Apeaker assistance

[kevinw]

What I am looking for is something the size of the Bose dual cubes. Either a 5 speaker or 5.1 speaker system. Price is an issue...Best bang for the least amount of $$$. Any ideas in the 5-900 range?
Possibly a 4 speaker setup an I will use my current Sub and center till my next upgrade time.
must be small speakers...

[P175]

Hi Kevin,

I am running the Polk Audio RM6700's and am very happy with them. Take a look at :

http://www.polkaudio.com/home/products.php?category=2&speaker=317

[kevinw]

Thanks they happen to be a set I am looking at
http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-GohykPXqzXW/ProdGroup.asp?c=4&g=12700&s=0&cc=01&search=

These definitly fit the specs I am looking for..now to find a retail store to test them
Kevin
Curoius about your logo-Rugby?

[P175]

Indeed, Mad Kiwi .. now in Michigan missing the World Cup as I can't get Fox Sports World on Comcast .. [grumble]

Can't complain too much however as HDTV is a very long way off in NZ. Mind you so is Cable ! and lets not even discuss broadband Internet. I would have had to sell the farm to get the setup I have here back home.

As far as the Polks go, I really couldn't be happier. Take a look at my gallery and you can see them on the wall for size comparison.

Take care. Kia Ora !

[LeeS]

Kevin,

How soon to you need the speakers?

My A/V store is having a blow out on some Polk's. I'll have to get the model numbers for you tomorrow. Size was an issue was it not?

Thanks,
Lee

[kevinw]

No hurry Just looking..I research forever till I pull the trigger..

[spaceman_spiff]

Might want to take a look for energy take 5. They are very highly rated for their size/performance. I have them, I am very pleased with them. I am not thinking of changing them for a long time.

You can find 5 timbre matched speakers without the sub for $350.

Better yet you can buy take 5.2 which are the newer version of the Take 5, which are supposed to be better. You can find Take 5.2 + sub for about $700. Great bang for the buck.
I am an energy speaker fan. Thats why I am blowing the trumpet for them.

Do you have Good Guys in GA ? They carry energy speakers for a great price.

[Ratman]

Originally posted by spaceist
This will blow the pants off the bose speakers.

Now, now...
No one's made mention of Bose (other than "size")! Let's not 'fan the flames'. It could get ugly. We've all been here long enough to know issues and opinions of Bose products.

Anyway, we've got other 'personalities' to deal with that deserve to be criticized more than Bose! :D

Previous content edited by a Bose owner, not necessarily a lover.

[spaceman_spiff]

Originally posted by kevinw
What I am looking for is something the size of the Bose dual cubes.

Well to be precise, kevinw mentioned bose, but I dont want to offend any bose lovers.
So I edited the above post. :p

[kevinw]

I am Not saying bad things about BOSE..
No Goodguys just -CC,BB,HHgregg and Hi-FI Buys. There are specialty stores also.
I have liked what everyone has offered. I need to start sound testing..
Thanks
k

[spaceman_spiff]

You can also listen to Athena Point 5 at local BB. They are made by the same company as Energy speakers. These speakers are have great reviews. And they are not very expensive either ($399). Might be a little bigger than what you are looking for, but definitely sound very good.

http://www.athenaspeakers.com/point5SeriesSpeakers.htm

Also check Mirage AVS series at Tweeter if you have that store in your area. These are also made my the same company as Energy. They seem to be similar to Energy Take 5.

http://www.miragespeakers.com/PDFs/current_manuals/avs/avs600/AVS600brochure.pdf

[ScottA]

Kevin,

I recently purchased the Polk RM6700 and have been very pleased. I have a 16x16 room with cathedral ceiling and the system is plenty loud. Can crank them as loud as I can stand and they still sound clear. I bought mine at local CC and got them for $699 with the 303 sub.

I auditioned the Polk 7200 and 7600 also as well as the Athena's. All sounded good, but the 6700's were the smallest which is what my wanted.

I don't think you would go wrong with these.

[kevinw]

Scott,
I was reading something about the Polk 6700 having a special way of connecting speakers through the sub. Is this true?
Spaceist,
Thanks
I may do some "auditioning" this weekend. Everyones recomendations are in the ballpark:)
Thanks

[IPAonTAP]

Kevin, I have purchased the 6700's as well. I am going to hook them up tonight. The Polk website is fantastic regarding various hook up options. They also have a toll free # with good tech support on this system and integrating it with your specific A/V receiver. The # is (800) 377-7655.

[ScottA]

Kevin,

Yes they have a recommended set up. You run your wire out from receiver into sub and then from sub to speaker. This is only for the fronts. You run the Center and surrounds direct.

I have a 6.1 set up this way. Bought an extra satellite from Crutchfield. The system is simple to set up. Most of my time was just spent running the speaker wire.

I researched alot on satellite speaker systems. I know alot of people are not keen on sub/sat systems such as the 6700's, but I do not know why. I had Infinity R4 towers and US 1 sats that were about 5 years old before replacing them with the Polk 6700. The Polks outperform my previous setup. I have a 61" Sammy DLP and Sony HD200 Directv receiver. I just have a Sony 895 6.1 receiver hooked up to the Polks, but I can shake my room. Every person I have had over cannot believe the sound these small speakers put out. The small 303 sub is plenty also.

[57U]

This is only one way to connect a sub. There are lots of others.

Type "bass management" (including the quotes) into your favourite search engine. Lots of good information.

I used to have my system connected "through" the sub, but I found that the sub added "noise" to the signal that went on to my mains. Also, you need to set your speakers to "large" if you do this, otherwise the LFE signals won't get to the sub.

Also, if you do this, the LFEs from the center speaker or the rears won't get sent to the sub - which you probably want, whereas if you use the LFE (line level) out from the receiver, they do.

There's a reason to use the LFE out from the Receiver - if you have a good receiver it'll balance all this stuff and you can set your speakers properly. If you go "through" the sub, you have to "lie" about your speaker settings if you have small main speakers and this will not provide the desired result.

This bass management is a very tricky issue and there are lots of points of view. Read as much as you care...

[Ratman]

57U is right on the money.

IMO... Unless you have "full range" speakers in the front (good down to 30Hz), use the LFE out on the reciever, set all speakers to "small" and let the receiver do all of the bass management.

I tried both ways with my setup. Even though my front speakers are full range, I prefer setting everything to small and allowing the receiver to crossover the lower frequencies and direct them to the sub using the LFE out.

Also by using this setup, it is less of a power hog on the 5 main channels.

Basically, you have to try both ways and see what works best (and sounds best) for you!

[ScottA]

I was just relaying to Kevin what Polk recommends with their RM 6700 system. Not all speakers in general. Polk is specific in their setup manual that the method I described above is the best setup for these particular speakers.

I did not have my previous speakers set up this way, but did what Polk recommended with these particular speakers.

[57U]

The Polk recommendations were fine for 2-channel setups and when most/all of the LFEs were going to the mains. This is no longer the case with newer encoded movies, videos - and you really should let the Receiver do the bass management. If you send just the mains to the sub, then you'll be missing the LFEs that are encoded for the center and rear surrounds.

Some people recommend setting the speakers to "small" even if you have "large" speakers. This is OK for most material, unfortunately, this will not properly handle bass management from DVD-audio or SACD, where you either need excellent bass management in a top-line (flagship receiver) or bass management done by the "top line" DVD/SACD player, otherwise, again you'll miss the LFEs. Since I have large speakers and a receiver capable of handling high volumes, I set my speakers to large - this negates the need for several different types of bass management depending on input type.

For additional information on this read about bass management with respect to DVD-A & SACD. This stuff is, unfortunately, very complicated to get right. Believe me, I've been at it for a long time.

[kevinw]

Currently I let my receiver do all the work. The reason I asked is it seems Polk recomends that the 6700 be set up with the fronts routed through the sub.
In a review, I guy related how he blew out the first set when connected to his receiver instead of the sub. I was looking for validity in this because of my room the sub is not near the fronts or the receiver.

[ScottA]

Kevin,

I read the same thread from the guy that blew out his fronts hooking them directly to the receiver. I did not try hooking the 6700's up any other way than what Polk recommended, so I do not know how it will sound routed differently.

Maybe I should try other hookups, but my system sounds fine to me. I play Gladiator DVD and my chest thumps from the base during the opening battle scenes.

I am just a novice I guess when it comes to Home Theater, but I am happy with what I have. I could fret forever that there is a better way to set something up or a better system; I am sure there is. All I know is I cannot see myself needing any more than I have.

I know I could have spent alot more than I did, but I think the 6700's suit me fine.

[Ratman]

Originally posted by kevinw
Currently I let my receiver do all the work. The reason I asked is it seems Polk recomends that the 6700 be set up with the fronts routed through the sub.
In a review, I guy related how he blew out the first set when connected to his receiver instead of the sub. I was looking for validity in this because of my room the sub is not near the fronts or the receiver.

Not starting a Bose discussion, but perhaps the Polk 'system' is similar to the AM-x systems. I know Bose recomends that everything must go though the bass module and not connect the speakers directly to the receiver/amp.

I dunno..

[kevinw]

The RM6700 are on the list as well as the Athena Point5's, Klipsch Quintets and (I have to kill anyone who makes fun of) the Bose Accoustimas 10's.
The Bose are at the top of the price I want to pay. So from the price point Bose is the last of my choice purchase, but untill I hear them they are on the list. Size and looks they are at the top...

[Ratman]

From the guy that can't spell chile, chili or chilly... at least you have an open mind! :)

[P175]

Hang on a minute, lets just get this straight for a minute, I don't want to confuse or upset anyone but I think the point about sub connectivity needs to be clarified here. Especially in regards the to the Polk comments.

Polk recommends connecting your sub to the FRONT terminals on the receiver and running the front speakers off the dedicated ports on the subs. Make sure the sub is disabled via the receiver and speaker size is set to LARGE. Excellent, works perfectly. This obviously is not for everyone, depends entirely on the speakers AND the sub.

But hang on, 57u, you state that by doing so you will be missing LFE's for the center and rear surrounds. Thats not good, so I decided therefore to do some testing, reconnecting everything according to the receiver manual. Reprogrammed the receiver accordingly thereby enabling the sub. Selecting speaker size etc. Ok, fine, works great as well. Time to test.

Well after about three hours of this and that, set that, set this , unplug this reconnect that and so on. My conclusion is .. that it makes absolutely no dicernable difference whatsoever [at least to my indifferent ear, I'm obviously tone deaf] and that I just wasted three hours .. lol.

Bottom line ? I'm not sure, inconclusive to me I am afraid. So I went back to manufactures recommendation. I guess with better quality system components and an environment that was better designed for audio accoustics it may have made more of an impact on me. Now I have only wasted 5 minutes of your time reading this .. :rolleyes:

[57U]

Thank you for the test and your time. I read pretty fast, so you didn't waste any of my time. At least connecting the other way didn't seem to cause you any problems...

In order to hear a discernable difference, you would have had to find some material that had LFE in the center channel or surrounds. This may be somewhat hard to find, but is out there on some of the newer DVDs.

On those DVDs there may be enough effects through the mains, that you may not "miss" much if you connect "the Polk way". After all, most people can only hear the difference if there's 3 dB difference and that's in a short period of time. By the time you disconnect and reconnect your "memory" may compensate for the difference that may or may not have been there...:)

[57U]

Originally posted by P175 Indeed, Mad Kiwi .. now in Michigan missing the World Cup... Ouch!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1502&e=8&u=/afp/20031017/ts_afp/rugbyu_wc2003_nzl_can&sid=81587690

[spaceman_spiff]

Kevinw, one interesting site comparing different speakers tested by S&V.

Good luck :)

http://www.geocities.com/p_iturra/Misc_HT_Speakers.html

[P175]

LOL ! Thanks for the 57u, I stayed up last night to at least "listen" to the game. The result somewhat flatters the AB's I'm afraid to say, the performance was by our usual expectations somewhat flat. All credit to Canada, their defence was at times supurb and most staunch. The AB's are not going to be winning anything other than perhaps the pool if they do not pull up their socks ! .. siiiigh

Would give my right arm to be able to watch the AB's wallop the Aussies in glorious HD. The things that dreams are made of !

[LeeS]

In order to hear a discernable difference, you would have had to find some material that had LFE in the center channel or surrounds. This may be somewhat hard to find, but is out there on some of the newer DVDs.
Try Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, for some serious LFE in the rear channels. Low frequency vibration in scenes with the Ark on the ship and in the canyon (I believe). Had to turn my head and look behind me :). It was a very good effect.

Lee