TSi300 not pairing well to Onkyo 8020

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FelipeJR
FelipeJR Posts: 4
in 2 Channel Audio
I’m fairly new to pairing home audio amps and speakers and I’m trying to understand why the two TSi300 speakers that I just bought don’t sound good on my Onkyo8020 receiver. The speakers sounded great on the Denon receiver in the home of the person I bought them from. Any ideas?
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  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
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    Your room and or placement are somethings to consider but there are many other possibilities too.
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  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,871
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    maybe the denon just sounds better than the onkyo :)
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  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
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    Yeah, that too.
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  • FelipeJR
    FelipeJR Posts: 4
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    I was thinking that the Onkyo receiver being 50watts per channel is the problem.
    Also the receiver only allows for 4 or 6 ohms, and the Polk Audio speakers are 8 ohms.
    The receiver is 100 dB so I know that this means that the receiver will require less wattage to power the speakers.

    The Onkyo manual says to use the 6 ohms setting when using 8 ohms speakers. Not sure if this limitation is causing the speakers to not sound great?
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  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
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    That's odd, no 8 ohm rating?
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  • FelipeJR
    FelipeJR Posts: 4
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    afterburnt wrote: »
    That's odd, no 8 ohm rating?

    Only 4 and 6 ohms. My klipsch bookshelf speakers sound great on it. It’s a much smaller speaker so I’m wondering if the ohm limitation is causing the issue...

    https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1066554/Onkyo-Tx-8020.html?page=13

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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited April 2020
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    No man all receivers are rated and designed around 8 ohm speakers. This is the ohm rating of most speakers.Yours is rated at 50 watts into a 8 ohm load. There are not many 6 or 4 ohm speakers on the market compared to 8 ohm offerings. This is not the issue.
    First off Placement is everything. If you didn't place them properly then no matter what else you do they will not sound good.
    Room acoustics play a huge part in how your speakers sound at your listening position. From room to room they will sound different unless you have a perfectly treated space.
    Next is calibration. If you didn't properly calibrate them into the room then they will not sound as good as they can.
    During your calibration and setup they should be crossover over at 80hz and ran with a proper subwoofer or 2 to fill the room with bass. Bass reproduction is not ideal out of your speakers due to placement issues relative to the seating positions. This is usually not a good ratio. To run 2 subwoofers off that stereo receiver you will need a Y adapter RCA male to Dual RCA female.
    You have much work to do before you blame the Onkyo receiver for your satisfaction of those nice speakers.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
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    @mantis I absolutely agree, I was just trying not to spend the guys money. If he asked about upgrades I would have recommended a set up that would have him hungering for food.
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  • FelipeJR
    FelipeJR Posts: 4
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    mantis wrote: »
    You have much work to do before you blame the Onkyo receiver for your satisfaction of those nice speakers.

    Lol. Thanks. Is there a good tutorial video that I can watch on how to calibrate speakers?

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  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
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    I think he's talking about the built in room correction feature that most AVR's have.
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  • TennMan
    TennMan Posts: 1,264
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    FelipeJR wrote: »
    ...

    Only 4 and 6 ohms. My klipsch bookshelf speakers sound great on it. It’s a much smaller speaker so I’m wondering if the ohm limitation is causing the issue...

    https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1066554/Onkyo-Tx-8020.html?page=13

    On page 13 of the manual it gives an example of how to set the AVR for the speakers. It says to choose the 6 ohms setting if each speaker's impedance is 6 ohms or more. So the Onkyo isn't limited to 6 ohms and it should work fine with your speakers.

    I don't see where the manual mentions a built in speaker calibration feature on that AVR. You will have to use the tone controls and let you ears be your guide. Set them to what sounds good to you If that doesn't make you happy you might need to find another AVR. Next time buy one that you can return if you don't like it.
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,906
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    Aside from the already mentioned things like placement, your room, calibration, how about some other basic questions that appear dumb, but sometimes we just overlook.

    Are you sure those jumper plates on the back of the speakers are tight and secure ? What are you using as a source for music ? If your using cheap cabling, might be a good time to upgrade.

    The polks should run just fine on the 6 ohm setting in that Receiver. I might look at the placement within the room first, source for music second, good luck to you.
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  • TennMan
    TennMan Posts: 1,264
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    Also check the wiring all the way from the AVR to the speakers for correct polarity. When speakers are out of phase they sound like crap.
    • SDA 2BTL · Sonicaps · Mills resistors · RDO-198s · New gaskets · H-nuts · Erse inductors · BH5 · Dynamat
    • Crossover upgrades by westmassguy
    • Marantz 1504 AVR (front speaker pre-outs to Adcom 555)
    • Adcom GFA-555 amp · Upgrades & speaker protection added by OldmanSRS
    • Pioneer DV-610AV DVD/CD player
    • SDA CRS+ · Hidden away in the closet
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  • tediousresearch
    tediousresearch Posts: 1
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    I have polk rc85i speakers and they won't work with the onkyo TX-8020... Is there some setting I'm missing?
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