About to join the SRT club

[tntvt]

If all goes well I will have them on Monday. I found a 5.1 setup not too far from Vt. I' m driving down Monday to check them out. If they pass inspection they will ride home with me! I can't wait.:D

[PolkWannabie]

South of VT sounds like my neck of the woods ... Where are they ? ... Maybe I could lend a listening ear if they're not too far from here since I have a clue what they should sound like.

[tntvt]

GOT THEM!!! They are in great shape just a few scratches on the sub tops from the spikes. All the drivers function and no odd noises from the subs. Missing the remote and the manual.

:p

[PolkWannabie]

Congrats !!!

You can get a copy of the manual from Polk ...

Try asking Polk about the remote as I know they are still selling the control centers with the SRT SDA Surrounds.

Exactly what did you get besides the mains and a control center ... A center ? ... SRT SDA Surrounds and a second control center ? some other type of surrounds ?

For the time being until you get a manual you can see the wiring diagrams I posted awhile back from the manual for the variety of options. http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16649&highlight=srt+wiring ... None of these is exactly how I have mine wired but will give you a starting point at least. Nothing except the RCA's for the subs and speaker wires to the SDA arrays needs to go through the control center and imho that's the best way to wire the SRT's.

What are you intending to amp them with and how many channels do you have available for the task ?

If you need any help with wiring etc let us know but they are relatively straight forward.

[tntvt]

I got the original 5.1 the two mains center and the dipol / bipol surrounds. Your diagrams came in very handy I printed them before I picked them up. Thanks! The first thing I have to say is these things are huge. They make my 3000p's look like kid toys. I can't wait for the next day off.:D

[PolkWannabie]

LOL ... right ... huge and heavy ... the subs are 85 pounds a piece and the "satellite" "bookshelves" lol are 70+.

So for surrounds you have the LS F/X's or RT F/X's ? those are different than what I have and probably a little easier to deal with.

Are you gonna have two other speakers to get to 7.1 or just 5.1 for now ?

[PolkWannabie]

PS ... To avoid scratching up the tops of the subs any more than they already are, work with someone else to stack the sats on top of the subs where one person moves the tops and the other guides the spikes to the proper place.

PPS ... It's not necessary to use the spikes immediately ... get them set up the way you want them first i.e. placement etc. before bothering with the spikes ... like other SDA type speakers they should protrude a good 6+ inches in front of whatever is between them i.e. a wide screen TV or rack.

[bvette94]

What are you gonna do with your rt3000ps now that you got the big dogs?

[tntvt]

Don't get me wrong I love my 3000p's They may move to a new room. Or they may make insane surrounds:eek:

[PolkWannabie]

Yot got 'em wired up yet ?

[bvette94]

If you get the urge to sell them let me know.

[dorokusai]

Congrats T...you are officially a Polk Pimp :)

[tntvt]

Actually I just sold my house so my beautiful theatre room is gone. I borrowing a house from family until I find a new home or land to build on. However the SRT's are hooked up in the living room. It is a temp set up. The room is WAY too small. Sorry I did not notice you asked how they are powered. I have a B&K AVR507 and 2 B&k ST125's Some day I might upgrade the sub amps. But for now I'm more then happy!:D

Polk Pimp!:D

[PolkWannabie]

How have you got the mains wired ?

Are you driving the stereo and SDA arrays from the same amp channel ?

Are you running both the stereo and SDA connections through the SRT control center ?

There is a different hookup picture that I didn't include in my SRT Wiring post that is more like how I have mine set up that I'll post if you like.

Are those ST125.2's ?

[tntvt]

The 507 is running the Stereo not using the polk control center.
The St125 are running the SDA with the conrtol center.
I am using the pre outs on the 507.

[PolkWannabie]

That's how I have mine set up more or less with different amplification for the stereo and SDA arrays.

[tntvt]

Also thank you for the advice on the remote and manual. Ken at Polk CS was very helpful and they are in the mail.

[PolkWannabie]

I knew they had the doc ... Did they find a remote for you as well ? If so that's great as I find it mucho handy to be able to change the sub settings and SDA mode from the listening area.

[tntvt]

I think the remote is coming too. I hope so anyway. Can you shut the control center off with the remote?

[PolkWannabie]

To the best of my knowledge the control center can not be shut off period ... It's either plugged in or not ... It could of course be plugged into something that has it's own trigger.

This is in my estimation a short coming ... about the one and only for the system as a whole ...

The remote controls consist of ...

SDA Width -> Off, Normal, Wide

Mode Toggle -> Music / Movie

Music Level -> Up, Down

Movie Level -> Up, Down

It would of course be great if the other sub controls i.e. X/O, Phase etc. were on the remote as well, but once these are set for your environment they can pretty much be left alone.

[tntvt]

The remote and manual came today. Talk about fast. Polk Customer Service is Amazing. Thanks Ken!

[brody05]

Try the 3000s in the rear and the bipoles in the side, I have RT2000i in the rear and FX1000s in the side and it is a very nice blend, the SRTs sounded great in that enviroment but alas I got bored and sold them, still working on reconstruction but for now miss them like mad and wonder if I did the right thing but hey, a change is good isn't it.
But any way the bass in the rear is a very noticible improvement your 3000s would be even better and sound great. Congrats on the SRTs, they will keep you happy for many years to come.

[tntvt]

Sorry to hear you sold them. If I remember right you can always swing by your cousins place when you have SRT withdrawal. What are you replacing them with? As far as my 3000p's for rears would I be able to run the subs daisy chained off the SRT and use the control center?

[PolkWannabie]

Now that's an interesting question ... but don't the 3000's have their own controls built in albeit with no remote ?

I don't know how you have the SRT subs wired but I wouldn't daisy chain them ... I'd split either the LFE or L/R outputs of the receiver/preamp to the SRT control center sub inputs and run the dual outputs from the control center to the subs individually.

I suspect you COULD split the control center outputs to the subs and run them to the 3000's individually as well.

[brody05]

Hi there, I just used the pre outs for the rear right and left channel, there is plenty of bass in these signals if you have the rears set on large and it gives a more natural sound to the bass, kinda like stereo too and bass when it comes from the inteded source leaving the SRTs to do the LFE stuff.
I am still working on replacements and have only got as far as building a couple of subs, one of which went to my cousin and he has it in the rear running both rear preouts to it. It doesnt get as much 'low' stuff as the LFE's but plenty none the less, your 3000's would sound brilliant in the rear.
Going to his house for my fix will most definately be on the agenda (albeit dangerous) but I gotta say the home built sub with the NAD running it is noticebly better than the SRT ones, goes lower and the extra power deeps it real clean, I am continuely amazed at how well the drivers perform.

[PolkWannabie]

Originally posted by brody05
I gotta say the home built sub with the NAD running it is noticebly better than the SRT ones, goes lower and the extra power keeps it real clean, I am continuely amazed at how well the drivers perform. Agreed ... The CinePro I'm using for the subs is amazingly clean ...

[tntvt]

Well I just got to spend my first 2 hours alone with my SRTs. OH MY GOD! The warnings are there for a reason! So loud So clean So powerful! I think if I tried hard the bass could stop my heart! What a punch! :D

[PolkWannabie]

Right ... You really do need to have an SPL meter handy as they don't sound as loud as they are ...

[brody05]

Congratulations....Your opinions of how good speakers / HT should sound will never be the same again, nothing else measures up anymore ey. Over the next few weeks of tweaking and fine adjustments they will only get better. ENJOY..

[tntvt]

I do keep an SPL meter handy. I got to take the subs apart yesterday just to check the spiders. Everything seems fine no separation. What is the difference between the top and bottom driver? It looks like the top one is shielded? If this is true why not both? It does look like someone has been in the cabinets before perhaps the drivers have been replaced with new ones.

[PolkWannabie]

You'd have to ask Ken S. about the actual differences in the drivers ...

It may very well be that only the top one is shielded ... The bottom one I would think would be far enough away from video that it would not be necessary.

I've seen the subs with different combinations of MW1080/1/2's in them. Although I'm not positive I think the older drivers can be iddentified in that they are yellow/brown where the spriders connect and the newer ones are red.

What kinds of things have you been listening to on them ? Just HT oriented stuff ? If so then you are in for a treat when you listen to music in two channel on them as well.

[tntvt]

I've tried listening to everything DVD, CD, VHS, Digital Cable, even Cassette and it all sounds great. Music was my biggest surprise, I knew they were HT monsters, but it is amazing how well the bass calms down for music.

[PolkWannabie]

Originally posted by tntvt
Music was my biggest surprise, I knew they were HT monsters, but it is amazing how well the bass calms down for music. And how good the mids and highs are ... Of course with the different savable sub settings for movies and music plus from the listening area minor adjustments to the subs you can pretty much tailor it however you want CD by CD or even song by song although I find the former to be sufficient.

[brody05]

It sounds as though you are more than happy then.

The thing I am finding the hardest to replace is the unique imaging that the SDA technology gives. That was most certainly the best quality of the SRTs (to me) in two channel pure direct.

Hey Rick, I didn't know you had upgraded amp power running the subs, what did you do with the original plate amps?

[PolkWannabie]

They are still in there ... but the drivers are wired directly to custom installed 5-way binding posts which I'm driving with the CinePro 1K2 ... This would make a great 2 channel amp as it far exceeds its specs benching at just under 500 wpc into 8 ohms, around 650 wpc into 4 ohms ( which is what the subs are with the two 2 ohm drivers wired in series ) and more than that into 2 ohms.

[tntvt]

PW have you ever had the original amps hooked up? If so do you see a huge difference? I was looking at the SVS websight they offer the crown k1 for just over 1k. I am forbidden to spend any more audio cash (for now). It is however an upgrade thought for the future. I did look at Cinepro $$$$$$$$$$$!

[PolkWannabie]

The original plate amps in mine have never been hooked up or at least not while I've had them as the fellow I got them from had CinePro customize the subs and also passed along the CinePro for less $ than the Crown you're looking at ... These sometimes show up on Audiogon ...

In any case I have heard the subs with the plate amps and imho there is a significant difference and I think Brody would agree but I'll leave it to him to comment ... whether that qualifies as huge or not remains to be heard ... Just remember if you go that route that you'll have to install your own binding posts ... not that this is difficult but it still has to be done and properly sealed etc.

[brody05]

I would say the difference would depend on the amp as much as anything, I tried a similar rated (to the SRT amp350 watts at 8 ohm) Parasound that had higher specs than the plate amp and it couldn't handel the job, the NAD made a substantial difference in bass and quality but I am going to say that a lot of that is due to not having the low cut filter in place, The SRTs are rated to 16hz and I have found that without the srt control unit and hard wired directly to drivers that the subs actually produce 10hz, obviously this places a huge load on the amp which I pressume is the reason the <16hz is filtered out, so I would say that extra low stuff is more noticable and mostly responsible for improvement with movies but in saying that, it sure does stay tight with the extra power and with music that doesn't have such LFE signals the 'punchyness' and 'cleanlyness'is a noticable improvement, definately worth the upgrade if you can find suitable amps at the right price.
It's funny, I ran them standard for 5 years without even thinking they could be better, now I find myself saying the above, who would have thought it possible.

Rick, if you are utilising seperate binding posts why the need to leave the plate amp in, why not just put a solid customwood board accross the back and maybe sell the amps? or use them to run subs in the rear?

[PolkWannabie]

Brody,

That's certainly an option which I'll keep open ... I'm pretty much just using them the way I got them and at present have no use for the additional plate amps and they'll probably stay in better condition where they are then if I pull them and don't use them right away ...

Regarding your comments about running them without the control center ...

- Besides not using the high pass filter then one also does not get any low pass either i.e. X/O from the satellites ...

- Also no phase control which I suppose if 0 degrees is fine then it is ...

- Also no gain controls unless the amp you are using has them which the CinePro does but it unfortunately does not utilize a remote.

[brody05]

Fair enough about the plate amps, if you ever want to sell them I could always find a use.

Regarding the cross over from the satelites, I send the entire signal from the bass and mains to the subs, the 'satelites' so to speak have their own amps and drivers for the bass they are meant to do, I have a control unit that has an adjustable gain and variable crossover similat to the one you mentioned from SVS but no low cut, so the signal is easy to manipulate in that area. The amp also gives plenty of sub setup such as crossovers at 80 hz 100hz ect but as you know I like the full signal going everywhere.

No phase control, your right but if I wanted or rather needed it would not be hard to add to the custom made electronic crossover I have got.

The gain controls mentioned above are in both the custom controller and the Denon amp, but in regards to music ect I have stored seperate settings on the amp for music and movies, ie music I listen to in two channel and has a -8db drop compared to movies. If I get a movie or music that has either too much bass or not enough it is easy to change bass volumes with the Denon remote so I have all the flexability I need.

I am going to my cousins in a few weeks to help him with his set up and we will be playing around with not utilising the SRT control boxes for bass management, I will let you know how we get on if you like, just thinknig outside the box now that I realise what the subs are capable of with a bit of extra power.

If you get the time, have a play without the control center and see what you think, I know there is the fine tuning to be lost but maybe there is a way to remove the low cut by modifying the control unit, maybe schematics from Ken will help, if you have the power to run the low stuff then why not utilise it, it really is great, I am still being amazed with how great it sounds. And if the Cinepro has as much power as the NAD then 10hz is just around the corner......