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Polk RM6750 5.1 with Sony STR-DN1080?

11K views 22 replies 8 participants last post by  dacks 
#1 ·
Recently finished my basement and replacing all my old A/V equipment - need some advice on this (planned) set-up:

- VIZIO M65-E0 ($CAD 1480 @ Costco)
- SONY STR-DN1080 ($CAD 600 @ Bestbuy)
- Polk RM6570 5.1 ($CAD 300 @ Bestbuy with discount)

Prices are Canadian dollars - I have a budget of $2000 but I think waiting for Good Friday sales, I should be able to squeeze it in.

I'm curious what you guys think of this set-up in general, but mostly the receiver / speaker combination. I'm not very knowledgeable about the audio side. We will mostly watch for movies and sports, maybe some gaming at some point. It's a small room (probably about 12 x 15) and we have young (sleeping) children, so I'm really focused on clear crisp surround sound over volume and bass. I'm wondering if I'm going overboard on the receiver relative to the speaker budget, and if I should re-allocate elsewhere.

My backups are the DENON AVR-S730H and Monoprice 10165 or Polk RM705. I want a receiver with ATMOS because I plan to complete a 5.1.2 set-up at some point with wired speakers. (When we have more money / my wife isn't paying attention.)

Thoughts? I've lurked here and read a lot of threads, but finally looking to buy and value the advice here!
 
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#2 ·
Good God, no.

Just start with a decent pair of speakers, instead of 5 crappy little plastic ones with a crappy little plastic sub. Build your system piece by piece. That way you will not have to resell the cheap junk that you bought at the beginning. And I'd just toss the whole idea of Atmos for now.

Start with: 2 decent speakers. Then add a decent subwoofer. Then add a center speaker. Then two cheap surround speakers.

If you want to wait less, find a post box receiving service in the US so you can buy stuff shipped there from US vendors online, drive over the border and pick it up. Canada is a wonderful country in many respects, but the shopping is horrendous especially for audio.
 
#4 ·
Good God, no.

Just start with a decent pair of speakers, instead of 5 crappy little plastic ones with a crappy little plastic sub. Build your system piece by piece. That way you will not have to resell the cheap junk that you bought at the beginning. And I'd just toss the whole idea of Atmos for now.

Start with: 2 decent speakers. Then add a decent subwoofer. Then add a center speaker. Then two cheap surround speakers.

If you want to wait less, find a post box receiving service in the US so you can buy stuff shipped there from US vendors online, drive over the border and pick it up. Canada is a wonderful country in many respects, but the shopping is horrendous especially for audio.

Thanks for the quick response! The availability of items in Canada is horrible from what I've seen, including online, but I can ship to Ogdensburg and pick up, which is only 90 minutes away.


If I was looking at entry-level bookshelves, the following seem to get some good reviews here, and in online reviews:
- Sony CS5: I can get a pair in Canada for $CAD 322.99 or order from the US for $118
- Pioneer SP-BS22: CDN$ 168.00 / $129 US


Would those be a good place to start?



In general, I'm having a hard time selling my wife on upgrading our audio - she can walk into a bestbuy and pick out OLED screens from a mile away, but thinks our TV speakers are fine. So maybe a piece by piece upgrade is the best solution.
 
#3 ·
Wow.... I can't believe Polk is still selling RM6750 speakers. I think I had one 6750 Center like 15 years ago and it was pretty bad...Hey we are talking 15 years ago and it was bad already. Like Zorba said, get a pair of decent bookshelf to start with then when funds are available, get the center and surrounds but DO NOT get those plastic speakers.
 
#6 ·
#13 ·
#7 ·
You don't want to ruin the experience of a brand new TV with a lousy HTIB set. You could start with a pair of Polk S15's and Bic acoustech H-100 sub, then add center and surrounds later.
https://www.visions.ca/Catalogue/Category/Details.aspx?categoryId=160&productId=33292&sku=S15
https://www.amazon.ca/Acoustech-H-1...&qid=1508011947&sr=8-3&keywords=bic+subwoofer
If budget is super tight, You can get Sounstage S2b bookshelf speakers for $68/pair. You can later move them to surround duty later on. The Soundstage speakers will still be much better than any HTIB in your budget.
https://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=160&productId=29235&sku=SESSIONS2B
The previously mentioned NHT's are also a great option.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for all the advice - since posting here I've been browsing a few of the other budget home theater threads and getting a good sense of where to put my money. I've decided not to worry about a new receiver right away, as I still have a functional Yamaha that can handle the audio component. (I'd like to upgrade the receiver so it can handle HDMI at some point, but that can wait until Boxing Day.) So instead I'll focus on bookshelf / sub and upgrade centre / rear later on.


While it seems like I can get a good deal on bookshelf speakers, the subwoofer is another story. Emotiva ships direct to Canada but the shipping start bumping the price up. There are some sales from online Canadian vendors, but mostly on Polk & Klipsh units. If I can get a Klipsh R-12SW for less than the Emotiva 12", should I go for it?


The plan for now is to make a list of all the equipment I'm interested in, and then wait for the Black Friday deals to hit. I'd rather have all my research done before that.
 
#9 ·
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#17 ·
The Sony Core series went on sale at BHPhotoVideo and they export to Canada so I pounced. BHP is offering both the CS5 (pair) and CS8 Centre channel for $75 - I can't imagine it will get cheaper than that. All told, $US 206.91 for the three speakers, including shipping, Canadian taxes, and duties. Pretty happy.

I also found a Canadian dealer that carries the Emotiva subs (S10 and S12) at a reasonable price (cheaper than ordering direct) so I'll do that next. And I need to save every penny because after taking my wife to AudioShop she's saying OLED or bust.

Thanks again for all the advice!
 
#18 ·
I would order a second pair of the Cores, and compare how using a single Core bookshelf sounds in the center position vs the Core center. If you find that the Core center is ok, then use the 2nd pair of Core bookshelves for surrounds. A number of forumites have not been crazy about that Core center with its 2-way design and 4" woofers (the Core bookshelves have 5.25" woofers and a 3 way design).
 
#23 ·
Speakers arrived yesterday; very happy with the result! I don't have the "audio vocabulary" to define the difference, but a few things I noticed:
- Music sounds SO GOOD. I know the audiophiles here probably consider the cores pretty basic, but I popped in one of my favorite songs - the Jose Gonzales cover of "Heartbeats" by The Knife - and the difference was night and day. Hard to describe, the but the sound felt very warm, while also being incredible crisp and clear. It completely filled the room. Every pluck of the string sang. Just beautiful. I have a feeling I might be heading down to the basement just to read the paper, if the music sounds that good.
- The difference wasn't AS noticeable for movies, but still good. Dialogue was a lot crisper. I could turn the volume up without feeling overpowered. And I could tell the frequency range was better, because I had forgotten to connect my sub when I set up the new speakers, but the new speakers without sub sounded better overall than the old speakers with sub.

Anyway, very happy at the price. Also bought the OLED 65" over the weekend. Next is to upgrade the receiver during black friday, and pick up an Emotiva sub.



Well, I already had a pretty budget HTIB set from Yamaha. So the choice was to improve the speakers, or just keep that set. I'm not disappointed. And at $US 75 for a pair of Sony Core bookshelves, I think it was worth trying.
 
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