several questions to prepare for new RTi A5s

jso

Hi,

I'm new to Polks and this forum. I ordered a pair of RTi A5s yesterday, which I'm very much looking forward to. They'll be delivered sometime next week, so in the mean time I'm trying to get the other parts of my audio system ready. I'm not that knowledgable about audio, so after reading up on some basics the last 2 days I have a few questions I'm hoping you can help me out with.

My setup is 2 channel audio for everything - music, TV, DVDs, and computer. The A5s are going to be a significant speaker upgrade. My receiver is a budget Sherwood RX-4105. My current speakers are powered Altec Lansing PC speakers that I'm driving through the headphone jack - so I get variable volume and equalization that line out doesn't provide. (I got the receiver a few years ago not to drive speakers but as an audio switch and equalizer.)

Overall, my system sounds pretty good, but I've had it in the back of my mind for a while to improve it and thankfully now I'm in a position to do so. New speakers seemed like the place to start, so I went to Best Buy a few days ago to audition whatever they had, not intending to spend more than a few hundred bucks. The Polk TSi 300s and 400s there had such a clear sound compared to what I'm used to. (Not to mention much better to my ears than everything else they had, including two more expensive Klipsch models.) So buying Polks was a no-brainer, but I couldn't choose between opened-box 300s or new 400s for twice the price. So I went home to research Polks online, and ultimately I opted for the A5s since I found a good deal. I haven't actually heard A5s yet but expect them to be even better than the 400s.

In the mean time I have the following questions about my system:

1) Will my receiver be adequate? On paper it should suffice - 100W/channel, matching 8ohm impedance, and 0.08% THD. But the A5s represent a significant upgrade in quality and I'm wondering if they'll expose my Sherwood. As a comparison, the Best Buy setup used a 5.1 Yamaha (RX-V365 I think), which was set to some annoying DSP mode but sounded really good once I changed to plain mode.

1b) What receivers do other A5 owners use? How about RTi 8 owners? (from the specs it appears the 8s are the predecessor of the A5s) I searched the forum but couldn't find anything.

2) What speaker wire should I get? My receiver has spring clips. I read that some people put a pin connector on the end of thick wire to get them to fit in spring clips. Is this the best way to do it? As for the type of wire, anti-cables are an intriguing option.

3) What's the best way to connect to the A5's binding posts? Bannanas, bare wire, or something else? I found a few comments about anti-cables that bare wire worked better than the default spade terminals they come with.

4) Does anyone bi-wire RTi A5s or 8s? And if so, does it improve sound quality? Part of my curiosity is from reading up on bi-wiring. All of the examples I saw separated the woofer circuit from the midrange/tweeter circuit. But the A5 doesn't have this separation, instead having mid/woofer and tweeter circuits.


I appreciate any advice you can offer.

Thanks for your time,
Joe

Cyberdrew

I will try and answer best I can

1) Your receiver sounds fine. type of receiver doesn't seem to matter as long as the specs and features are what you are looking for. Most audiophiles seem to keep eq and sound adjustments flat as to preserve the music/sound the way it was meant to be heard.

2) This is irrelevant. Buy a receiver that matches what you want and isn't too powerful for the speakers. You don't seem to want all the frill of sound enhancement and surround sound, so look at stereo receivers.

3) In your situation going from spring clips to binding posts, I would just buy some 14 gauge copper wire, brand is irrelevant, and solder the ends. The only point to pin connectors is to look fancy, banana plugs on the other hand have a decent use and that is to make connection and disconnection quick.

4) There is no reason to bi-wire or bi-amp in your situation, unless you have some extra money lying around that you need to dispose of and want your setup to look cool.

If you are happy with the sound of your setup, then enjoy it. I wouldn't dump a bunch of money in to frill you don't need. If you want to REALLY increase your sound quality, add a sub-woofer to your setup. That would be money well spent.

Willow

jso wrote: »

Hi,

In the mean time I have the following questions about my system:

1) Will my receiver be adequate? On paper it should suffice - 100W/channel, matching 8ohm impedance, and 0.08% THD. But the A5s represent a significant upgrade in quality and I'm wondering if they'll expose my Sherwood. As a comparison, the Best Buy setup used a 5.1 Yamaha (RX-V365 I think), which was set to some annoying DSP mode but sounded really good once I changed to plain mode.

1b) What receivers do other A5 owners use? How about RTi 8 owners? (from the specs it appears the 8s are the predecessor of the A5s) I searched the forum but couldn't find anything.

2) What speaker wire should I get? My receiver has spring clips. I read that some people put a pin connector on the end of thick wire to get them to fit in spring clips. Is this the best way to do it? As for the type of wire, anti-cables are an intriguing option.

3) What's the best way to connect to the A5's binding posts? Bannanas, bare wire, or something else? I found a few comments about anti-cables that bare wire worked better than the default spade terminals they come with.

4) Does anyone bi-wire RTi A5s or 8s? And if so, does it improve sound quality? Part of my curiosity is from reading up on bi-wiring. All of the examples I saw separated the woofer circuit from the midrange/tweeter circuit. But the A5 doesn't have this separation, instead having mid/woofer and tweeter circuits.


I appreciate any advice you can offer.

Thanks for your time,
Joe

Welcome to the forum!

1.a- Your receiver will work and probably much better than that entry level yamaha you heard them on.

1.b- I use a HK but it's hooked up to my rotel amp.

2- You can use pins as it might make it easier to stuff the clips you have. Try bare if you can't fit it in, then go with pins. as for brands...well if you peruse the forum, you'll find many debates. FWIW I use Audio Quest.

3- I use banaplugs as I lick the finished look and the ease of plugging and unplugging my gear. I use bare if I wasn't using my nanners.

4- As for bi-wiring, I've tried it and didn't find anything useful. I can tell you it's not as beneficial as bi-amping.

jso

Thanks Drew and Willow for answering my questions!

I got the A5s a few days ago and have been playing quite a bit with my new toy

I have several preliminary thoughts:

1) source signals REALLY matter! Like I wrote before, these speakers are a big upgrade, and I didn't realize how lousy some of my source signals are. My cheapie laptop soundcard is especially bad with tons of hiss and almost no bass. It's unlistenable on the A5s even with some extreme equalization.

Thankfully my digital cable box, DVD player, and mp3 player all fall in the acceptable range. The receiver's FM tuner is pretty good as well, though there's quite a bit of variance amongst stations.

2) I'm definitely going to get a new receiver. Not becuase the Sherwood is an inadequate amp. In fact, it has no trouble driving the A5s for my needs, as I don't even get to half of the max volume before hitting my max. This concurs with what you guys wrote.

The real reason is #1 - I now realize I need digital inputs, but this one only has analog RCAs. It's especially important for my PC since I have a ton of music on it and my old DVD player sucks at playing mp3 CDs. In fact, I was thinking about this earlier today, and thought "what if there's a USB device that could output a digital signal?", and voila there's a well-reviewed Turtle Beach brand product for $30 at amazon that I'll be getting.

Plus, like you suggest Drew, getting a sub is a good idea. And this receiver doesn't have sub outputs. Movie sound effects could use a little more oomph - though I'm figuring when I get the new receiver it'll sound even better than the line out of the DVD player. So maybe I won't need it. I'll cross that bridge later...

3) As for wiring, I was going to get 14 or 16-gauge wire but ended up getting 12-gauge from Radioshack for a few bucks, figuring it was worth a shot. It took me a little while to shape the ends to fit in the spring clips, but now there in quite snug. And it conducts fine, as both speakers are the same volume. (I initially had one pair of wires in looser than the others b/c they weren't shaped right and that speaker was noticably quieter than the other).

When I get a new receiver I may want to try another type of wire but I'll think about that later.

4) thanks Willow for sharing your experience with bi-wiring and bi-amping on your 8s.

What improvements did you notice with bi-amping? Better sound clarity?

SivaNevets

check out Emu-0404 USB, it sound incredible for the price. and u can still use the mini->2RCA output jack it will do you fine, optical doesnt make things better (i had it that way on my receiver)

jso

^ I looked up the Emu but it's really pricy. Didn't see it for less than $150. I went ahead and ordered the Turtle Beach one from Amazon for $30.

So are you saying that optical from the Emu was no different than its analog output? How long of a cable run? I'm using a 25ft mini cable->RCA on receiver. I'm presuming optical would be noticably better for my setup.

jso

Just a follow-up about digital vs. analog sources. I searched "digital analog" titles only and there are a ton of threads on it here. Consensus seems to be try both and see which sounds better. That's sensible, bottom-line advice.

And after learning more about it, I understand better how Siva can't hear a difference for the Emu.

I did have a few questions about popping sounds from my digital cable box when the signal degrades. I posted them in a new thread. The most important one to me is if I switch to a digital output from the cable box, would that eliminate/mitigate the annoying popping sound (e.g. just silence instead of a pop)?