gettin rid of my rti setup , want new ht setup so recommend here

polkfarmboy

I feel sick about this but I think its time to get rid of my ht setup and get somthing new

Is there anything else non polk thats good for ht ?

My budget for 7 speakers is about $7000 and its all gota be brand new

leroyjr1

Which rti's did you have?


For HT I love klipsch and feel they are a step up from the RTI's.

I like the RF-83's (mains) RC-64(center) RS-62( surrounds)

About $3500

polkfarmboy

Still have them ..... csi5 rti8 rti6 fxi3

I love them but now I want more

polkfarmboy

I kinda like the look of av123's open baffle speakers and that huge xvoice centre but there seems to be alot of issues with them

lectronicjunkie

The guy that I bought my AVR from had it hooked up to a set of B&W's that sounded really good but I don't know what model they were. I liked them a little better than my RTi's.

Huck344

PSB Imagine Series - I love the sound of them.

Two towers, center channel and 4 bookshelfs for about $4800 new.

As a recommendation, stay away from av123. Their president is under indictment for charity fraud and I have read some stuff on other boards about customers getting ripped off from them.

polkfarmboy

Thanks huck..... Ive never even heard of psb and will go do some reading on them now

Huck344

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Thanks huck..... Ive never even heard of psb and will go do some reading on them now

I had never heard of them until several months ago. Local shop was playing the Synchrony 1's which sounded awesome, but are much more expensive. They were more than willing to set up the Imagine towers which I thought sounded great. IMO, the Imagines have a much warmer sound than the RTi's.

cstmar01

for 7k you could also do Def Tech Mythos ST's or STS I believe.

john22614

I recently replaced my LSI front sound stage with B&W804s mains and HTM4 center resulting in a nice improvement. Vocals are more natural and the sound stage is seamless, silky smooth and clear and sounds like its floating in air. The 800s series is now out of production and being replaced by the much more expensive 800 diamond series, so if you can find them at a retailer, you should be able to get at least a 20% discount in MSRP. Give them a listen if you can, and you may find them to be a strong contender.

Menasor

Oh man $7k for 7 speakers? You can do a ton with that. Definitely go out and listen for yourself.

You can put together a B&W 800 Nautilus series setup, a Paradigm Signature setup, PSB Synchrony... etc

Basically top end stuff. Good luck!


ps. - also at this price point, don't hesitate to go used. Definitely going go get some top notch stuff for the money

98Badger

Paradigm Studios and an SVS sub should be around your budget unless you're paying MSRP. The Signature line will blow them away, but you'll pay for the quality. As mentioned by huck, the PSB's are worth auditioning. I haven't had as much quality time with B&W, but I'd avoid the 600 series. They didn't impress me at all when I listened. The 800 series is another story but might be over your budget.

Menasor

98Badger wrote: »

Paradigm Studios and an SVS sub should be around your budget unless you're paying MSRP. The Signature line will blow them away, but you'll pay for the quality. As mentioned by huck, the PSB's are worth auditioning. I haven't had as much quality time with B&W, but I'd avoid the 600 series. They didn't impress me at all when I listened. The 800 series is another story but might be over your budget.

I would go used at this price point. Most likely the previous owners would have really taken care of the speakers (due to their sizable investment) and you would probably only pay 50-60% of MSRP.

Too bad the OP doesn't want used (just caught that). If so, you're looking at Paradigm Studio, PSB Imagine, B&W CM...

Worth noting that Paradigm probably has the best center speaker design in this price point (they're massive)

ViperZ

Definitely Paradigm Studios would be in your budget.

(not sure if B&W CM would fit that price range, cause matching HTM center is expensive).

polkfarmboy

Wow so many brands unheard of and so much research to do. thanks guys I appreciate the input and unfortunately I cant go for used ones

mantis

What do you plan on driving you new speakers with? What is your room layout? What are your needs and why do you want to upgrade? What is it about the Polk Rt series you feel you need or want more? What do you do with your system mostly? How loud do you play it?
A good step up well a big step up from Rt series speakers would be the Definitive Mythos series. Much clearer more dynamic and refined. They have a similar type sound like Polk but much cleaner and controlled. It's a good place to look into speakers. You will spend that 7k you got easy.

polkfarmboy

My room is about 17 by 22 with 9ft ceilings . I plan on adding a 5 channel $600 rotel 1075 for the avr but idealy I will get somthing like an integra and anthem amp combo laters

I only use the audio for the occasional movie as I'm not to fussy about the 2 ch stuff yet so ht is my priority for now

my RTI setup is amazing and I am happy with the bass but I want more detail in the midrange for those little hidden background noises

Montoya

Fronts usher cp-6311, usher x-718 surrounds and rears, and X-616 center.
Svs sub

BIZILL

hurry up. you can almost sell them. i call first dibs if you're in AZ. too bad you don't have a set of fxi-5's instead. i'd be all up in ya.

MANSKITO

Dude for HT definitive tech end of story lol your not going to do better then that for HT no way no how.


http://www.definitivetech.com/Products/products.aspx?path=Home%20Theater%20Speaker%20Systems|Floor-Standing%20Systems&productid=Mythos%20ST%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&hometheater=1


That would blow your pants off and melt your face. And there fantastic for music too. An SVS sub and maybe 2 more surround speakers and you would have IMAX worthy sound in your house. And that would be in your budget easy.

If you can demo the definitive tech super towers please do,

http://hometheaterreview.com/definitive-technology-mythos-st-super-towers-reviewed/
http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2008/011208deftech/

I find there 2 channel performance to pretty much match or best any speaker from any brand under 5k(Polks LSI included) and there HT performance is unmatched by any speaker that I haver heard.

Menasor

MANSKITO wrote: »

Dude for HT definitive tech end of story lol your not going to do better then that for HT no way no how.


http://www.definitivetech.com/Products/products.aspx?path=Home%20Theater%20Speaker%20Systems|Floor-Standing%20Systems&productid=Mythos%20ST%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&hometheater=1


That would blow your pants off and melt your face. And there fantastic for music too. An SVS sub and maybe 2 more surround speakers and you would have IMAX worthy sound in your house. And that would be in your budget easy.

Haha not gonna beat them for ht no way no how? Those are some strong words I'd wager the Paradigm Studios would best these in both ht AND music. No way those skinny Mythos would compare to the Paradigms in dynamics and output


The center alone is as big as two Mythos towers put together:

http://paradigm.com/en/reference/centers-studio-studiocc690-model-3-13-1-50.paradigm


Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the Mythos are nice speakers, but they definitely look to be more lifestyle speakers than true high performance. They would be on par with the Paradigm Millenia series...

Menasor

2x Paradigm Studio 100
1x Paradigm CC-690
2x Paradigm Studio 20
2x Paradigm Studio ADP-590

Done!

MANSKITO

Menasor wrote: »

Haha not gonna beat them for ht no way no how? Those are some strong words I'd wager the Paradigm Studios would best these in both ht AND music. No way those skinny Mythos would compare to the Paradigms in dynamics and output


The center alone is as big as two Mythos towers put together:

http://paradigm.com/en/reference/centers-studio-studiocc690-model-3-13-1-50.paradigm


Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the Mythos are nice speakers, but they definitely look to be more lifestyle speakers than true high performance. They would be on par with the Paradigm Millenia series...

I have heard both the studios and the mythos and the Mythos are ANY THING BUT life style speakers. The studio/sing line from paradigms might be better for music maybe just a little but clearly you have not heard the out-put from the def-tech stuff. Yes it equals the studios and surpasses them by a large margin in HT. The super towers are one of the best speakers you can buy for HT. When it comes to bass out-putt please remember that the Super towers have POWERED SUBS and have enough bass to putt out a candle from a good distance away and they can do that and still sound fantastic just because they have a some what smaller volume (they are not by any means a small speaker, they are bigger then my monitor 60s by a good bit.) dose not mean they lack out-putt.

You don't have to take my word for it, ask any one who has heard the Mythos super towers. They have some serious power great speakers for HT.

Menasor

MANSKITO wrote: »

I have heard both the studios and the mythos and the Mythos are ANY THING BUT life style speakers. The studio/sing line from paradigms might be better for music maybe just a little but clearly you have not heard the out-put from the def-tech stuff. Yes it equals the studios and surpasses them by a large margin in HT. The super towers are one of the best speakers you can buy for HT. When it comes to bass out-putt please remember that the Super towers have POWERED SUBS and have enough bass to putt out a candle from a good distance away and they can do that and still sound fantastic just because they have a some what smaller volume (they are not by any means a small speaker) dose not mean they lack out-putt.

You don't have to take my word for it, ask any one who has heard the Mythos super towers. They have some serious power great speakers for HT.

I'm not saying that they're not good speakers. I'm saying they are not the absolute best as you said they were. By the way, output does equal volume. If you're admitting that these Mythos towers have "some what smaller volume", then what does it do to make it better than the Paradigms? Is it clearer than the Paradigms? Do they throw a larger sound stage? Do they have better bass (this is a definite no. physics says otherwise)?

HT performance is about large soundstage, power handling, dynamics, and output.

comfortablycurt

polkfarmboy wrote: »

I kinda like the look of av123's open baffle speakers and that huge xvoice centre but there seems to be alot of issues with them

I'd stay away from AV123...their owner is currently being brought up on charges for ripping off several charities.

Now probably wouldn't be the best time to order anything from them...you may never get it. Just a word of warning.



$7000 for HT speakers? I'd go with the Definitive Technologies Mythos ST's up front...with matching surrounds and center. I've heard that setup in play before...and it's nothing short of amazing.

tonyb

Check on a used Legacy system. Focus 20/20 used up front,3 g's, center another 750,surrounds maybe another grand, and one of their subs,and you'll have some bragging rights. Lots of choices in your price range.

MANSKITO

Menasor wrote: »

I'm not saying that they're not good speakers. I'm saying they are not the absolute best as you said they were. By the way, output does equal volume. If you're admitting that these Mythos towers have "some what smaller volume", then what does it do to make it better than the Paradigms? Is it clearer than the Paradigms? Do they throw a larger sound stage? Do they have better bass (this is a definite no. physics says otherwise)?

HT performance is about large soundstage, power handling, dynamics, and output.

Ok if volume was directly proportional to out-put then what of your sub woofers of the world? How could sub-woofers that generally are much smaller then the tower speakers they stand next to put out so much more bass SPL? I understand that in general larger cabinet volume and diver surface area equals more out-put. How ever if you are comparing a speaker with a POWERED SUB to a normal speaker then it takes substantially more driver surface area/through distance, cabinet volume and power handing to equal the same out-put/SPL levels of a powered sub. And the Def-techs have powered subs.

You don't have to tell me what makes a good HT speaker.

Listen I have heard with my OWN EARS the Paradigms and the Def-tech myths super towers. The def-tech HAVE MORE SPL. If you think I'm mistaken please give them a listen before you say anything about there performance or the laws of physics.

I didn't mean the Def-fech stuff was the best in the world just in his budget range there the best you can get or at the very least the best i have heard. But of course there are better speakers, you can ALWAYS spend more money but paradigm dose not make a better speaker at least as far as HT gos maybe for music I didn't really spend enough time with either speaker to pick which is my favorite for music. But IMO if it was my money and I wanted some HT speakers the Def-tech would be the speakers i would buy.

As to sound stage its been so long i can't really compare the two from memory they both where rather good.

polkfarmboy

def tech is on the cards but I love the size of that paradigm Studio CC-690 coming in at 70lbs

My heads going to spin with all the researching but thats a big part of fun

polkfarmboy

10k is outa my budget

Would psb be better than the def tech for ht?

cnh

Some good suggestions above....Mythos are 'good' for HT...I've heard them--they can do the job. Paradigms are also good....different sound. I think you need to listen for yourself. There are LOTS of others..lots....Klipsch Reference series, if you like horns, are a good choice...very efficient can throw sound all over the place.

B&Ws only the higher more expensive models (used market--a GREAT IDEA THERE!). PSB....go USED!

Atlantic Tech...makes a nice home theater package complete withs some GIANT subwoofers!

And--well...there are a lot more! Also don't forget that a pair of RTI-A9s will blow away your current fronts!

cnh

polkfarmboy

This may sound dumb but I prefer to do my listening to movies at low volume without a sub so my ideal speakers would have to achive good transparency with this preference