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Jumping in here as a fellow Polk owner as well -- running RTi12 mains, a CSi30 center and PSW350 sub (my surrounds are handled by in-ceiling SpeakerCrafts which were installed when we purchased our house).

Can you Polk owners share some pics of your setups? Would love to see your speakers around your TVs, etc...:T
 
Here's a pic of the front setup..
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VERY nice, Phil! Thank you!
 
Viking, do you have a specific question? It sounds like you covered the basic manual setup. Did you run Audyssey? Are you hearing any distortion during heavy movie passages?
No, sorry, I did not have a question and, no, I am not hearing distortion. I ran Audyssey but did not like the results, so I adjusted on my own, and yes, I can cover the basic manual setups. It was suggested that I run Audyssey again, and I intend to, but right now I am still becoming familiar with this receiver I just got. As this thread was a Polk Audio owners thread, I did not wish to get too deep into the receiver end. Thank you for asking, fokakis1. What I really meant was that I was willing to accept constructive criticism on my speakers if anyone saw a glaring misfit of any sort. I do not understand how everything internal to a sound system works, so I appreciate suggestion. It would help me to get the sound I want. As an example, I have only one speaker (actual speaker, not enclosure) that is over 6 1/2" in diameter. That one is a 12" powered subwoofer. I notice a lot of others have pairs and fours of towers containing 8" or 10" subwoofers, such as the LSi15 or LSi25 units, and I wonder if that makes a big difference, or if it is simply a different path to the same door. As I have never been associated with others who have this kind of equipment, I was hoping this forum would fill in that gap. My associates and myself are not typically audio/video people, but more machinery people. I have always had audio and video equipment, but never before have I attempted to really improve on what I have or the sound I am receiving. Perhaps that is the fault of my having joined an Audio Video forum :dontknow:
 
Welcome, and congratulations on your setup. If it sounds good and you're not hearing distortion then you're on your way. With your sub handling the low end those 6 inch woofers may be all you need. Many here have bookshelf speakers as their mains crossed over to a sub and aren't missing a thing. The only thing I would recommend you look in to is some type of room treatment(s) if you haven't already. A nice rug, curtains, and some acoustic panels did wonders for my listening room. Good luck and enjoy!
 
I have Four Monitor 70 series ii floor standing for the corners (not right in the corners, but standing out from)
- two RTi A1 bookshelf for the surrounds set head height or a tad higher.
You said your sub is crossed at 80. I would be curious as to your impressions if you were to switch the A1s to the front and cross them at 80, esp. for music. It seems counterintuitive, but it may give you some new ideas.
 
I do not have the huge woofers in my Polks that most of you do.

I have Four Monitor 70 series ii floor standing for the corners (not right in the corners, but standing out from)
- two RTi A1 bookshelf for the surrounds set head height or a tad higher.
- one CS2 series ii center and
- a PSW 505 sub.

Room is about 600 sq feet, close to square, but with some wall deviations, and is all finished surface over concrete. I am contemplating another layer of drywall right over the installed stuff, but am unsure if it would make any difference.

I got these when I still had a NAD 753 to power them, and they were about a perfect fit.

Now I have an Onkyo TX-NR828, and I still think it will be a perfect fit. The powered sub is crossed over at 80Hz and seems to keep up pretty good at only about mid volume, and it was no trouble at all to reference these at 75db (yeah, I know, 85 is better) but I had to turn the receiver up a bit to do it. It was easier with the NAD. I still need my receiver volume up about 70 out of a max number of 90 to really enjoy and become immersed in movies, but I just discovered the answer to that (because I now have an Onkyo - and my thinking has been flawed by the commercial market). For music, I can turn it way down around 40 and still get pretty much everything I think I am supposed to. Sound is pretty clear and crisp, including lows and bass.

I think that's about all there is to say. Comments or suggestions are always welcome, as although I can set my system up okay, I do not know a whole lot about why I do some of the things that I am instructed to do, :yikes:
Another layer of drywall on top of the current drywall isn't going to help. Bass traps and acoustic treatments would... there's a ton of info on the net about building your own. Or you could contact a company (such as one of our sponsors, GIK Acoustics) and discuss options with them!:T
 
I ran Audyssey but did not like the results, so I adjusted on my own, and yes, I can cover the basic manual setups.
No sweat; I set my receivers up manually/myself as well.
 
You said your sub is crossed at 80. I would be curious as to your impressions if you were to switch the A1s to the front and cross them at 80, esp. for music. It seems counterintuitive, but it may give you some new ideas.
I didn't see where he said he crossed his sub at 80, but if this is all in reference to that "LPF of LFE" setting so common on modern Onkyo AVRs/processors, this setting (for the sub) should always be set to 120Hz.
 
He did not, however, mention what any of his high pass settings were.
If his sub is connected via the LFE output of the receiver, this will internally defeat his sub's crossover knob (the AVR will be controlling it) but he should still leave that knob turned all the way up or on BYPASS if available just to make sure it's completely out of the path -- inside the receiver, he needs to adjust for the front, center and surround channel crossovers and under the SUB's LOW PASS FILTER setting in the AVR (Onkyo calls this "LPF of LFE" but it shouldn't even be an option to be honest with you) this setting should be 120Hz because the LFE channel of film soundtracks brickwalls at this frequency. By setting this to 120Hz, a sub is receiving all the low frequency effects information without, so to speak, "losing" any...
 
I didn't see where he said he crossed his sub at 80, but if this is all in reference to that "LPF of LFE" setting so common on modern Onkyo AVRs/processors, this setting (for the sub) should always be set to 120Hz.
Yeah, the sub is crossed at 80, due to the LFE setting requirement. I will change that to 120 the next time I turn the receiver on (in about a half hour, lol) And you have me thanking you once again...
 
If his sub is connected via the LFE output of the receiver, this will internally defeat his sub's crossover knob (the AVR will be controlling it) but he should still leave that knob turned all the way up or on BYPASS if available just to make sure it's completely out of the path -- inside the receiver, he needs to adjust for the front, center and surround channel crossovers and under the SUB's LOW PASS FILTER setting in the AVR (Onkyo calls this "LPF of LFE" but it shouldn't even be an option to be honest with you) this setting should be 120Hz because the LFE channel of film soundtracks brickwalls at this frequency. By setting this to 120Hz, a sub is receiving all the low frequency effects information without, so to speak, "losing" any...
Okay, then. Well, the crossover knob is all the way up, and the AVR is controlling the crossover. The AVR crossover settings for all speakers is at 80 HZ, but I will change the sub to 120 HZ. Should I leave the rest at 80? allowing an overlap? or should I cross them all over at 120? I think prior to doing this, I shall run the Audyssey again and see where it leaves them. That sound like a plan?
 
Okay, then. Well, the crossover knob is all the way up, and the AVR is controlling the crossover. The AVR crossover settings for all speakers is at 80 HZ, but I will change the sub to 120 HZ. Should I leave the rest at 80? allowing an overlap? or should I cross them all over at 120? I think prior to doing this, I shall run the Audyssey again and see where it leaves them. That sound like a plan?
Hello Viking, and glad I could be of help once more...

The 80Hz number, while not a "magical" setting of any kind, is a "safe bet" THX recommendation for most speakers -- however, if you have very large tower mains as I do (Polk RTi12s) it's generally recommended to run them a bit lower to get some more punch out of them (such as 60Hz). So, if your two mains (or surrounds even) are large floorstanding towers, you can set those to 60; otherwise, 80 from what I understand is a good point to leave other speakers at (I leave my center and surrounds to 80).

Definitely leave the "LPF of LFE" set to 120Hz -- this way your sub won't lose any information from the soundtracks being played. As for Audyssey, these results are always "off" when most people look at them after the system runs the tests because it's not the Audyssey algorithm controlling these or deciding them -- it's actually the AVR based on feedback from the Audyssey sweeps. These are generally wrong (those most fanatics will say leave the Audyssey settings because they're based on actual ROOM corrections) as most of the time the results will come back as full range for at least two of the channels -- these can be overridden in the AVR's menu though.

Here's what I suggest, generally: If your mains are kinda large and can really punch (like my RTi12s) then set these to 60Hz regardless of what Audyssey comes back with. The rest leave at 80 IMO, unless you're running full size towers in the BACK too...

Did that make any sense? :coocoo:
 
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