Speakers and Wire/Cables

[JPC]

New to the Polk site and have some questions.

I have the Onkyo 501 (want to upgrade to 701 or 800), RTI 70's, CSI 40, Velodyne CHT 10 (seemed to blend better with my 70's and room than 12 or 15) and am running the FXI 30's as side surrounds (dipole). I was running the CSI 30 as a rear surround, but saw the FXI 30's on sale for $64 a piece. Thinking I was going to upgrade to 7.1 sometime soon, I got them. I am now auditioning one FXI 30 v. the CSI 30 for 6.1 rear surround. Seating position is kind of close to the rear surround so the FXI 30 seems to be beating the CSI 30.

Any advice? Keep the FXI 30's and use one now for rear surround and both when I get 7.1? Or, use CSI 30, or get RTI 28'
s, one for rear surround now and both for side or rear surrounds when I get 7.1 or what?

As far as wiring, I am in the process of re-wiring my fronts, center and surrounds. I am setting up to audition the Monster MCX-1 bi-wire for fronts and center v. the MCX-2 for front and center. Thinking I will just get the XP for the surrounds.

Any suggesting or comments about the bi-wiring v. reg. wiring, cables or wire for surounds?

[mrgoodcheese]

You have a nice setup.

My advice, go ahead and bi-wire, but there's no need to spend a lot on fancy bi-wires, or any wire, especially Monster. Just go to a local home improvement store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) and pick up some 12 to 16 gauge speaker wire. If you want to get fancy, use some twist on or solder banana plugs with some wire wraps. There won't be any difference from that to fancy Super Ultra Mega Monster wire.