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mecinic2002
mecinic2002 Posts: 1
edited November 2003 in Troubleshooting
I have RT2000i, CS400iand RTI150 and i have an onkyo 989ver2 and it keeps going into thermal protection over 75, onkyo says there is nothing wrong with there amp and that it is in the speakers.They said the amp will run at 82 all day and then above. I have sent in all the speakers and got them back and the amp is doing the same do i need to take the amp back and get somethig else.I do not feel that it is as loud as it could go it is crystal clear sounds great.I just think it sounds as loud as it shold.Also i am thinking of getting the RTI12 for the center is that a good choice.Thank you for your help
Post edited by mecinic2002 on

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,805
    edited November 2003
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    It's my understanding that the 150's eat amps. Other than that, I'm not a HT kinda guy, so I can't help you any further. I'm sure some of the HT crowd will chime in soon.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,805
    edited November 2003
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    Ok, I checked with someone who knows more about your situation than I. This is what they said, your receiver doesn't have enough juice to drive the 150's. That the 150's require alot of power to drive them.

    On another note, I take it that you have a digital volume control, but no matter. For the most part the max. volume level should not exceed halfway.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • dholmes
    dholmes Posts: 1,136
    edited November 2003
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    I have owned the rti150s since they came out, drove them for a while with a denon receiver, no problems. I currently drive them with a adcom power amp & they do sound better! Do you have each channel balanced with a spl meter? Also does the Onkyo have enough ventilation? I owned a Onyko receiver( the best one in 1995) it ran a little on the warm side but never shut down. Sounds like your over driving.
    My HT set-up Panasonic front proj, 120 in ws screen, ATI amp,Integra 9.8 pre-pro, 2 Polk rti150, cp 1000, 4 fx 1000, Pioneer blu-ray 2 SVS sub pb 12-ultra 2, & Paragon popcorn popper. ps 3 Coaster leather HT recliners.
  • Dr. Spec
    Dr. Spec Posts: 3,780
    edited November 2003
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    RTi150 = power and current hog. Has a bad repuation of sending AVRs into protect mode. Needs 300-500 WPC of high current power into 4 ohms to be driven properly.

    Nothing wrong with the Oink; most other AVRs can't drive them either. Sell the 150's, or get an external amp that can drive them. Expect the same with the RTi12.
    "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

    Ed Mullen (emullen@svsound.com)
    Director - Technology and Customer Service
    SVS
  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,372
    edited November 2003
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    Originally posted by mecinic2002
    I have RT2000i, CS400iand RTI150 and i have an onkyo 989ver2 and it keeps going into thermal protection over 75...do i need to take the amp back and get somethig else. Also i am thinking of getting the RTI12 for the center is that a good choice.Thank you for your help

    Look at it this way--when your receiver goes into thermal protection, it is telling you it is working too hard and needs to take a breather. Even high current separate amplifiers have thermal protection circuits to prevent damage from excessive heat buildup. You could improve airflow to extend the periods between shut downs but you'll still have it shutting down because the current demands of the RTi150s are high. Polk has moved away from powered tower designs which I think is good overall, but not for those who are relying on receivers alone to power their new large speakers. I'd suggest adding a separate 5-channel amplifier and using your otherwise excellent receiver as a pre-pro. Outlaw Audio's model 755 seems like the best value for a new amp to me right now at $1299 and 5 x 200 wpc into 8 ohms.

    The RTi12 is the fourth generation of Polk's large RTi speakers (RT2000p, RT2000i, RTi150, RTi12). The first two models used a trilaminate tweeter matching your CS400i. The RTi150 and RTi12 use different silk dome tweeters. Although Polk indicates that the new RTi line is voice matched with previous RTi speakers, I find the match to be less than perfect. If you do get an RTi12 as a center speaker you'll be mixing three different tweeters together.

    The only reason I can think of to get a fifth large tower is for multichannel audio use. Am I right in thinking you're not using this system for home theater? I haven't heard the new tweeter in the RTi12s yet, but have heard it in the RTi8s. It is significantly brighter sounding to me than the tweeter in the RTi150s. I'd suggest looking for another RTi150 instead of an RTi12 so the front soundstage would be perfectly matched. I think the new tweeter is a better match with the trilaminate tweeter though, so having three RTi12s up front instead of three RTi150s makes more sense to me.