Calling all Polkies:Official Polk thread - Page 458

A good bit of both, but mostly music. As well as gaming.

As for the sub, probably around or under $250.

Well!

I've done some experimenting with what I will call "AVR" biamping... I made a couple of quick jumpers out of speaker wire (two 14 AWG conductors twisted together) and set the speakers to normal (single channel per speaker). The results weren't as dramatic as I had first thought (placebo). I am no audiophile by any stretch of the imagination, but I have good hearing for my age... (I just had a hearing test and I'm good to 17 KHz) with no loss in the lower freqs...) LOL

The perceived loudness or sound pressure (since I have no sound pressure meter) was very close to the same. The bass still seemed hard and sharp in normal mode. In biamp mode, however, I was getting deeper bass. The bass (and the treble) response seemed to be a little sharper and crisp in biamp mode. It was subtle though. I did notice the house vibrated a little more from the biamped speaker bass, making me lean toward a slightly more powerful bass note. I used the same song at the same time spots and the volume was set to 82 dB (THX reference on my AVR).

My conclusion is that the "AVR biamp" is very subtly making a difference, but only at high volumes. The double power from two channels is definitely not there. It is, without a doubt, very subtle.

After thoughts, I will benefit tremendously from a "TRUE" 300 WPC all channels driven amplifier like the XPA-2. Now the dilemma is, do I tell the wife or order it and let her "thrash me within an inch of my life" (Floyd) when it arrives???

I say order it! You only live once homey.

Yeah, but my wife is Filipino and I don't want this life to end at a UPS delivery... LOL

Lmao!! I hear you man.

It's easier to get forgiveness than to ask permission!

I don't think this applies to filipino women though (I'm married to one myself). They don't let anything go!

My wife is Italian, she already knows what I'm going to do before I do.

So when I order stuff and it shows up and trip all over myself trying to explain, she just says, I knew this was going to happen, I'm like, cool, can you go ahead and let me know what I'm getting next?

Just won a used CSi3 off EBay for $50 shipped. Can't wait to give it a listen and compare to my CS1. Looked in good condition in the pics. For $50, it's worth giving it a shot.

Still trying to find RTi 10 or A7 at a good price. I'm on the hunt.

Congrats on the Csi3 - hope you like it. The Rti10 is a great speaker... I'm running 10's up front. I'm considering picking up another pair of Rti8's... not sure what I'd do with them just yet - already running 8's as surrounds and almost like their sound better than the 10's.

So now I have a quandary. I'm looking at purchasing the XPA-2, howerver, the Emotiva XAP-2 has a 12v trigger on or a push button power switch for manual.

The Onkyo TX-NR3009 only has a 12v trigger for zone 2/3. There is also no !@#$%^& switched outlet !@#%#&*. Sorry for the rant...

I can't figure out how I will power on the XPA-2 without having to turn it on manually. I am wondering if I can use the zone 2 trigger by turning on zone 2 with my Logitech Harmony One remote automatically. Will turning on zone 2 cause any degradation or problems if I don't use it for anything other than the trigger???

This really steams me as I will not buy the amp if I cannot automatically power it on with my remote. Maybe a green surge protector???

Just leave it on 24/7. My amp is always in with no issues. They dot draw that much power when not in use

Sounds like some good advice.

I was also looking at a green (switched) surge protector and an AC to 12VDC 1A adapter and putting a 3.5mm jack on it.

On 24/7 doesn't sound like a bad idea. I've heard leaving them on prevents waiting for "warm up" time too...

Thanks brother.

I guess Emotiva has some of the best amps uh? I see a lot of people talk about them

Best? Not by a long-shot. They're pretty good for the money though.

What do you feel are the better ones?

Many say that there is no difference in tonality between amps....my ears tell me differently.

Musically, there are a whole spectrum of better amps out there, IMO. To name a few......Parasound, Adcom, NAD, Rotel...and for the uber high end: McIntosh.

Emotiva amps are great for the price, but seem more home theater oriented. They're legitimately powerful, and extremely dynamic, but lack finesse when it comes to music. I'm running my LSi9's off an XPA-5 right now, but my preference musically are the old Rotel and Harman Kardon amps I was running before (which had half the WPC).

I stuck with the XPA-5 when I decided to give home theater priority, as the LSi9's are pretty hard to drive, and the Rotel and HK had trouble getting the high SPL dynamics you want in HT. (no replacement for displacement when it comes to an inefficient speaker and HT!). Amps start getting really expensive when you start looking at 200WPC, and Emotiva really is a great value in terms of pure WPC for the money.

When it comes to music, however, there's more to the equation than WPC, IMO.

Thanks for the input. I do pretty much mostly movies, so the Emotiva should work for me as I want to keep price low.

Like mystik610 says, I know there are much better amps out there. I've heard some really sweet ones. I think the Emotiva's are a great value. They give good performance to the average listener for a great price. I personally can't spend 1500-2500 dollars on an amp. Some I've seen go for four times that much... Too rich for my blood.

I'm looking at the Emo XPA-2 simply because the speakers I purchased are power hungry and need a few more watts than the typical AVR can provide to make them sound their best. The RTi A9s sound great, but they can be awaken with the extra watts. I'm definitely not going with the full 500 WPC on them though. 300 WPC will be more than I can comfortable use (except when pissing off the neighbors)...

Plus, you might be able to find a second hand unit at different sites (Emotiva Lounge, CL, Audiogon, eBay, etc.) at a reduced price. Cool thing about it is that "in most cases" you should be able to transfer the warranty under your name. So, a 300 WPC amplifier for a really good price and with few years left of warranty is a deal really hard to pass.....

Plus 1 for you sir.

I was close to purchasing an Emotiva when I stumbled across this thread. I would suggest giving it a read. I use two QSC pro amps to power mains and center with great results. I do not think there are any amps that can provide the cost to power ratio of a pro amp.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=418666

I'll have to disagree with that one. Your XPA-5 is rated the same as my XPA-3. I wasn't that impressed with the RTiA9 musically with that amount of power.

When I added more WPC with the XPA-2, the sound of the speaker changed to way better (less harsh on the highs).

I can understand the difference of sound in amps as you pointed out with your prior ownership, but more power does have something to say.

I think we have to look at the speakers in question here. If using a 200 WPC max speaker like the B&W 703, you might not experience much added benefit from an increase in wattage.

Now that we are dealing predominately with a power hungry speaker with three 7" bass drivers capable of hitting 30 Hz (-3dB low) and a total power capacity of a massive 500 WPC we should speak directly about this particular speaker, which has a sweat spot of between 250 - 500 WPC for awesome dynamics (from what I've read from reviewers).

When moving from 200 WPC on a power hungry speaker to 300 WPC when the max is 500... I think we are approaching the sweat spot. My RTi A9s have great dynamics with the AVR at 140 WPC (AVR biamped) but I can imagine what 300 WPC will do for them.

Realistically, the RTi A9 benefits from more power due to the bass drivers. The mid-high array is much easier to drive and becomes tinny or high, leaving the bass drivers to want for more power. With more power, the highs will not draw more power than needed, but the triple 7s will get the power they need to even out the sound stage.

These are mostly educated guesses on my part, and in part from listening to others with the same setup, and should not be taken as a law of nature... LOL

Could these speakers sound great with an 80 WPC high fi tube amp, electronics crossovers, and pre-pro... most assuredly. Wold they have the bass response of 300 WPC, not likely...

Receiver question, I am looking at several.. the Denon AVR-791... the Denon 1712... or the Onkyo HT-R590... all are 7.1.. the onkyo is cheaper and has more options as far as inputs etc. (my plan was to run two opticals as inputs, one being my Directv HR24 and the other the ps3) I know onkyo are having some problems with several of their models but I didnt see this one listed. I am leaning towards the 1712 but it is the more expensive one out of this list and has similar features to the others. Ideas between these?

Probably best if you post this in the amps section. Will get a better response.

The 1712 has MultEQ XT. The R590 only has 2EQ.

From your overall post, it sounds like you've got it. From this quote here, I must relate this; my Monitor 70's were rated at 275max watts. I demoed them when I sold them and had my 300watt amp connected to them. I had never heard my M70's sound that good, great sounding fits the description. The buyer was sold on the first CD of remastered Animals by P floyd, the sound was incredible. Definitely, adding more power is a good thing for inproved sound.

Of the three receivers you have listed, one is a "home theater in a box", the Onkyo HT-R590. Two are discontinued so you may find a great deal on them if you can find them.

The Denon 1712 is a current model and will support all of your needs, however, the need to run optical output from your DirecTV HR24 and Sony PS3 is perplexing. Both of those components have HDMI outputs. Optical output would be best used for components without HDMI and when the only alternative is stereo output via RCA.

The HDMI outputs from both your satellite and console will give you the digital surround output (or digital stereo sound quality) I believe you are seeking. Optical will only benefit you only if you are not using the video and adds unnecessary cabling.

If I were to go out and buy one of the three, I would most likely go with the Denon 1712 as it has all of the features of the other two and is a current model (not that newer is any better).

There are a couple more options if Onkyo is a brand you are considering. The TX-NR515 and the TX-NR609 are a little more expensive but have a couple of future proof technologies (i.e. 4K up-scaling, 192K 24 bit Burr Brown DACs, network ready with adapter or Cat-5). They also offer slightly higher power outputs if you decide to upgrade speaker components in the future.

Ultimately, the price is going to be a factor. Saving a month or two more and getting a newer (future ready) model may end up saving you regrets or upgrade prices later...

Hope this helps my friend.

After owning Parasound/Adcom I would disagree and say your experience may fall flat in a proper level matched SBT A/B/X.

I have compared the XPA-3 to a NAD C272 and they both did a great job on some PSB Synchrony Ones. Even the D&M rep (they own Denon/Marantz/PSB/NAD and a few others) couldn't fault the Emotiva vs the NAD.

I'm still an audioinfans... I now, however, use the term "AVR biamping" as it is a common (albiet missued/misunderstood) application of the true biamping methodology.

I'm glad I set up a real world test of the normal and AVR biamp setups right here in my home with high quality test files... I'm still a little disappointed that AVR biamping didn't really give me much benefit at all...