Very impressed with DS7200 system!

[bigsexy1]

We moved onto a new, bigger suite in our office building that used to be a bank branch. In what used to be the vault (which is supposedly soundproof), the bosslady decided to turn it into a lounge and graciously denoted an old black leather living room suit and 27" Toshiba TV. The room is small, exactly 10' x 10'.

I talked her into allowing me to set up a system in there for us, and she put me in charge of getting it, with a budget of $500.

At first I seriously considered the $500 Onkyo HTIB at Circuit City, but really, that was even a little too big for that small room.

Then, back before the Polk free 202 sub promotion ran out on 5/31, I could have got a Polk 6700 speaker set with an open box 303 sub for $399 along with an Onkyo 601 receiver for another $400. I thought that the extra $300 over the Onkyo HTIB would be well worth it.

However, I happened on to a new in box DS7200 system for $750, and got it after convincing the boss that it would be well worth the extra $250 (especially since it would all be tax deductable for her).

In a small room like that, I am nothing but very impressed with it, not only on movies, but also music as well.

I looked at it like this, in an all in one shot, you get basically the RM7200 speaker package along with a seperates quality pre/pro and power amp section that is custom designed to get the most out of those particular speakers.

I would have never given retail for it, but for $750 (maybe even up to $1000 - $1200), it was a no brainer.

I am confident that it just might bet HTIB out there right now on the market.

Now, I will have no problem at all hanging out in the office anymore with a perk like that.

Does anybody know who makes the pre/pro and power amps which are built into the sub?

I ran a search, but didn't really see a whole lot of posts about it. Does anybody else have any experience with it, and if so, what are your thoughts?

[AintJoM0mma]

Are you talking about the DS7200 on ebay for $750? I saw that.:D

[bigsexy1]

That was a quick reply AJM!

No, it came from a local CC, new in box.

If you can find one on ebay for that price, I would highly recommend it!

[fireshoes]

I think outpost.com had them cheap like that for new ones too. That's a very nice system for that price.

[VR3]

Onkyo.

[fireshoes]

Not even.

[VR3]

I woulda swore they did.

[dorokusai]

BS - Nice to hear you are happy with another Polk product, rock on big daddy. The "Boss" ...ugh I know that term oh so well... :D

[bigsexy1]

Sid, I think FS may have interpreted your initial response as I did, that you were saying the Onkyo HTIB is better than the DS7200, and that's what his reply might have meant. Only after your second reply did I realize you were saying that Onkyo makes the electronics.

Well, my praise of this system may have been premature. We are having MASSIVE problems with it. The center channel and sub have both quit working.

Now I'm at a loss as to what to do, keep it and get it repaired, or scrap the idea entirely and just return it and go in a different direction. I have a Denon 3802 and an Infinity IL120S sub that I'm not using right now. Maybe I should just try to order the RM7600 speaker set from J&R to replace it.

This is the first (and hopefully last time I've ever had any problems with Polk products.

[fireshoes]

Haha, I actually did interpret it wrong, but oddly enough, my reply would have been the same. It's my understanding that the boys at Polk aren't big fans of Onkyo amps. FWIW, when they do trainings here, it has always been with Denon electronics. From what I gather, the DS7200's electronics are by Marantz.

If you're not putting your 3802 and sub to use, going the 7600 route seems to be the best option to me. It certainly sounds better, if size isn't an issue. The 7200 is a nice little system though.

[bigsexy1]

FS, I do believe you are right about Marantz. I just registered the serial #s just in case we send it in to get repaired, and the serial # on the pre/pro unit begins with MZ.

Right now I'm leaning towards just returning it and getting the 7600 if J&R will only ship it to my state. Would aq 7600 set, 3802 and IL120S be way to much for a 10' X 10'
room though?

Also, FWIW, I personally agree with them about the Onkyo amps. I have some Onkyo products (a 8511 stereo only receiver, a 390 6 disk CD changer, and a MC35 desk top system), but I do think they are a little bright. Not as bright as say Yamaha, but definitely brighter than Denon and especially HK.

[bigsexy1]

Well we're back in business! I called Polk's customer service 800 #, and she said to simply unplug it for at least 20 to 30 min. minimum, and it should reset itself. I tried it and lo and behold, it actually worked!

It's working fine now like nothing was ever wrong with it in the first place.

[dave shepard]

Originally posted by bigsexy1
Well we're back in business! I called Polk's customer service 800 #, and she said to simply unplug it for at least 20 to 30 min. minimum, and it should reset itself. I tried it and lo and behold, it actually worked!

It's working fine now like nothing was ever wrong with it in the first place.

How and why would a single speaker and the sub quit and you have to unplug the unit to reset (the electronics I'm guessing) it to get the one speaker and sub to work again.... Did the other speakers work when the center and sub didn't? I can't say that makes sence to me but am glad it's up and running again.

Dave

[bigsexy1]

Dave I don't know either. The 4 satellite speakers were still playing, just the center and sub wouldn't (only the 2 most important ones). Not even a test tone would work on them. I'm not exactly sure if the problem was in the pre/pro or the power amp (which the amps for all speakers are built into the sub).

It has done it again today. I've got it unplugged from the wall socket again right now so it can reset itself. I've double checked all connections, etc. and it is all good. So whatever the problem is obviously isn't there. I thought maybe some kind of protective circuitry might be kicking in could be what was causing it. If this is going to turn into a daily occurance, then it's going back to the store!

When it's working though, I can't say enough about how good it sounds in a small room like that.

[bigsexy1]

After reading about the protection ciruitry in the manual, I came to the conclusion it was simply partially shutting down because it was overheating at loud volumes. Moved a chair to help increase airflow to the sub, and bingo, no more partial shutdowns.

I do have a few minior quibbles, but I wouldn't go so far as to call them major complaints. I wish the pre/pro also had conventional preouts instead of the printer-like cable it uses so it could also be used with conventional amps, Pro Logic 2 would have been nice also, along with double the power (as anything less than close to double is really about pointless), as well as the speakers from the 7600 series instead of the 7200 with a bigger sub.

Bottom line though, if you have a small to maybe even medium sized room where size is definitely a factor, and most importantly, IF the price is right (as I think you could do better at full retail which was originally over $2000), then I think you would be hard pressed to top this system under those specific conditions.

At the very least, it would make a great bedroom or second system, and it would be excellant to give as a gift to someone like your parents for example who might be a little intimidated by sophisticated equipment as this thing is a cinch to operate.

I copied and pasted these power amp measurements from Home Theater Magazine (which uses stricter guidlines for it's ratings than does S&V):
The left amplifier channel, with two channels driving 8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1% distortion at 29.9 watts and 1% distortion at 42.7 watts. Into 4 ohms, the amplifier reaches 0.1% distortion at 61.4 watts and 1% distortion at 80.6 watts. THD+N from the amplifier was less than 0.082% at 1 kHz when driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. The signal-to-noise ratio with 2.83 volts driving an 8-ohm load from 10 Hz to 24 kHz with "A" weighting was 89.15 dBrA.—AJ
The fact that it doubles it's output into a 4 ohm load obviously shows that it is in fact a high quality amp, even if it is a small one. I assume the sub itself is 100 watts just like the RM7200's is.

All in all, another thumbs up for Polk!