Suggestion For Home Theater Package???

mini-me

I am looking to setup a new Home Theater System and I decided to buy an external amplifier to drive polk RTi A series speakers for 5.1. Any suggestion what amplifier should I get?

Should I buy a used one or buy new one from sources such as Outlaw, Emotiva and Adcom?

wutadumsn23

First things first, what AVR are you running and does it have pre-outs? If not, then an amp is not going to be possible. Which RTi's do you have/or are getting? They do like power and can def. benifit from an external amp. As for recommendations Outlaw, Sunfire, Adcom, and Emotiva all make the short list, and used is def. a good option. Check CL, Ebay and even the For Sale section here for deals. 200W or so per channel should get you started, but that is just a suggestion. Depending on how many speakers you are planning to run off the amp, Fronts, and Center, or all 5 will dictate whether to get a 3 channel or 5 channel. Most people will run a 3 channel for the fronts/center and let the AVR run the surrounds, but that is up to you. Good luck and welcome to Club Polk.

-Jeff

mini-me

I think I posted the question in the wrong forum? Can someone move my thread to the correct forum for me?

Being a noob and all, I have no idea what I am doing here!

mini-me

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

First things first, what AVR are you running and does it have pre-outs? If not, then an amp is not going to be possible. Which RTi's do you have/or are getting? They do like power and can def. benifit from an external amp. As for recommendations Outlaw, Sunfire, Adcom, and Emotiva all make the short list, and used is def. a good option. Check CL, Ebay and even the For Sale section here for deals. 200W or so per channel should get you started, but that is just a suggestion. Depending on how many speakers you are planning to run off the amp, Fronts, and Center, or all 5 will dictate whether to get a 3 channel or 5 channel. Most people will run a 3 channel for the fronts/center and let the AVR run the surrounds, but that is up to you. Good luck and welcome to Club Polk.

-Jeff

Thanks for the welcome Jeff! I will be using Parasound C2 processor as AVR and all polk RTi A series (A9, A7 and CSi A6) for 5.1 setup. I haven't decided on the subs yet.

I don't know if it's a good idea to buy used gears when I can buy the new Outlaw or Emotiva amps for nearly as much.

Huck344

I can't speak to the other amps mentioned in post 2 other than the Sunfire. I am using a Sunfire Cinema Grand (200wpc x 5 channels) to run my RTi series speakers and love the sound. I bought it used a couple of years ago for $900 and have never had a problem with it. Of all the equipment I have, I think my Sunfire would be one of the last that I replace.

mini-me

Huck344 wrote: »

I can't speak to the other amps mentioned in post 2 other than the Sunfire. I am using a Sunfire Cinema Grand (200wpc x 5 channels) to run my RTi series speakers and love the sound. I bought it used a couple of years ago for $900 and have never had a problem with it. Of all the equipment I have, I think my Sunfire would be one of the last that I replace.

Thanks! I will keep SunFire in mind when looking for a used amp!

BAD ASP

mini-me wrote: »

Thanks! I will keep SunFire in mind when looking for a used amp!

I have used sherwood, pioneer, onkyo and Denon AVR's and have moved to Sunfire pre and amp. I would highly recommend Sunfire. If you can find good used gear all the better. My observations are that the Sunfire is far more detailed with a broader soundstage than any of the AVR's I've had.
The Denon is still in use in my family room with modded 3.1tl's. The Denon is the 5700 which was their flagship about 10 years ago. Take your time and pay attention to all here, there is great advice and help to be had. You can always spend a lot of money, how you spend your time is up to you.