good use of latin there, BTW, with that "vis a vis" action.

TroyD

sorry 'bout that...

I am trying to be as eloquent as Aaron.

Troy

Micah Cohen

Thanks for the manual feedback, BTW.

Manuals are one of the most difficult things for us (and me) to do. Coordinating the efforts and opinions and directions of at least three corporate departments make for many tiny fiery hoops for a lowly copywriter to jump thru. I am at least happy that you don't HATE our manuals, and that they at least include enough info to get you started.

You say that if you spend a wad of cash you want a nice manual, but wouldn't you rather have that money go to the product? I'd rather -- and I think it's a Polk thing -- give you a better product for your dollar and let the manual slide, offer it only online (costs nothing) or make it just a slip of paper ("Red to red, black to black, TURN IT UP" and that's it). As it is, we have to spend a load of money and space giving basic liability stuff, like how-to wall mount and how to plug in an electric cord... So you don't sue us.

And a color manual is nice, would be classy, but costs so damned much!

MC

TroyD

In my opinion, and this is just me, I am anal and keep all the manuals in a binder. I just think the nice ones are kind of cool. You are right in that I would perfer to have a better product. By all means, as manuals go, content wise, Polk's are above average. You want to see a COOL manual, buy a Weber gas grill, hell it even has a binder. Expensive, yes, but still a nice touch.

This is the way I look at it, if I spend 100 bucks on a pair of R10's, I don't expect much in the way of fanfare, basic manual, etc. I drop 400 bucks on a CS400i, which I believe has the same manual as the CS175i, I'm thinking that a little more should go in to the manual, proportionality. The LSi's....I'm thinking a nice leather bound one like the one that came with Wendi's (certainly not my) Infiniti. It's just a nice touch.

You are right, manuals are small potatoes in the grand scheme, I'm just an anal ****.

Troy

ncstatesman

I good test of the manual will be whne I get my speakers . . I'll let you know what i think, . . . btwyou were right that I would get offended, it's be nice not to say "GD", I sort of cringed when I saw that

TroyD

Micah is a good guy, who really does work hard to keep us in the loop as much as possible. We also spend a fair amount of time busting his hump and every once in a while we strike a nerve.....I know he didn't mean to offend.

Troy

Micah Cohen

No, no, I DID mean to offend. See? It was only a matter of time.

>> I drop 400 bucks on a CS400i, which I believe has the same manual as the CS175i, I'm thinking that a little more should go in to the manual <<

Like what? The instructions for both of these products are pretty much the same: red to red, black to black, sit it on top of your TV, choose "SMALL," and TURN IT UP! What OTHER info would I put in there?

I'm not barking at you, I just wanna know. Speakers, what the hell are you gonna do? Invent some new way to hook em up? The most complex stuff is maybe offering "variations" on home theater wiring schemes like we do in RM system manuals or the powered tower manuals. Even that, tho, is a lot, isn't it?

Like I said, I'd rather you get a better product -- with that money going to QA, build quality and materials, as well as R&D for better products in the future -- than a manual that costs a lot and says basically "red to red, black to black." Or, that has all sorts of additional nonsense in it: hookup variations, demo material suggestions, Matt's personal and technical history of the product's development, the lunch menu from Paul's favorite pub, etc.

Should I start a new thread about manuals? Any help that forum folks can give would -- within reason -- result in better manuals.

MC

TroyD

No, I understand your point and I agree with it. I'm just saying, it is a small touch, but one that impresses me. You are right, there is only so much you can put in a manual, true. What I am trying to convey is proportionality. Look, when you buy a Dodge Neon or something like that, I don't expect much in the way of frills. On the other hand, when I purchase an Infinity, damn right, I expect to be called Mr. Dion, yes, I would like coffee in a real cup. Etc. etc...

See what I am getting at here? I am not bitching about how adequate the manual is, I'm just saying, when you buy a premium product everything should be premium.

Having said that, I don't think anyone would NOT buy the LSi's because of a manual but people (especially me) notice the little things.

That's all I got to say about that.

Troy

RuSsMaN

After puchasing gear, I let the manual reside on the back of the bowl, for maybe even as long as a month. It get repetitive, but a decent manual is great throne material.

After that, who cares. I would dig a LSi poster, or banner, or stickers for the garage over a manual anyday. If we consider doing a 4-color print job, lets make it frameable.

I think all that is needed is a simple spec sheet, 1 page, black and white. (remember the monitor series days?).

Cheers,
Russ

ncstatesman

okay, so I'm going to buy some 12 awg speaker wire at the Home Despot :-) for the 7600 sattelites.

Just want to make sure:
- it's ok to use 12 AWg on the 650 sub, right?
- are banana plugs ok to use? or should I use pin connectors (I have Onkyo 898) - want to make sure I use the connection that yields the best audio quality
- whether I use banana plugs or pin connectors, will these have to be soldered, or are the mechanical means by which I can secure the wire to the terminal?

Thanks!
Angel

Aaron

Bare wire connections are just fine for the wire you're getting. If you get something fancy like AudioQuest or something, then you'll want something with nice termination like bananas or spades. These terminations generally seal the wire to help prevent corrosion and are far easier to hookup.

Aaron

Micah Cohen

Yeah, you do NOT need to do the connector thing -- just bare wire it. Strip an inch off the ends of each strand, roll each in your fingers so it's all together, and then unscrew the binding posts and slip the bare wire into the hole. Screw down the post to hold the wire.

Banana plugs are good if you're gonna be switching speakers out and into your system on a regular basis, they're easy to connect and disconnect.

But if you're setting up for good, bare wire it.

Be sure to watch for correct polarity -- red to red, black to black. The red strand will have some writing or a stripe on it.

No messy soldering. Bare wire is very cool. And 12g wire is prime for your whole system!

No worries, mon. How's it sound?!

MC

Micah Cohen

Oh, also: Buy MORE WIRE than you think you need. Especially cheap HD wire. Think you need 200 feet? Get 250. And always leave a foot or so when you cut the wire to fit each run of your system, so you have some spare to move around with.

MC

TroyD

I think that it also mentions that in the manual. Props to Micah.

Troy

ncstatesman

Micah, guys, thanks!

What a relief! You told me what I wanted to hear - simple is best!
So I'll bare wire it then - that makes sense, the less interfaces I introduce the better -0 especially since I wont be changing outspeakers and such . My stuff should arrive Monday, so I'll give you an update then, in the mean time I'm reading up on more stuff. This site is excellent:

http://2eyespy.tripod.com/myaudioandhometheaterhomepage/id3.html

It talks about Audio Myths of all types

Thanks,
Angel

ncstatesman

oh, by the way, as an Industrial Engineer with a heavy backgoround in electro-mechanical assy and other mfg stints in the Auto industry, I'm curious as to how things are going in the new Mexican plant, did my RM7600's and sub's come from there?

From past experience, I know how precarious production ramp-ups with new equipment, processes, and workers can be, especially with inexperienced labor. I hope the quality coming out of there has not diminshed - Has Polk removed all US manufacturing?