upgrade bug

[recoveryone]

The upgrade bug has bitten again, as I have replace the passive sub in my daughters room with a Polk Audio PSW 10. This was my growing upstairs media retreat until she came back home from college (another long story). But I have ignored this little setup long enough and need to really put some effort into the wiring and placement of all the speakers. The setup consist of older gear I have had over the years, but still sound great in a room that is only 10X12. The setup is:

Vizio 32" 1080p Smart TV (unknown model #)
Pioneer VSX 510 AVR
Pioneer BDP 120
Pioneer PD M (something dual six disk changer)
Squeezebox Classic 3
PS2
Xbox
Wii

Speakers:
Polk Audio Center CSR
Optimus LX5 fronts
Pioneer HTB rears (tiny)
Polk Audio PSW 10 Sub

Adding the powered sub over the passive one make a big differnce in how the LX5's sounded. The LX5's came to life like the ones in my bedroom setup, I guess the passive sub was robbing them of their full sound. or it could have been not enough power to push it all from the VSX 510. The Polk center has been the mainstay, but sounds much better with the LX5's being more supportive. The Polk PSW 10 is a entry level sub and early model from Polk the controls are not very detailed and only has a range of 60Hz to 100Hz, but the specs say it can go as low as 30Hz????. The Power of the sub states 100 watts, but I would say more like 50-70, I have other powerd subs in my home that are 100 watts and I do not have to turn up the level as high as I do on this Polk. I have been thinking of replacing the LX5's with some Polk T15's just for the heck of it so it all would match, but its hard to put away those LX5's unless I start to replace the X77's in the 7.1 system downstaris hmmmmm. The upgrade bug seem to bite the hardest around the begining of each new year, so we will see.

[recoveryone]

OK, I replaced the zip cord speaker lines with some 12AWG Cables to Go 29176 to the fronts and center. Had to cut the banana plugs on the AVR end and strip them down a little to fit in the spring clip openings on the back . The Center gain the most improvement with just a bit tighter bass and clearer dialog. In 2 ch mode the LX5's and sub are rocking being feed through the squeezebox classic. Waiting for the 32" speaker stands to take the LX5's off the wall and that will give it a better look. Daughter is not totally happy as Dad came in and whipped the room into shape, all the clothes hung up and put away, went through all her nick nacks, keep it or through it out. I do fear she may become a horder, just hates to through anything away. And what is it with females and clothes they no longer wear, but still keep around. Its either "It may come back in style" or " I plan to lose weight to fit back into those". I just prepping the room for down the road when she leaves again and NOT COME BACK! love her to death, but dad wants his house back .

Once the stands come in I'll do a vid to share.

upstairs test 1 - YouTube

[recoveryone]

Well this little project is done and I could not be more happier with the final results. The Polk Audio T15's came in lastnight, and the joy of using banana plugs make switching out speakers a breeze. I put the T15's through some test music from the following artist:
Earl Klugh - Solo Guitar
Steely Dan - Goucho
Teereny Sutton Band - American Road
Jill Scott - Heat of the sun

5.1 mode:
SW Episode 1 Pod Race BD version

The T15's are surprisingly much more easier to drive than the LX5's, resulting in less effort from the VSX D510 to produce a warm airy sound that filled the room. The old addage of using matching speakers rings so true with this setup as the T15's blended very well with the Polk Audio PSW 10 sub with one not dominating over the other. I thought I would miss the 360 degree tweeters of the LX5's. but the T15's have a very wide pattern with a detail sound. The most impressive part was the depth of the sound. It just gave a sense of more sound and less roll off (if that makes any sense). I felt the design of direct speakers gave a better center image of vocals and made me check the center channel to make sure it was not working. The LX5's are no slouch, but just need to be placed in the right positions to excel. This room was just a bit to small for them to be able to reach their full potential, unlike the master bedroom where they sing like the birds. I also did a test in 5.1 to see how they would handle BD and DVD's. They worked very well and even found myself hearing things from the right and left channels I had not heard before or should say not in such detail from each channel and I contribite most of that to the size of the room where there is not enough distance for the sound to blend together compared to my other HT systems. I look at this as a classic example of matching up the right speakers with the right room and getting the desired results.

I would highly recommend these Polk T15's and you can get them dirt cheap new (under $100) retail. As part of a 2.1/5.1 setup you could do much much worse.