I am looking at purchasing the Polk Audio RTi A9 floorstanding speakers and driving them with the Onkyo TX-NR3009 AVR biamped. The receiver is rated at 140W 2 channels driven and I was hoping to get much better performance and clarity (especially with the bass) with the biamp setup. I listened to the speakers on the receiver (single amp driven) at Frys and was not very impressed with the speakers.
If I biamp these babies, will I get the punch and clarity I'm looking for (at least more than with one channel driving them)? Really need some guidance.
No because you are passive biamping. The speakers crossover is still there.
I think when you biamp those speakers, the HF amp just connects to the tweeter and not the mids and tweeter which would have little merit. The manual just says the high frequency amp just connect to the Hi-frequency section and I take that to mean the tweeter which is useless.
Now those speakers might be improved and removed the crossovers and then tiamped with active crossover using mini DSP and REW to equalize them, but I would not bank on it.
The real problem is that a full range speaker like that is really problematic. A passive crossover at 120 Hz shoots you right in the foot before you start.
A truly powerful full range speaker is a formidable undertaking and really does require active electronic crossovers for at least the lower transitions.
No one can provide a speaker with a frequency range like that of any quality for $1500 a pair
When all is said and done it is really not necessary with good subs.
Now I know it seems counter intuitive, but if you were to purchase these
small bookshelves on appropriate stands, you would be far further ahead than with the Polks.
All you really need is a good powerful speaker that has a -3db point at 80 Hz. Preferably a sealed design, then when you cross to a good sub at 80 Hz you have a perfect crossover.
The only draw back is that they are not highly efficient and you would need a more power than a receiver would give.
I know these speakers well. They are clean and detailed and you really can drive them hard and get 103 db spl. Billy Woodman the designer of the speaker and drivers is the master of producing small drivers that can produce high spl without stress or burn out, with the use of high precision engineering.
Two of them are $1000 which is enough to allow you to buy a third speaker for the center, or put the savings to an external amp in the 250 to 300 watt per channel class.
The response of those speakers is perfect for an HT THX system.
I guarantee you would have none of the problems you so dislike with the Polks.