Disappointed with current setup

ryanjoachim

Agent wrote: »

The first thing I thought of when I saw your room was...he has kids...and then...he has kids and he leaves the grills off of his nice expensive speakers. Your brave my friend. I have three small children and wouldn't think of leaving the covers off. Funny story, my old onkyo htib box sub had an uncovered front port. Well after a while I thought the bass was starting to sound like ****. Well come to find out my kids stuck about 20 toys down into it.

lol...as to the grill part...truth be told my son ended up cracking one of the grilles in half trying to get at a car he had dropped down between the grill and speaker.

Needless to say I wasn't happy.

And no, no amp for me. I was foolish when I bought my receiver and got one without pre-outs.

Conradicles

Surround speakers should never be at ear level. They should be 2 or 3 feet above your seated listening position.

ryanjoachim

Is there anything I can do with my current wall situation to get more out of my surrounds? With no side walls or stands to place them on, my only option is that wall behind me.

cnh

Conradicles wrote: »

Surround speakers should never be at ear level. They should be 2 or 3 feet above your seated listening position.

That's what I was trying to say..."above ear level"...but Conradicles has given you more specific height requirements....you can cheat a little on those but not too much!

cnh

cnh

ryanjoachim wrote: »

Is there anything I can do with my current wall situation to get more out of my surrounds? With no side walls or stands to place them on, my only option is that wall behind me.

Try mounting the speakers on that back wall so that they (the woofer/tweeter) face each other on either side of your sofa at about 2 ft or lower a bit above ear height! That would be a reasonable compromise, not the best....but workable!

cnh

ryanjoachim

cnh wrote: »

Try mounting the speakers on that back wall so that they (the woofer/tweeter) face each other on either side of your sofa at about 2 ft or lower a bit above ear height! That would be a reasonable compromise, not the best....but workable!

cnh

The woofer/tweeter part...is that how they're facing in the pic? Or should they be opposite?

cnh

In your picture the speakers are tilted toward the listener. In my suggestion, you'd move them (using brackets) out from the wall a bit and have the outside of the speaker parallel to the wall not tilted? The front of the speaker would be parallel to your ears not tilted toward them. I might also bring them down just a little from that height. But not much!

cnh

mdaudioguy

Conradicles wrote: »

Your surround speakers should not be behind you on the rear wall.
They should be on the sides in a 5.1 set-up. That is part of your problem with surround effects. They look to be the correct height...just on the wrong wall.

I also agree, you need to space out the mains some more. They are too close if you sit that far back.

Great system...just try tweaking until you are satisfied. That is a very nice TV as well!!!

Polk says rear wall is ok. Might not be ideal, but ok.

"If your seating area adjoins the rear wall, or if you cannot place speakers on the side wall, you'll have to position the speakers on the rear wall. In this case, we recommend bi-directional (bi or di-pole) speakers, since they will produce the most diffuse effect."

http://www.polkaudio.com/education/showanswer.php?question_num=78

Not certain, but I *think* your rear speakers should be reversed, with the larger drivers on the outside. They should be labeled left and right on the back.

With the equipment you have, it should sound better than you're describing. Keep trying! Good luck!

ryanjoachim

I always thought they should be the way I have them now since that's where the majority of sound comes from, and if they were facing away then the sound would have nothing to bounce off of and thus I would lose that sound.

I'll turn them around again and see how I like it. I'll also try lowering them a little bit and see what that does for me.

polkfarmboy

Just remember that you should run audessy mic calibration at least 3 or 4 times to ensure consistency in setup . Even unhook everything like your fridge and such

Get a bigger centre like the csi5 its more important than anything in HT

ryanjoachim

The next upgrade I'm going to get is something like the 805 (I hope). Although i'm sure the bigger center would help out a bunch.

polkfarmboy

The csi5 should be the next upgrade ...... put transformers 2 on bluray with the 5 and youl see what I mean ....... It will make your HT and you wont need the onkyo 805 if you have neighbours complaining

Also I dont think the onkyo 805 can handle 192khz signals ??????

Menasor

ryanjoachim wrote: »

The next upgrade I'm going to get is something like the 805 (I hope). Although i'm sure the bigger center would help out a bunch.

The better receiver won't be near the upgrade the bigger center would unless you listen at very loud levels. Your receiver can drive your speakers fine if they are crossed at 80hz

cnh

If you can afford it go 875...better video upscaling and VLSC processing (similar to Denon's Alpha 24 plus (an algorithm that smooths out digital patterns so as to better approximate an analog wave form).

Where did you read the 805 can't handle 192khz....it has Burr Brown DACs 24/192 and can decode HD-bit streams...so you are misinformed. 805's biggest weakness=upscaling video to only 720p! But it will pass 1080p untouched (Hdmi 1.3).

Menasor has a good point...the center will make a significant difference. it carries most of the surround info!

cnh

Menasor

cnh wrote: »

If you can afford it go 875...better video upscaling and VLSC processing (similar to Denon's Alpha 24 plus (an algorithm that smooths out digital patterns so as to better approximate an analog wave form).

cnh

I don't know... I wouldn't go 875 with the RTi10's. Way too high an investment on the receiver for those speakers. If he had that much money to spend, I would say upgrade the fronts to something higher end instead.

cnh

Menasor wrote: »

I don't know... I wouldn't go 875 with the RTi10's. Way too high an investment on the receiver for those speakers. If he had that much money to spend, I would say upgrade the fronts to something higher end instead.

Agreed,

But you can find an 875 sometimes for a bit over 600 dollars used....a very reasonable price.

Heck, he could buy a Pioneer VSX21 and just add a used power amp that's all he really needs!

cnh

ryanjoachim

Well, you learn something new every day! I knew that a lot of the vocals came from the center (or, at least, that's what I THINK I know), but I didn't realize it was that important to the surround experience.