New rti10 and csi5 owner... needs help!

[64met]

Guys,

Recently moved up to the rti10's and csi5 up front... . No matter what I seem to try; I can't seem to get enough base... both movies/music (see other thread; considering Amp). For example, Sad But True by Metallica has so much base in it my head should be pounding... and unfortunately James Hetfield sounds like he is singing in church! I know their sound and I just can't reproduce it using the polks. My receiver is the Onkyo 805; so it might be a combination of the "typical" sound from Onkyo and just not enough umph to make my speakers rock! Movie watching... is the same result... not just enough bass. My Polk 404 is in for repair and now am using a 10 year old sub from Advent (250 watts). What concerns me is this sound is the same with the Advent as it was with the Polk.

Any ideas/suggestions???

Thxs!!

[tcrossma]

Have you calibrated the system yet? What's the crossover setting on your receiver? Those RTi's can go pretty low, but they'll need power to do it. Without a more powerful amp driving them i'd set the crossover @ 80 and let the sub do the bass work.

[64met]

Thxs for the reply... yes I did calibrate e/thing. Twice with Audsey (sp?) results were way off... manually adjusted e/thing three times... and adjusted the individual settings on my receiver. I will check the c/o settings on the receiver later and report it back.

[cfrizz]

Get a Radio Shack spl meter.

[MADGSF]

All of the above advice is good and I would start there. However my RTi-10s didn't really wake up until I put some power to them.

[xterra77]

Hi
I am a new owner of polk also and new at these posts,
i was worried about buying the rti10's for a lot of people were complaining about bass.
well mine are hooked up to a AVR HK 230 and they produce a lot of bass with music and movies,are you using
good speaker wires,it will make a difference.
POLK offered me advise and told me to set everything at small and at 80 for crossover(RTi10-CSi5-FXi5-CSi3 rear).
and it sounds great,but for music alone i set the RTi10's at large i prefer my bass from the speakers and not the sub.

[Sherardp]

Hi
I am a new owner of polk also and new at these posts,
i was worried about buying the rti10's for a lot of people were complaining about bass.
well mine are hooked up to a AVR HK 230 and they produce a lot of bass with music and movies,are you using
good speaker wires,it will make a difference.
POLK offered me advise and told me to set everything at small and at 80 for crossover(RTi10-CSi5-FXi5-CSi3 rear).
and it sounds great,but for music alone i set the RTi10's at large i prefer my bass from the speakers and not the sub.

Allot of key things noted from Xterra, though your AVR should drive them fine, as others mentioned they should and will put out more with an amp. Hope you get it worked out here, let us know.

[64met]

Ok guys... here are my settings;

Basically e/thing is set at 80; the question I have though is more about the 'Small setting" I can't find anything in my menu about either Large or Small?? I read the OM cover to cover (onkyo 805) Am I missing something here? That might be my problem???

[Lasareath]

Most likely in the "Speakers" menu in the onkyo you can choose between small speakers or large speakers.

[64met]

Guys,

Did some research about the settings in the Onkyo 805 and apparently there is no setting that reads large or small... it appears as if large or small is determined by the HZ of your speaker settings. What I am still confused by though is this... in the onkyo manual it says set all settings to 80 if the speakers are THX certified; so is 80 Large or Small? This is more of an Onkyo system thing... my HK I had b4 this definitely had specific settings Large or Small. Any ideas as to what 80 is? Large/Small? I might call Onkyo directly.

ThxS!

[64met]

OK guys, someone please confirm what Onkyo just told me...

If your speakers Diameter of the cone is greater than 6' this speaker should be set to either 80hz or Full Band?

If the speaker is less than 6' the setting should be 100HZ- 150HZ?

So I guess larger than 6' is considered Large

smaller than 6' is considered Small

Make sense??

[ben62670]

I would not go by the receiver's specs, but by the speaker manufacturers specs. It depends on a few things.
Do you have a good sub?
What are your speakers frequency ratings at the -3db limit?
How hard are you pushing them?
If you are pushing big speakers hard with a receiver, and have a good sub I would suggest setting the XO at 80 to 100. If not set them lower like full or 60hz. Little speakers (cubes) need to be set as high as 150hz.

[acsubie]

i have the same onkyo/rti10/csi5 setup and when set themselves up as "full range" the RTis really pounded with bass, now i set them at 80 and let the sub do the work

[64met]

bEN,

That is part of my problem now as well... my Polk 404 just had the amp changed out and now I found out the sub will be replaced as well; in the interim I am using a 10 year old Advent Sub (just 100 watts). As I think about my "real issue" it is lack of bass! Had the same thing when my 404 worked and have it now with the advent. Maybe I need to upgrade to a better sub; b4 an AMP??

I would not go by the receiver's specs, but by the speaker manufacturers specs. It depends on a few things.
Do you have a good sub?
What are your speakers frequency ratings at the -3db limit?
How hard are you pushing them?
If you are pushing big speakers hard with a receiver, and have a good sub I would suggest setting the XO at 80 to 100. If not set them lower like full or 60hz. Little speakers (cubes) need to be set as high as 150hz.

[64met]

Just wondering.... what Sub R u using??

ThxS!!


i have the same onkyo/rti10/csi5 setup and when set themselves up as "full range" the RTis really pounded with bass, now i set them at 80 and let the sub do the work

[ben62670]

I love Polk, but I wouldn't use their subs. SVS is raved about here a lot. Other will chime in with recommendations. I have had an Infinity ILS120 ($1000 pos), and a couple TIB styles that sucked. Dayton at partsexpress.com has very good Titanic sub kits, and finished subs for excellent bass on the cheap. I built my sub that I have now, but I think its a little on the crazy side for anyone with neighbors within 1000 feet. http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51533

[Sherardp]

+1 on sub upgrade, SVS has a few good sales on close out subs.

[acsubie]

Just wondering.... what Sub R u using??

ThxS!!

polk PW10, i know it was a freebie, saving for the SVS soon though(nice workers comp settlement coming for the broken finger i sustained while punching a dude)

oh forgot to mention though that my front soundstage is being powered by the LPA amp(only 125w)

[Lasareath]

Sunfire Subs to the day I die!!!

http://sunfire.com/TrueSubwooferEQSigPR_popup.htm

[MADGSF]

With no sub or amp in the system and no large speaker setting I would cross the RTi-10 as low as your receiver will let you. With a sub but no amp in the system I would cross them over at 60Hz. With a good sub and amp I would cross them as low as your receiver will let you. I run mine full range/large with my PC-Ultra and the bass will move you :).

[Sherardp]

With no sub or amp in the system and no large speaker setting I would cross the RTi-10 as low as your receiver will let you. With a sub but no amp in the system I would cross them over at 60Hz. With a good sub and amp I would cross them as low as your receiver will let you. I run mine full range/large with my PC-Ultra and the bass will move you :).

Thats very good info, though I never gave it any thought in my own setup. I run my x-over at 60 now. And the subs seem to blend very well there, I havent given thought to going lower, though Im not sure how low my AVR will allow me to go. Well I hope the OP gets it worked out. I have some experimenting to do now. So I should get even more bass out of my setup, not that I really need it.