Advice on Polk Speakers with Denon 3802 (1 Viewer)

[Jason Lovely]

What do you think of this?

Polk R40: Front L/R

Polk CS175i: Center

Polk f/x300i: Rear L/R and Rear Center L/R

Polk PSW350: Sub

Denon AVR-3802: Receiver

By the way, the specs on the Denon AVR-3802 say it's 110W/channel. Does this mean the speakers should all be rated for at least 110W? Do you think this is a good setup?

 

[John Sully]

Seems decent.

As far as the power rating of the amp goes, no your speakers do not have to all be rated @ 110W. The most common cause of speaker damage is too little power (and too much volume) not too much. Trying to play an underpowered system too loud results in a type of distortion known as "clipping". Typically the result of clipping is a lot of high energy harmonics (much more energy in the upper part of the sound sprectrum than is found in your source material) which fry the tweeter.

 

[Jason Lovely]

I think I'm confused by what it says on the Polk site. For each speaker, it says "Recommended Amplifier Power". For the R40, it's 20-150 w/channel, and for the rest of them it's 10-100 w/channel. I read that even though the Denon says 110 w/channel, the peak power output is actually 100. I guess what I'm asking is whether it's possible to blow the speakers if the Denon puts out 110W. If not, these speakers are well matched with this receiver, right? I also have a question about the rear center surrounds. The surrounds I chose can be set as either dipole or bipole, and Polk says if the surrounds are behind the couch they should be set to dipole. Should all four of the surrounds be set to dipole? Furthermore, are there L/R rear center speaker jacks on the receiver? If DTS Discrete 6.1 is being used, does it disperse the sixth channel between these two speakers? Sorry for all the question.

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

That's a pretty nice setup... but as an owner of a Polk PSW350 sub, I honestly think you can do better for the price. Don't get me wrong -- it's a decent sub. It just isn't the best you can get for that price.

 

[Race]

I picked up a pair of R40's at cc for $200, now I need a center, Fry's has the CS175i on sale for $79, should I get it or throw another $100 and get the CS245i?

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Race & Jason,

I just upgaded to the rt800i from r40's. The 40's were nice but but I really would look at the 600's or 800's instead. Imageing is much better, as well as the lower end. I currently have a CS175 but plan on upgrading to either the CS130 or CS400. As for the F/X300's, You'll love 'em!!! I've also got a PSW350 sub and have no complaints.

 

[Carl Miller]

I've got the 245i on a test run now at home with the R40's and in my opinion, it's noticably better than the 175i. It's not specifically voice matched for the R40's (the 175i is) but I haven't noticed a problem as far as matching goes.

The 175i gives off quite a bit of distortion at relatively low volumes and isn't nearly as clear and crisp even at low volume. Worth the extra cost in my book.