Polk Audio

[9050Michael]

What is the general consensus on Polk Audio by you high tech guys?

 

[j_garcia]

Depends on which line(s) you are talking about. I personally don't find any of them overly impressive. The RTi line is not bad and the LSi line is pretty good, but I don't like any of them enough to own them myself. There is a replacement coming soon for the RTi line soon I have heard.

 

[9050Michael]

I am running Monitor 50 mains, a CS2 center, Monitor 30 presense, and Monitor 40 surrounds through the RX-V 2500 Yamaha. The clarity is impressive to me, but they do not seem to have much of a punch. My Velodyne DPS 12 handles some of that, but can be a bit overpowering. I just don't hear a nice blend of lower end smoothness. Any way to fix this or am I screwed?

 

[j_garcia]

Have you run YPAO? What settings did it come up with?

 

[9050Michael]

I did, but never took it very seriously. I had next to no real volume output after I ran it. The settings were all very low and the sub set all the way down to a -10. Possible that I did something wrong?

 

[j_garcia]

I don't think you did anything wrong, just may need to tweak a bit. I'd run it again and see what it does. What level do you have your sub's gain (volume) set to? If you have it too high, the receiver will try to compensate. I'd also check to see that it doesn't set any of your speakers to large.

How about speaker placement and what are the dimensions of the room?

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Like JG said; re-run the auto cal and then go back in manually and reset ther size and crossover. There is a good chance that the auto set these wrong. You may have to play around with the gain on the sub and keep re-running the auto until you get the AVR set to a number that makes sense.

 

[9050Michael]

I most likely had it cranked way up. Knowing me. I will turn it down to half and re-run it. So, the speaker setting to "small" is more ideal than large. The center and mains are setting to large, I know. As for the room, it is about 20' by 30'. I have the mains right next to my 62" mitsubushi, the center on the wall directly above, and the presense speakers on the wall 5' on each side from the center.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Yes; change everything to small and let your sub handle all the low stuff. Start out with the sub crossover at 80hz and go from there.

 

[patnshan]

I most likely had it cranked way up. Knowing me. I will turn it down to half and re-run it. So, the speaker setting to "small" is more ideal than large. The center and mains are setting to large, I know. As for the room, it is about 20' by 30'. I have the mains right next to my 62" mitsubushi, the center on the wall directly above, and the presense speakers on the wall 5' on each side from the center.

I have the inexpensive polk "R" line and find them to sound quite nice for the price, I paid nearly nothing at outpost As for the YPAO, I was not impressed with what it did for me either. It set my crossover too high and my fronts to large (they only have a 6 1/2 woofer!!!). I recently did it all manuallywith an SPL meter, setting the crossover to 80. I calibrated my all my speakers to 75 DB and the sub to 80 DB. It sounds hugely better now.

Another thing, never set your sub level above half when calibrating. All the way up is waaaay too high.

Pat

 

[ParadigmDawg]

YPAO actually does a pretty good job with levels and distance; remember distance maybe different then the physical measured distance. It is a good idea to re-check everything with a SPL meter if you can but in general all you need to do is go back and adjust the crossover and size and you are good to go.

I have the inexpensive polk "R" line and find them to sound quite nice for the price, I paid nearly nothing at outpost As for the YPAO, I was not impressed with what it did for me either. It set my crossover too high and my fronts to large (they only have a 6 1/2 woofer!!!). I recently did it all manuallywith an SPL meter, setting the crossover to 80. I calibrated my all my speakers to 75 DB and the sub to 80 DB. It sounds hugely better now.

Another thing, never set your sub level above half when calibrating. All the way up is waaaay too high.

Pat

 

[j_garcia]

An SPL meter is an invaluable tool for dialing in your system and was going to be my recommendation as well.

 

[9050Michael]

That's what I'll do. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Let us know how it sounds when you take these few simple steps.

 

[9050Michael]

How do you use one?

 

[patnshan]

YPAO actually does a pretty good job with levels and distance;

This is true, I should have clarified. The levels were nearly right on. I think I had to tweak two speakers one click up I believe. I also had to take the sub up a bit more, but that's cause sub dialed in to be equal to the speakers is for wimps

Pat

 

[patnshan]

How do you use one?

Get a digital or analog SPL meter for radioshack. Set it to 70 on the dial, C weighting. Put it on a tripod where your listening seat is. Make sure it is at ear level. The start up the receivers internal tones. Set the first speaker to 75, then move on and set all the speakers to 75. With the sub, I like mine at 80. Make sure you let YPAO do the distances first as they are usually correct. Then go into manual mode and do what I say above. This is a great start to get things flat, then you can adjust per your taste.

Pat