RTi A7's as surrounds?

ls7z06

Currently have the 7's as fronts. New RTi A9's are due here tomorrow. Wondering what to do with my 7's. Would the 7's work better than my FXi A6's as side surrounds? I can move my FX's to rear surrounds and give my current FXi A4 rear surrounds the boot to the bedroom. Wondering how the 7's as surrounds would compare with my current FXi A6's??

danz1906

If you have a big room, A7s front and rear would be awesome!

dudeinaroom

Best way to find out is to try it, if you don't like it you can change it.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

Have a look at my sig

leroyjr1

New or refurbs from Polk Direct?

Make sure you post a review and plenty pics.

madnod

there is no way that for the side surround the A7 will be better than the FXI, it's direct radiating versus a diffuse sound speaker, for the rear it depend on your rear speakers distance from your seating position, if it's close then FXI will still be better if no the A7 might stand a chance.

this is all taking into consideration that u have a good sub and u don't need the surrounds for low frequencies.

i have the RTI A9 and CSI A6 as fronts FXi A4 as surround and A1 as rear but my rear is 12 ft away from my seat (26 ft long room) so the sound has space to disperse, so i went for a direct radiating there and it's impressive.

btw congrats on the RTI A9 u will love them.

domflane

for sheer looks and power, the A7's would be awsome in the rear, but I think that you will be much happier with the sound and the dispersion with the FXI's

Squishy Tia

If you use the A7s as your rears, I hope you have a good amp to power them. The A9s obviously will need a dedicated amp, but the A7s aren't easy to drive either. I've seen lesser AVRs (<$1000 ones usually) choke on them. Done right though, the A7s, assuming you're sitting fairly low, can make great surrounds. Presence surrounds (sides), not so much.

ls7z06

I got the A9's installed, callibrated and sounding great tonight. Still need to do experimenting to see which speakers sound best for surrounds. Right now, I have the A7's as side surrounds and they sound much more powerful than the FX's did. Before I decide, I will listen to different media types and swap the speakers back and forth until I get a winner. BUT... I am really impressed with the RTi A9's. The Emo XPA-3 drives them very nicely. The Polk Audio ebay store was great. The speakers look brand new to me. The freight company got them half way across the country damage free in 3 days. And the $ savings was incredible.

adabro

Any chance you tested the 9's running on your receiver only? I'm wondering how they would sound on it compared to the XPA-3.

Squishy Tia

adabro wrote: »

Any chance you tested the 9's running on your receiver only? I'm wondering how they would sound on it compared to the XPA-3.

Unless his receiver is a Pioneer Elite, Yamaha RX-Z, or high end ($1500+) Denon, he'll be underwhelmed by the A9s' performance. Most AVRs can drive the mid/tweeter assembly just fine, but they can't push those three bass drivers to save their lives.

ls7z06

I did not try the A9's direct from my receiver. I do however have the A7's hooked up direct to the receiver. My AVR is a 140 watt Onkyo TX-SR876 and it does seem to push these just fine. More power is always better though.

james951

I tried A9's but found A7 best in comparison to A7's

adabro

Squishy Tia wrote: »

Unless his receiver is a Pioneer Elite, Yamaha RX-Z, or high end ($1500+) Denon, he'll be underwhelmed by the A9s' performance. Most AVRs can drive the mid/tweeter assembly just fine, but they can't push those three bass drivers to save their lives.

ls7z06 - sorry to barge into your thread - I bought the A9's last week and I'm running them on my Onkyo TX-NR807 only so I'm wondering if I'm missing out...

ls7z06

adabro wrote: »

ls7z06 - sorry to barge into your thread - I bought the A9's last week and I'm running them on my Onkyo TX-NR807 only so I'm wondering if I'm missing out...

If you are pleased, you are not missing out. However, I do know that in my limited experience with speakers, more power is generally always better. I feel that on my set up, the Onkyo 876 does a very fine job of directly driving all 4 of my surrounds. However, on my A9 front towers, the Emotiva XPA-3 really, really does a fantastic job at all volume levels.

I really love these A9's in their new spot as my fronts. They really sound fantastic. I have now experimented with which speakers to best use as surrounds. No question that the A7's ROCK as side surrounds and blow away my old FXi A6's!! The FXi A6's are now in the REAR surround position and my old FXi A4's are going to the garage tomorrow.

So the new set up is this....
RTi A9's- Front Towers- Driven by Emo XPA-3 200wpc
CSi A6- Center channel- Driven by the Emo XPA-3 200wpc
RTi A7's- Side surrounds- Driven by Onk 876 140wpc
FXi A6's- Rear surrounds- Driven by Onk 876 140wpc
SVS PB12 Plus Sub

I am extreemly pleased with how this has turned out!!

superjunior

adabro wrote: »

ls7z06 - sorry to barge into your thread - I bought the A9's last week and I'm running them on my Onkyo TX-NR807 only so I'm wondering if I'm missing out...

those pre-outs are calling to you..;)

sTiLlLeArNiNg

Good to hear you are enjoying it ls7z06! If you had picked up an xpa5 you would hear those a7's sing as well

adabro wrote: »

Any chance you tested the 9's running on your receiver only? I'm wondering how they would sound on it compared to the XPA-3.

I had the a9's hooked up to my AVR for a while and when i switched to an xpa5 it was like BAM! New system lol

ls7z06

sTiLlLeArNiNg wrote: »

Good to hear you are enjoying it ls7z06! If you had picked up an xpa5 you would hear those a7's sing as well



I had the a9's hooked up to my AVR for a while and when i switched to an xpa5 it was like BAM! New system lol

I know, I know. Don't punish me! Actually I am skating by ok with the 7's running off the Onk since....1) The Onk ain't no slouch itself. 2) The old Onk now has some extra juice to throw at the surrounds since it no longer has to worry about the front 3 channels, 3) The surrounds don't really need to jump through the same hoops as the fronts so powering them is really much easier.

But despite all of my excuse making, I know you are right. The 7's would sound better off of an amp. No doubt about it.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

Punish you? lol WTF do i look like? The speaker **** ROTFLMFAO Main thing is you're happy!

I noticed quite a difference as well when i offloaded some duty to my Emo amp as it allowed the yammie onboard's to breath easier :cool:

I'm sorry but i don't know why anyone would think that the FXi A6's sound better than the A7 Don't get me wrong the FXi A6's are great speaker's and they definately serve a purpose in any HT but they can't touch the A7's IMHO If i had the space to run 4 x A7's for surround/surround back duty i'd be all in!

Even with my old horrendous and cramped setup i was still getting ear ****'s from the A7's lol I just moved 3 room's around today and have what i believe to be a better setup now as the "media" room is no more and the "living" room has now been put into action

leroyjr1

sTiLlLeArNiNg wrote: »

I'm sorry but i don't know why anyone would think that the FXi A6's sound better than the A7 Don't get me wrong the FXi A6's are great speaker's and they definately serve a purpose in any HT but they can't touch the A7's IMHO I

with a good subwoofer you don't need a7's as surrounds.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

leroyjr1 wrote: »

with a good subwoofer you don't need a7's as surrounds.

IMHO I have a pretty good sub and i personally still wouldn't trade the a7's for FXi A6's as surround's The FXi A6's work wonderfully as surround back's for me They could also be great as pressence or any of the extra speaker option's that are now being implemented with the new audyssey stuff

Call me crazy but i like BIG sound

If i choose i could run my system without the sub and it still sound's pretty "full" :cool: I wonder how it will sound when the a9's go onto mono block's

leroyjr1

sTiLlLeArNiNg wrote: »

IMHO I have a pretty good sub and i personally still wouldn't trade the a7's for FXi A6's as surround's The FXi A6's work wonderfully as surround back's for me They could also be great as pressence or any of the extra speaker option's that are now being implemented with the new audyssey stuff

Call me crazy but i like BIG sound

If i choose i could run my system without the sub and it still sound's pretty "full" :cool: I wonder how it will sound when the a9's go onto mono block's

I've also ran floorstanders for my surrounds and found that they were very localized. With the fxi's I find they blend better and are not as localized. Plus I like having the sound on the sides and rear above my head versus pointing directly at my ears.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

leroyjr1 wrote: »

I've also ran floorstanders for my surrounds and found that they were very localized. With the fxi's I find they blend better and are not as localized. Plus I like having the sound on the sides and rear above my head versus pointing directly at my ears.

I don't notice the localizing I would LOVE to hang my FXi A's from the ceiling behind my seating posisition but i live in an apartment so that's a no - go for me

Gotta run what ever make's YOU happy

ls7z06

I found if you want the A7's more localized, point them directly at the listening position. If you want the surround field more dispersed, point them more towards the center of the room at an off axis position to the main listening position. I experimented with all of the options... different aiming of the A7's, different elevations of the A7's, and bipole/dipole settings on the A6's, swapping back and forth. Experimented with Batman Dark Knight, U-571, GI Joe, and 3:10 to Yuma as well as Chris Botti and Friends concert and Pink Floyd and Elton John SACD's. I also rebalanced the levels with an SPL meter every time I swapped around. I ended up with the A7's sitting flat on the floor aimed directly at the listening position. I agree with stilllearning. The A6's are really fantastic speakers and I enjoyed them very much. But to my ear, they simply do not perform like the A7's to deliver a rich, full, life like, engulfing and precise listening experience. The A6's did make an absolutely perfect rear surround field. But I gotta keep the A7's in the side surround spots. Having said all of that.... I would have never bought the A7's simply as side surround speakers and only ended up with them there as a result of buying new A9 fronts and having the A7's left over with no home. It all worked out. Still, there is certainly nothing wrong with having the A6's as your surrounds and I would certainly not call that a compromise.

madnod

the RTI A7 are more powerful than any of the FXi and they have more presence (they are not small speakers by any means) however the FXi has a diffuse sound field that is great for surround use,

from a sound perspective the less u can pinpoint the surround sound source the better is the sound field, dipole/bipoles are 2 speakers back to back and they direct the sound around the seating position, so for a circular motion type sound effect they excel over monopoles.

anyway good that u are happy with the new setup and i am glad that u liked the RTI A9s, i have them and i love them.

btw i recomend that u test the RTI A7 as back surround, i believe your setup will sound better, give it a try.

JYAJoe

How should these speakers be setup in the receiver using a XPA-5? If using a9's at front would they be full band. Should a7's at side be full band also. What about the surrounds, should they be set at 80hz?

rainman31

I would stick with the FXI A4. I had RTI12's all the way around and switched to the FXI 5's and it was a much louder system. The towers take too much power.