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Any one made a surround system from powered monitors?

post #1 of 17
2/26/12 at 1:58pm
Thread Starter 
I have a pair of KRK Rokit Powered 8's and I really like how they sound with music. I'm thinking about getting 3 Rokit Powered 5's and making a system. Is this a dumb idea? The only down side I can think of is having to turn them on/off individually.
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post #2 of 17
2/26/12 at 2:21pm
Connected to what?

You need a source that decodes Dolby Digital/DTS and has line level audio outputs for each channel.

Powering up three sets of speakers is the least of your potential problem(s). And for movies... a subwoofer would be a nice addition.
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post #3 of 17
2/26/12 at 3:00pm
Thread Starter 
A Receiver with Pre-outs? And il get a sub eventually I was going to get the KRK 10S to match but I think I'm going to get something better now.

I have a receiver I wasn't just planning on spicing these into the back of a Blu-ray player lol. I was just wondering, the receiver already has an amp, am I wasting my money paying for the extra amps and I could get better sounding speakers for the money or isn't it that much of a difference? I was wondering if anyone had ever preferred powered monitors and made a system with them.
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post #4 of 17
2/26/12 at 3:20pm
Just get the Marantz AV7005 and use its outputs to go to the powered speakers.

Lots of people do that.

It has no amplifiers of its own; it is designed for exactly that.

Powered monitors normally have balanced inputs and the AV7005 has balanced outputs on all 7 channels, which is perfect.




Quote:
Originally Posted by ScaryFatKidGT View Post

A Receiver with Pre-outs? And il get a sub eventually I was going to get the KRK 10S to match but I think I'm going to get something better now.

I have a receiver I wasn't just planning on spicing these into the back of a Blu-ray player lol. I was just wondering, the receiver already has an amp, am I wasting my money paying for the extra amps and I could get better sounding speakers for the money or isn't it that much of a difference? I was wondering if anyone had ever preferred powered monitors and made a system with them.
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post #5 of 17
2/26/12 at 3:33pm
Powered speakers have a lot of advantages and doing a system with them is great. Use any receiver you prefer that has pre-outs and fits your budget or a pre-amp as suggested.
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post #6 of 17
2/26/12 at 3:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScaryFatKidGT View Post

I have a pair of KRK Rokit Powered 8's and I really like how they sound with music. I'm thinking about getting 3 Rokit Powered 5's and making a system. Is this a dumb idea? The only down side I can think of is having to turn them on/off individually.

By the time you buy another Rockit 8 and then get a receiver that has preouts, you might as well get a less expensive receiver and three good front speakers, and then sell the Rockit 8's you have to help for the system.

Sure. I've heard the Rockit 8's. They sound great for powered monitors. But in each one, you are paying for an amplifer. By the time someone spends $900 on three Rockit 8s and another $700 or more (I don't know the exact cost) on a receiver with L/R/C pre-outs, one could get a receiver and a kickass 3.0 or 3.1 speaker setup that I'm sure would exceed the performance of the Rockits.

So before you go this route, go listen to some L/R/C passive speaker sets in the $1000+ range and be sure that the Rockits sound better. I'll put my Energy RC-10s and an RC-LCR up against them. Or especially my Energy RC-50s and the RC-LCR. Would kick the Rockits ass
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post #7 of 17
2/26/12 at 4:16pm
I'm building my system with powered monitors... Sounds awesome! Check my build.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1383620
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post #8 of 17
2/26/12 at 4:28pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cel4145 View Post

By the time you buy another Rockit 8 and then get a receiver that has preouts, you might as well get a less expensive receiver and three good front speakers, and then sell the Rockit 8's you have to help for the system.

Sure. I've heard the Rockit 8's. They sound great for powered monitors. But in each one, you are paying for an amplifer. By the time someone spends $900 on three Rockit 8s and another $700 or more (I don't know the exact cost) on a receiver with L/R/C pre-outs, one could get a receiver and a kickass 3.0 or 3.1 speaker setup that I'm sure would exceed the performance of the Rockits.

So before you go this route, go listen to some L/R/C passive speaker sets in the $1000+ range and be sure that the Rockits sound better. I'll put my Energy RC-10s and an RC-LCR up against them. Or especially my Energy RC-50s and the RC-LCR. Would kick the Rockits ass

*Sighhhhhhhhhhhhh* I already have a receiver with pre-outs and I would get the 5's for the surrounds not 8's which would already be much larger than most surround speakers and I would use my 8's as fronts.

I thought about getting regular passive surround and center speakers and keeping my monitors for fronts but wasn't sure how that would work out. And I don't really have enough money to buy a good new 5.1 system maybe a decent system but thats about it, the 2 towers for fronts are what is so expensive which is why I was thinking about keeping my monitors for fronts.
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post #9 of 17
2/26/12 at 4:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScaryFatKidGT View Post

*Sighhhhhhhhhhhhh* I already have a receiver with pre-outs and I would get the 5's for the surrounds which would already be much larger than most surround speakers and I would use my 8's as fronts.

I thought about getting regular passive surround and center speakers and keeping my monitors for fronts but wasn't sure how that would work out. And I don't really have enough money to buy a good new 5.1 system, the 2 towers for fronts are what is so expensive which is why I was thinking about keeping my monitors.

I would go listen to passive speaker before you go this route. And you don't have to have towers for fronts to equal what the Rockits can do, although Polk Monitor 60s and 70s towers are on sale at Newegg all the time for around $200 to $300. And depending on the type of music you like, you might want a sub. So five passive speakers and a sub could be better than the Rockits for the same cost. You could build a Polk Monitor system with towers and BIC F12 sub for $800 or less.

So just go listen before you go this non-standard method for building a surround system and make certain it's the best value for you. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad choice. It's just there is a reason most people don't do this as a performance/price value.
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post #10 of 17
2/26/12 at 4:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by commsysman View Post

Just get the Marantz AV7005 and use its outputs to go to the powered speakers.

Lots of people do that.

It has no amplifiers of its own; it is designed for exactly that.

Powered monitors normally have balanced inputs and the AV7005 has balanced outputs on all 7 channels, which is perfect.

$1600 looking to spend about that on the 5 speaks and sub.
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post #11 of 17
2/26/12 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScaryFatKidGT View Post

$1600 looking to spend about that on the 5 speaks and sub.

You can get a killer 5.1 setup for that. In fact, since your receiver has pre-outs, you should be able to start with buying 3.1 and use the Rockits for the rears until you can replace them
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post #12 of 17
2/26/12 at 5:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cel4145 View Post

I would go listen to passive speaker before you go this route. And you don't have to have towers for fronts to equal what the Rockits can do, although Polk Monitor 60s and 70s towers are on sale at Newegg all the time for around $200 to $300. And depending on the type of music you like, you might want a sub. So five passive speakers and a sub could be better than the Rockits for the same cost. You could build a Polk Monitor system with towers and BIC F12 sub for $800 or less.

So just go listen before you go this non-standard method for building a surround system and make certain it's the best value for you. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad choice. It's just there is a reason most people don't do this as a performance/price value.

Don't have a place to listen to anything only Bestbuy and a small place that only has Paradigm and Wharfedale. I compared my KRK's to the Paradigm monitor FS speaks there (idk if they were the 7's, 9's what ever) and there wasn't an awful lot of a difference, with the whole system 5.1 it was incredible but with just the Floorstanders vs. my monitors the Paradigms sounded warmer and a little smoother/easier to listen to with about the same level of detail but I should say I only got to listen to 2 songs on each and about 4 min of a movie.

The Paradigm Studio Reference speakers sounded great but at that price the law of diminishing returns comes into place and I couldn't afford speakers over $2000 a pair anyway.
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post #13 of 17
2/26/12 at 5:56pm
BestBuy has the Polk TSI series which is the same as the Polk Monitors (different cabinet aesthetics). Of course, they sometimes do a horrible job with their setup, making it hard to actually evaluate speakers. I don't personally think the Polk Monitor/TSi series will sound as good as the Paradigm Monitor series, but your preferences could be different.

If you like the Paradigm Monitors, you might need to demo them in home. Speaker sound better/worse in different environments.
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post #14 of 17
2/26/12 at 6:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cel4145 View Post

You can get a killer 5.1 setup for that. In fact, since your receiver has pre-outs, you should be able to start with buying 3.1 and use the Rockits for the rears until you can replace them

Yeah I was looking at Paradigm stuff but there towers are a pricey and the book shelves are tiny like an after thought I think they just expect you to use there FS speakers and surrounds and not to touch the book shelf speakers. The only problem is my KRK's kinda have to stay where they are by my desk/TV for mixing I cant move them to the other side of my room. 140w 8" Bi amped surrounds
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post #15 of 17
2/26/12 at 7:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScaryFatKidGT View Post

Yeah I was looking at Paradigm stuff but there towers are a pricey and the book shelves are tiny like an after thought I think they just expect you to use there FS speakers and surrounds and not to touch the book shelf speakers. The only problem is my KRK's kinda have to stay where they are by my desk/TV for mixing I cant move them to the other side of my room. 140w 8" Bi amped surrounds

If you are planning on mixing, you don't want to use home audio equipment for that

But I thought the Rockit 8's were 90w each?
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post #16 of 17
2/27/12 at 11:11am
When I was in college I made a 7.1 system consisting solely of M&K Professional Powered Monitors (2510P's for mains and 2525P's for surrounds) and a 400W subwoofer (MPS 5410). It was quite incredible, but I ended up selling the system after moving into an apartment. I am once again looking to assemble an active/powered set-up. Now that the original M&K company is defunct, I have turned my attention to Seaton products.
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post #17 of 17
2/27/12 at 3:19pm
If you already have a receiver and two powered fronts, the notion of a 5.1 system with powered monitors is awesome. If you only need 3 rockit 5's to complete the setup, i say do it. As others here have said, a rockit 8 matched centre channel would be better. Also, if you plan on some bass, a subwoofer is in order.

If your budget really is $1600, that still leaves almost $1000 for a sub
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