Choosing a new system

Old Scot · January 2003

I was hoping for some help choosing the speakers for a new system - here is what I have identified so far:

RTi 70s - fronts
CSi 30 - Center
RTi 28s - Surround
PSW 303 - Sub

I am running a Yamaha RXV 620 Receiver and a Toshiba SD 1800 DVD. I do not have a lot of extra cash and I am trying to stay within a budget of $2000 CDN.

Do the RTi 70s overwhelm the other products included here? I have thought about exchanging the RTi 28s for the FXi30s?

Desperately wanting to decide,

Thanks,

Old Scot

dthomps · January 2003

Hey Old Scot-
That sounds like a great speaker list. The Rti70's have a really nice sound to them. IMHO the most important swap you could make for yourself would be the Csi30 for the Csi40- YOu will really notice a difference between the two, and a really nice center is pretty important. I looket it up on Polks website how much this would all cost, and it came out to a bit over your budget with the Fxi30s. If it makes much difference, you can buy the Csi40 all day on ebay for around $300 (US) shipped. If you are set on a Csi30 I am sure it would quite well in a home theater setup. I would recommend going to your local Circuit City and having a good long listening session and really find out what you really like. Take it easy, I hope this helps you out. Mike

Soccerplyr · January 2003

Having just made the upgrade to the RTi70's, I suggest getting something bigger then the 303. You won't even notice it's there. Saturday I took back my velo cht 8 (thank you CC 1 yr upgrade) because the bass provided by the 70's made the sub useless. I got the 404 (frequency response a little better then the same size velo) and have noticed a little difference. Jury still out as I haven't had sufficent time to play with it yet.

kberg · January 2003

Hey there,

Well, I can tell you that the RTi70's are an excellent choice, and I agree with the CSi40 over the CSi30, but don't get me wrong here. I "test drove" the CSi30 as well, and it is also a great sounding center - I just think the CSi40 better matches the RTi70's if you're concerned about a perfectly matching front soundstage - and yes, the CSi40 is more expensive, but worth it. The center channel speaker is the most important speaker in your system.

The FXi30's are incredible speakers, and I highly recommend them over RTi28's, if you are more interested in movies than music because of their bipole/dipole feature. If you are as interested in music just as much as movies (not me, I'm primarily a movie guy), then the RTi28's or RTi38's (being direct-firing speakers) are a better choice, I believe.

Hope that helps.

Kevin

Old Scot · January 2003

Thanks for the responses all. I have decided to splurge more than my expected budget (budgets were meant to be exceeded weren't they) and I am going to add the CSi 40 Center. The jury is still out on the Sub however.

Once again thanks!

joe logston · January 2003

up grade your sub, that will be the best for the money, a good sub is worth its weight in gold

Old Scot · January 2003

Well here is where I ended up (When the RTi70s came through the door - divorce loomed - they are now being returned :-( ).

Fronts: RTi 38s
Center: CSi 40
Surround: RTi 28s
Sub: PSW 404

Overall I think I have ended up with a decent system:-) What do you think?

Old Scot

RuSsMaN · January 2003

Sounds like a great system.

Let me get this straight though, the *wife* wouldn't let you keep the 70's, but she doesn't have a problem with 38's on stands?

And contrary to popular belief, ALL speakers are important in home theater, not just the center. Lookin' good Scott.

Cheers,
Russ

faster100 · January 2003

My wife actually liked the towers (70's) over the stands and rti55's we had, we had the csi30 and liked it, just was able to pick up the csi40 "real" cheap and nabbed it, the 404 when setup right can definatly make a big difference and anyone who can't tell much difference maybe needs to calibrate it, or turn it up.. The 303 was nice when im listened to it at CC but the 404 was the best... The 70's are nice and i have had them for almost a year...

Choosing a new system

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