Finally have a *real* sound setup!

[Aikouka]

So, for the longest time I was using what are essentially 5.1 PC speakers for a TV, just to give a bit of an extra oomph and get some nice surround sound. Well, I decided to upgrade to a real setup. Unfortunately, my full setup was delayed by being unable to pick up my AVR and sub, so I'll have to wait to finish until tomorrow, but to give an idea, here's a crappily taken picture!

http://www.aikouka.com/photo.jpg

( After seeing these, the UPS guy asked me if I was planning on "blowing anyone away" :awe: )

The full system is comprised of:

Denon AVR1610
2x Polk Monitor 70 (front)
2x Polk Monitor 50 (rear)
Polk CS10
Polk DSW Pro 600

Now, to give you one of those "laugh at the noob" moments, when I was stringing the wire, I originally thought that "hey, the insulation keeps these held in better if I clamp the caps onto them!" (Note, I did strip the wire obviously, but still had some insulation going into the hole) Yeah, apparently, you're not supposed to do that and I would've gathered that easily from the instructions had they used something more than a picture. The guide for my center channel specifically said not to insert the insulation into the post hole though. So, crisis averted! I guess it makes sense since I assume the posts will get hot (given they'll have a decent amount of electricity flowing through them). Now, the insulation pretty much stops at the edge of the cap, which should be alright.

Oh and a question... I originally ordered some speaker wire from Monoprice, but apparently I won't get the wire until Monday. My impatience would not stand for this and I went to Home Depot to buy some speaker wire. Is the fact that the speaker wire uses copper on the positive and silver on the negative a bad thing? I believe the Monoprice cables use copper for both connections.

I also made sure to order The Matrix on blu-ray just for the lobby scene .

 

[The Boston Dangler]

1. why did you pick the 50's for surrounds? the usual option is smaller surrounds, often dipoles. the full-range floor standers will sound great, but it might be overkill for the amount and type of content that usually goes to the rear.

2. yes, keep insulation out of the electrical connectors, please what kind of connections are you using? banana plugs or screw-down posts? unless there's an issue with the connectors on the speaker or amp, it comes down to personal preference. i use banana plugs because they are super easy to plug and unplug. the posts won't get hot at all.

3. that's aluminium, not silver. i'd never use any wire that wasn't copper. are you sure there aren't 2 copper wires stuck together, with a thin aluminium wire down the middle? in this case, the aluminium would be there for a ground - if both the receiver and speakers have a 3rd screw for the ground on each channel, then connect it there. if not, don't connect it to anything.

4. saving private ryan - d day.

5. enjoy!

 

[her209]

1. why did you pick the 50's for surrounds? the usual option is smaller surrounds, often dipoles. the full-range floor standers will sound great, but it might be overkill for the amount and type of content that usually goes to the rear.

I was planning on getting 50's myself. Reason being, after buying the speaker stands, it come out to be roughly the same as the 50's anyways.

 

[Aikouka]

1. why did you pick the 50's for surrounds? the usual option is smaller surrounds, often dipoles. the full-range floor standers will sound great, but it might be overkill for the amount and type of content that usually goes to the rear.

Somewhat the same reason as her209... it kind of makes it easier than dealing with bookshelf speakers + stands and I've heard a lot of chatter about the Monitor 50's been good rear speakers (but not great fronts unless you have a small area).

I was actually a little worried at first that the AVR1610 wouldn't deliver a "superb" amount of power to the Monitor 70s. I heard some people mention that around 100W is a "sweet spot" for them (the 1910 would've been better then with it's 90W per channel). But I doubt it's something that I will notice... I definitely rank far from audiophile .

2. yes, keep insulation out of the electrical connectors, please what kind of connections are you using?

I'm just using the screw-down posts. I didn't even realize that I could attach banana plugs to the wires and use them with the posts. It kind of reminds me of the difference between hooking telephone cable to wrap around the posts vs attaching the fork adapters to them .

Are these good banana plugs? And is open-screw recommended versus closed-screw? I don't like the idea that open-screw has the wires coming out .

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10401&cs_id=1040115&p_id=2801&seq=1&format=2

3. that's aluminium, not silver. i'd never use any wire that wasn't copper. are you sure there aren't 2 copper wires stuck together, with a thin aluminium wire down the middle? in this case, the aluminium would be there for a ground - if both the receiver and speakers have a 3rd screw for the ground on each channel, then connect it there. if not, don't connect it to anything.

Here's the product on home depot's website. They have better products with better prices listed, but they were nowhere to be found in the actual B&M store. So, unfortunately, I had to go with the overpriced but slightly cheaper than Monster Cable junk :\.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

It says silver on it. If these are no good, I can simply replace them with the wires I'll get from Monoprice on Monday. I'm just way too impatient to wait on $12 cables for a system that costs a tad bit more than that!

4. saving private ryan - d day.

It might be somewhat heretical, but I'm not a huge fan of war movies . But I can see how that one would be good with all the positional audio. I heard Pearl Harbor (the bombing scene, of course) is another good source material.

5. enjoy!

Let's hope my neighbor enjoys it as much as I do . I'll probably end up switching my couch around with my TV to avoid being a bit of a douche with my subwoofer being near the adjoining wall (although I don't like tons of bass anyway).

EDIT:

I was wondering a little about center speakers. I originally had my center speaker in front of my TV. Now, my TV stand isn't super deep, but it's certainly deep enough for my DLP. But my DLP + Center Speaker? Doesn't really cut it. The Center speaker was hanging off the front by about 1/3 of its total depth. It was fine, but then I noticed that I never put the rubber feet on the bottom of it. Now, I don't know if these feet are to avoid vibration or just to avoid harming TV stands, but once I put the feet on, I was unable to leave it in front of the TV (since it wasn't resting on 2/3 of its depth anymore). I have it on my second TV stand shelf... is it bad to put it lower to the ground like that? I usually have seen people talk about putting them on top of their TV or right in front of it.

 

[alfa147x]

I can vouch for those banana plugs, I have 18 hooked up right now!

 

[alcoholbob]

I'm not a fan of open screw...the wire will eventually oxidate--harden up and end up with a whitish coating.

 

[kalrith]

Nice setup! I've got a Denon 1610 and Polk setup as well (although it pales in comparison to yours):

Mains: Polk R50
Center: Polk CSi25
Surrounds: Polk R15
Sub: Polk PSW350
​

I thought about upgrading the mains to Monitor 70 and the center to CS2 when Newegg had them on a good sale, but I really needed a new receiver first. I've been running this setup for 3 years now, and I think it's great for how little on spent on it (~$730 including the receiver).

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Nice setup! I've got a Denon 1610 and Polk setup as well (although it pales in comparison to yours):

Mains: Polk R50
Center: Polk CSi25
Surrounds: Polk R15
Sub: Polk PSW350
​

I thought about upgrading the mains to Monitor 70 and the center to CS2 when Newegg had them on a good sale, but I really needed a new receiver first. I've been running this setup for 3 years now, and I think it's great for how little on spent on it (~$730 including the receiver).

I think that receiver is fine to power the monitor 70s

 

[Aikouka]

Hmm so apparently Denon is of the belief that "more is better" in every way. I thought my receiver wasn't working.. I got everything hooked up and pushed the Power/Standby button and nothing happened.... A bit bewildered, I tried hooking it directly up to the wall and still nothing. I removed all the cables (that took a good 15+ minutes to put in... god I need those banana plugs!)

So, I poked at it while at my couch and noticed another small plug near that power/standby plug that said "On Off". I looked in the manual and there was nothing about this button that I saw. I pushed it and then hit the Power/Standby button and lo and behold, it worked!

Now I gotta put those wires back in . I have to stick the receiver into the stand in sideways and then put the plugs in. It wouldn't be bad with banana plugs (which I did order).

 

[Tiamat]

For the wire, that is normal. One side is tinned so that you can tell the polarity down the run. Its not going to affect anything in terms of performance. Most certainly when the run is less than 30' (depending on the gauge).

I think the small floorstanding speakers are good for surrounds, you don't have to waste money on stands and the tweeters are probably the correct height.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

it needs 2 on switches...sounds like serious business to me

 

[vshah]

it needs 2 on switches...sounds like serious business to me

most denons have had this for ages. one's a hard power switch, the other is a standby. at my parents house the 4310 is left on in standby mode so one can access the web interface. its fun being able to control it from anywhere in the world

 

[The Boston Dangler]

most denons have had this for ages. one's a hard power switch, the other is a standby. at my parents house the 4310 is left on in standby mode so one can access the web interface. its fun being able to control it from anywhere in the world

my denon (maybe 7 yrs old) has just the 1 switch. thankfully, it's a soft switch unlike the stupid hard power switch on my denon dvd.

 

[shortylickens]

I had full range surrounds and it was actually pretty nice for a while. I only used smaller boxes with just mids & tweeters for the front and back centers.
But eventually I got tired of them anyway.

 

[kalrith]

I think that receiver is fine to power the monitor 70s

Oh, I know. I was torn between getting Monitor 70s and getting a new receiver (which is the Denon 1610). I decided to go with the new receiver at this point (the reasons for which are mentioned in my Denon 1610 thread ). When I do upgrade my speakers, I want to make a much more substantial upgrade than to the Monitor 70. I'm very much considering the DIY path for my sub and front 3. I've just got to get myself a table saw (it's a good excuse to anyways ).

 

[jtvang125]

Hmm so apparently Denon is of the belief that "more is better" in every way. I thought my receiver wasn't working.. I got everything hooked up and pushed the Power/Standby button and nothing happened.... A bit bewildered, I tried hooking it directly up to the wall and still nothing. I removed all the cables (that took a good 15+ minutes to put in... god I need those banana plugs!)

So, I poked at it while at my couch and noticed another small plug near that power/standby plug that said "On Off". I looked in the manual and there was nothing about this button that I saw. I pushed it and then hit the Power/Standby button and lo and behold, it worked!

Now I gotta put those wires back in . I have to stick the receiver into the stand in sideways and then put the plugs in. It wouldn't be bad with banana plugs (which I did order).

Lol. Same thing with my 2310. I bought it open box but the guy said it's practically brand new and said I probably wouldn't be able to tell it was opened or not. Well when it came in just like he said the only thing opened was the top flaps of the box. The wrappings around the avr and manuals were factory prestine.

Plugged it in and pressed the Standby button but nothing. Tried a different outlet and same thing. Now I'm thinking a got a busted unit and knew I shouldn't have gone with a open box model. Looking closer I saw the hard on/off switch. Pressed it and I let out a sigh of relief as the standby button lit up. Pressed that it and it instantly came alive.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Oh, I know. I was torn between getting Monitor 70s and getting a new receiver (which is the Denon 1610). I decided to go with the new receiver at this point (the reasons for which are mentioned in my Denon 1610 thread ). When I do upgrade my speakers, I want to make a much more substantial upgrade than to the Monitor 70. I'm very much considering the DIY path for my sub and front 3. I've just got to get myself a table saw (it's a good excuse to anyways ).

Ah I see. My mistake. Thought you had the 1610 and didn't think it was enough for the Monitor 70s.

 

[Aikouka]

Lol. Same thing with my 2310.

Hehe, I guess I shouldn't feel too bad then .

Although, I've been considering moving my couch a bit to try and make the sound more... umm "positionally accurate"? My couch is against the north wall and my TV is against the south wall, which has about a 14' distance between the two. My rear surrounds are by my couch and facing inward (I see diagrams having them facing inward and some facing them forward...). I thought about moving my couch up a bit... maybe to where my chair is now and then leaving the speakers back there so the sound really does come from behind.

 

[Auric]

Those speakers look schweet. Seperate power and stand-by is nice. Onkyo models have them in the EU but not NA.

re: 'nanna plugs
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=29274311&postcount=24