Perfect Receiver for Polk Audio RTi8 mains?

[Bluesmoke]

I bought a pair of Polk Audio RTi8 towers for my apartment. It was such a good deal ($400can) that I couldn't pass it up. Now I need a receiver to do the job. A friend of mine is telling me to get the HK AVR 135. I'm not looking to spend a ton and the HK is right up my alley price-wise. Any other suggestions? I'd prefer if the amp is BLACK - all my equipment are. I'll slowly get the surrounds, center and sub, but as a college student with a lot of loans, I need a reliable receiver that will power the speakers suffiently without breaking my wallet. Thanks.

 

[sokrman14]

Do the Onkyo TXSR603X. About the same price, and more power for a larger, tower speaker. Or you could try a denon, but you get more for the money in an onkyo in that price. If that is too pricy, you could go with the TXSR503 from onkyo, but the 603 has better video features like component video upconversion from all sources. You can actually get that at any local circuit city.

 

[CaliHwyPatrol]

The 503 and 603X would be decent with those. Onkyo is a good match for those speakers! I run them with my Marantz and they hit pretty hard. If you do use one of those amps, then make sure to set the speakers to small and have them crossed over, because those amps aren't terribly powerful. The 603X has quite a few things going for it over the 503 like component up-convert, powered zone 2, etc. so look at the features you want, then decide.

~Chuck

 

[just_visiting]

I bought a pair of Polk Audio RTi8 towers for my apartment. It was such a good deal ($400can) that I couldn't pass it up. Now I need a receiver to do the job. A friend of mine is telling me to get the HK AVR 135. I'm not looking to spend a ton and the HK is right up my alley price-wise. Any other suggestions? I'd prefer if the amp is BLACK - all my equipment are. I'll slowly get the surrounds, center and sub, but as a college student with a lot of loans, I need a reliable receiver that will power the speakers suffiently without breaking my wallet. Thanks.

I run my RTi8 off of an Anthem MCA30 pre-amp and a Denon 3805 receiver used as a pre-pro. My Centre CSi5 also runs off the Anthem.

 

[markw]

There is no "perfect" amp for any speaker.

Unless, of course, they were designed as part of an inter-related system which isn't the case in most HT.

As long as the amp has sufficient power to cleanly drive your speakers you're good to go.

But, as for your upgrading, I'd strongly suggest you at least pick up that matching center as soon as possible to assure proper matching to your mains. The window of opportunity does not always stay open for long. Manufacturer's change their model lines frequently and once that line is no longer available there's no guarantee finding a prefect match will be possible without scouring the used market.

It's nice that the surrounds match for HT but it's not really critical. For music, It's a bit more of an issue.

 

[Snarl]

The HK AVR 135 looks like a nice unit, personally I'm more partial to a Denon or Yamaha but one must balance cost with personal taste. If possible I would suggest a Denon AVR-2106 instead if you could find a good price or perhaps a Yamaha RXV-757. I'm basing this on my personal preference only for I like at least a 100Watts per channel for 2 Channel Stereo, again just a personal opinion as there's many good cases as to why one doesn't need lots of power for good sound.

Good Luck

 

[BJP]

Now I need a receiver to do the job. A friend of mine is telling me to get the HK AVR 135. I'm not looking to spend a ton and the HK is right up my alley price-wise. Any other suggestions? I'd prefer if the amp is BLACK - all my equipment are. I'll slowly get the surrounds, center and sub, but as a college student with a lot of loans, I need a reliable receiver that will power the speakers suffiently without breaking my wallet. Thanks.

Hi Bluesmoke and welcome to the Forum!

The Onkyo 503 is $549.99 and the 603 is $799.99. The 135 is $499 at Future Shop. You will have to get them at 2001 Audio/Video as we do not have Circuit City in Canada. The Denon 2106 goes for about $900.

How much are you willing to spend on the receiver? Would you be able to spend a few hundred more? These Polks love power and they show off when fed a lot of juice.

I have the Denon 3805 and they are still demanding more power .

These above receivers would be fine for the RTi8's, but adding the centre and surrounds will demand more from your receiver. Try and find the heaviest/most powerful receiver you can afford.

Polks are excellent sounding speakers, but they need the power.

 

[BJP]

One more thing Bluesmoke, I'm guessing you bought the RTi8's from Future Shop. I think they are getting rid of the RTi line of speakers. Thats why a few months ago I saw the RTi12's on for $899. I'm not 100% sure of this, maybe someone could confirm this.