Surround speaker options for 7.1 setup

korie83

Hey Everyone,

I'm in the planning stages of my home theatre build, and I have a few questions. I already have my front stage speakers which are 3 RTi A9's, and I'm trying to figure out what I am going to do about my surrounds. The way my room is laid out I have no back wall to place my rear surrounds, and I'm not sure I want to hang those huge FXi A6's from the ceiling. So instead I'm considering actual in-ceiling speakers. I plan on amplifying my front stage with an Emotiva XPA-3, and running the surrounds off of the receivers amplifier. The speakers I am most interested in using are LC80fx, as they are true surround speakers, however I know they are not the suggested matching series for my front stage RTi A9's. Does anyone see this being an issue? Should I stick with the TC series and look at the TC80i's instead? If so how will these perform as surround speakers in comparison to my front stage?

Any suggestions and input is very much appreciated!

Oh and also if any one else has ceiling hung 4 FXi A6's do you have pics? Maybe if I can see what it would look like I could change my (re: my wifes) mind.

wutadumsn23

Timbre matching the surrounds isn't as important as it is with the front three, so you should be fine with the LC80's. Any reason why you went with 3 RTiA9's as your front stage instead of two 9's and say a CSi A6? Floorstanders aren't meant to be center channels, besides that is a beast of a speaker to use as a center, how do you plan on using it? Welcome to Club Polk.

-Jeff

korie83

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

Timbre matching the surrounds isn't as important as it is with the front three, so you should be fine with the LC80's. Any reason why you went with 3 RTiA9's as your front stage instead of two 9's and say a CSi A6? Floorstanders aren't meant to be center channels, besides that is a beast of a speaker to use as a center, how do you plan on using it? Welcome to Club Polk.

-Jeff

Thanks for your input Jeff!

As for why I am using 3 RTi A9's, well I happen to have 2 extra RTi A9's as I got a really crazy deal on them over a year ago and bought a bunch of sets kept 2 for my self and sold the rest. So a friend and I are splitting one pair to use in our home theatre's as centre channels. I will be putting all three of mine behind an accoustically transparent screen (in the 130" size range). As for why I chose to go this route, I've done alot of research and it seems for home theatre it is recommended, that if possible, having all 3 speakers the same in the front stage, gives the best sound. Also, I've read alot of places that say a verticle standing speaker performs better as a centre channel than a traditional horizontal style one. However in most cases its not possible to go this route due to the display being in the way obviously.

This is a good article that supports this opinion:
http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/vertical-vs-horizontal-speaker-designs

Finally and most importantly, I LOVE the sound of these RTi A9's, and having one more upfront to deliver that sound puts a stupid grin on my face. I've heard the CSi A6 quite a bit, as my friend who is also planning on doing the same theatre design as I, currently uses one. And it is a great speaker, but I don't think it really compares to the A9's. Currently I use just my A9's and no centre channel in my basic HT setup, along with my Harman Kardon receiver, and I am more than happy with their performance. I can't wait to hear 3 of them singing in unison with an extra bit of power from an Emotiva xpa-3 amp....

Now I just got to start building :P

wutadumsn23

I understand your opinion, having never heard a floorstanding center channel, I prefer the traditional centers. If you can accomodate the vertical center, and you have an "extra" 9 laying around, it can't hurt to try right? Good luck and keep us posted.

-Jeff

cnh

Why don't you just run 4 speakers in a center phantom configuration....one Rti-A9 in each corner for now? Just a thought since you have the speakers!

cnh

wutadumsn23

I think he only has 3 9's. The other one is his friends? The 4 A9's and a phantom center would be pretty sweet if it's set up right. I am contemplating running a phantom center myself to see how I like it.

-Jeff

korie83

The reason I'm not using all 4 is for 2 reasons. First being I don't want to take up that much floor space for my rears and I want all four rears to be the same. Second is I am currently running my front 2 as a phantom centre already. And it sounds good if you sit in the centre listening position but anything off centre you can definitely notice the sounds coming from the closer speaker. If I wanted to I could keep my 4th A9 for myself but I've chosen not to.

I've really wanted to demo the a9 in centre formation to see how it would work but with my TV in the way I haven't been able to yet.

So does anyone have any else have any input in whether or not 4 LC80fx's would be good matching surrounds, or better yet have experience with these speakers? I really hope they won't sound noticeably from the ceiling. Also does anyone recommend installing them in the optional enclosures?

pitdogg2

For my HT I have 6 JBL HLS610's IMO it works for me a ton better than to have the HLS center front and rear. When listening to SACD/DVD-Audio's the 6 same speakers and 2 subs(1front 1 rear) are much more cohesive than with the center channels.

jojomgee

i need to buy some f/x speakers asap to complete 7.1

korie83

Actually after much debate, suggestions from avsforum, and some really good input by my friend, I've decided to not do the in-ceilings. Instead I'm going to do a 5.2 setup with FXi A6's as the rears/sides, 2 svs pb12 subs, and an emotiva xpa 5 to run all channels (3 RtiA6's and 2 FXi A6's).

Anyone know if overpowering the FXi A6's with 200watts per channel when they are rated for a max of 150 watts is going to be an issue?

BizmanJoe

korie83 wrote: »

Actually after much debate, suggestions from avsforum, and some really good input by my friend, I've decided to not do the in-ceilings. Instead I'm going to do a 5.2 setup with FXi A6's as the rears/sides, 2 svs pb12 subs, and an emotiva xpa 5 to run all channels (3 RtiA6's and 2 FXi A6's).

Anyone know if overpowering the FXi A6's with 200watts per channel when they are rated for a max of 150 watts is going to be an issue?

Actually, it's the lack of amplifier power that is the real issue. Clipping distortion will quickly lead to damaged/fried speakers. An extra 50 watts per channel would be considered "extra" safety margin, IMHO. To raise the volume just another 3db would entail doubling the amp wattage output.