Buy RTi A9's without buying a sub ?

[Sylar]

Can I get away with that ? are the subs in the A9's decent enough for movies and listening to music, or would I need a dedicated sub ?

I'm thinking of buying the A9's now and in a couple of months get a sub.

What's your opinion ?

[Toolfan66]

Get the A9's and get a sub later if thats what you have to do. the A9's sound great for music by them selfs. for movies you will want a sub. to me a sub is a must for HT.

Larry.

[superjunior]

Get the A9's and get a sub later if thats what you have to do. the A9's sound great for music by them selfs. for movies you will want a sub. to me a sub is a must for HT.

Larry.

I agree with Larry, the a9's sound fantastic for music,I have a little cheapy sub thats going to have to do for now, but for movies, a good sub is still a must. Don't forget good clean power to get the most out of the a9's.
jr

[Sylar]

Cool, do I need a very powerful amp to get the best out of the A9's ?

Is the Denon AVR-2809 good ? or do I need to look at other alternatives ?

[Dawgfish]

Sylar,

The 2809 is a great reciever. I am running one myself and love it! However, there are few recievers out there capable of running the A9s to their full potential. You would be much better off adding an external amp to get the most out of the A9s.

I am currently running 250 wpc to my RTi12s (previous generation A9s) using an external amp and they sound really good. I have experimented with passive bi-amping with the RTi-12s using two external amplifiers for a total of 450 wpc with great results. The bass response was amazing! I could honestly say in this configuration, there were several times when I had my subs turned off listening to music, but I had to check several times to make sure the subs were still turned off. They were producing that much bass. After seeing this I experimented with movies also with my subs turned off. I was also surprised to see the bass response the RTi12s were putting out in this configuration. I am not sure wether I was getting these results due to passive biamping, or it was just due to the increase in power, or a combination of both.

I would say that if you were running at least 400 wpc of good clean power to the A9s, you may be able to get away with not running a sub. I also have to agree with the others though, you will eventually want a good sub or two for home theater purposes. A good sub will reach lower than the A9s can go, and really bring out the full effect on explosions, etc.

[danz1906]

Cool, do I need a very powerful amp to get the best out of the A9's ?

Is the Denon AVR-2809 good ? or do I need to look at other alternatives ?

Yes, get a nice amp like a Rotel 1080.

[leroyjr1]

Yes, get a nice amp like a Rotel 1080.


Or a Adcom 555 at half the price.

[cnh]

+1 on the Adcom....one of the best used values around!

Rti-A9s this is really the speaker in that series that I would consider a 'serious' upgrade on my current M70s...the 5s--don't care for them. The 7s better but not as musical as the 9s! Great choice! I find the A9s the least bright of that series.

While Tool is right...you can live without the sub for a while if you've got some good AMPLIFICATION for the low end on those 9s! Yeah it's not going to sound like a 1200+ sub but it'll sound better than most low end subs!

cnh

[danz1906]

+1 on the Adcom....one of the best used values around!

Rti-A9s this is really the speaker in that series that I would consider a 'serious' upgrade on my current M70s...the 5s--don't care for them. The 7s better but not as musical as the 9s! Great choice! I find the A9s the least bright of that series.

While Tool is right...you can live without the sub for a while if you've got some good AMPLIFICATION for the low end on those 9s! Yeah it's not going to sound like a 1200+ sub but it'll sound better than most low end subs!

cnh

Agreed, get the A9s and amp for now.

[Freak When C]

Or a Adcom 555 at half the price.

Are you talking about the 555 or the MKII version? Older B&K amps (Reference 2220, ST-202) would work well and can be snagged for around the same price of an Adcom GFA-555 MKII.

[leroyjr1]

Are you talking about the 555 or the MKII version? Older B&K amps (Reference 2220, ST-202) would work well and can be snagged for around the same price of an Adcom GFA-555 MKII.

The MKII is better but both are great for the money.

[Sherardp]

Pair the A9s up with monoblocks and save some cash. I used Outlaw M2200s with my 12s and they performed perfectly, and besides that you can find them relatively cheap. Add a sub later as mentioned, that's the icing on the cake.