# KptKrunch's stuff



## KptKrunch (Jul 21, 2009)

Hi all - new to this forum (found it when researching REW). Warning - I have a lot of stuff, I'll go by room:

Basement - future h/t area but for now my workout room:

Vuum tube amp (simply called "The Amp"). I also have a Samsung 32" LCD Monitor, and a Samsung HD830 universal player, and a Sony DVD player. The speakers are Polk RT800i's. No sub woofer

Sitting on a table not used is a Pioneer 563a player, and an older Yamaha Analog receiver (TOTL from 1992 I believe - thing won't die). 

Main Floor / Family room:

Receiver - Yamaha RX-V3800
Subwoofer - Paradigm PW2200
Speakers - Ascend 340's for the front three, 170's for the sides. 
DVD - Toshiba HD-DVD A30 
Display - Samsung Plasma 50"

Bonus Room (Main h/t area for now)

Lots of stuff here, but the highlights are:

Subwoofer - PB13-Ultra Piano Black
ICBM from Outlaw Audio
Oppo 980 Universal DVD player
H/K 520 AVR
H/K PA2000
Speakers - Energy RC line RC-70s L/R, RC-LCR center channel, and RC-10's for the side channels
Display - Samsung HLN DLP 61"

Spare bedroom - (Converted to my two channel room)

Amp - Grant Fidelity A-88 tube amp (32 watts triode, 65 watts Ultralinear
McIntosh MVP 861 universal player
Speakers - Totem Hawks / Energy Veritas 2.2i (sub the Veritas in once in a while)
Subwoofer - Old Yamaha YST (two 6" drivers, sounds OK - fills the bottom end but not for H/T). 

I'll be constructing a home theater room, not sure when it will start, but I am going to start doing a lot of serious research now to get ready - I think I may have found a great forum to get a lot of answers and ideas from!


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Interesting mix of equipment. 
I'm curious about your thoughts on your speakers? I like the RBH Sound sound and ended up with two complete 5.1 systems. You have three very different speaker systems,... so I'm kinda curious how they compare and how you ended up with them? :R


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## KptKrunch (Jul 21, 2009)

Great question Mark - my wife wonders why I have all this stuff too LOL. 

Here's a pic (now that I have 5 posts I can add attachments:

From Left to Right - Polk RT800i, Energy RC-10, Ascend CMT340, Energy RC-70, Energy Veritas 2.2i, Totem Hawk, Ascend CBM170, and just jutting in the pic is part of my Energy RC-LCR center channel. 











And here's one of my two subs (shortly after I got the SVS I had to do some comparison):










As for why - the Polks I got originally were on sale for about 50% off, and when I was younger I was always a big Polk fan due to their reputation. I listened to them for about 5 minutes to make sure they weren't abused, sounded fine so I bought them. Then, I started researching and auditioning other speakers. I realized that There was much better out there. I.D. seemed the way to go then but I was worried about not liking them. In the end I settled on the Ascend because they had the most consistent reviews, were small(er) so shipping wouldn't be as expensive, and because of their size I thought that worse case scenario I'd sell them and they'd be easy to ship. 

Once we moved into our new home, I had the Polks (I also have the CS400i for the center) in my family room, and the Ascends in the bonus room, along with the Paradigm sub. I always found the Paradigm sub a bit on the boomy side, and SVS always intrigued me. Anyway, our $ got strong (very strong, on par), and I was able to get a PB13-U in Piano black in Canada for the same price as the reg. matte finish with much cheaper shipping, so I did that. 

I then decided to get side speakers for the Polks, but couldn't find any Polk I liked. I bought the RC-10 on sale at A&B sound here in Canada after a brief audition (which left me very impressed), brought them home and of course I had to a/b them to the Ascends. I couldn't believe it but the RC-10's actually bettered the Ascends, and were much cheaper. I was so impressed, I decided to semi-retire the Polks, move all my Ascends downstairs to the family room, and buy the RC-70's and RC-LCR (also on sale) and all I can say is wow. 

However, it was hard for me, when I wanted to kick back and listen to music to do so without being interrupted, so I decided to set up a little two channel system with my Polks in a spare bedroom. That all started because I had a lot of extra transports laying around, plus I found a tube amp on sale for 70% off (a big clear out). I had auditioned speakers before being driven by tubes and I liked the sound, so I thought, hey, why not. 

Then (bored yet? LOL) A&B sound went out of business. I was able to get a demo pair of the Energy Veritas 2.2i's at a really good price (I was just seeing what was on sale, and I was looking at Totems at the time, but the Energy was a better price but it was a tough call, both speakers impressed) but in the end went with price. 

A few months later - the when the local A&B was closing down (they closed down different stores at different times) I went again (dummy me) and they had the Hawks on for less than half price. I figured I'd get those now too.

In between all this I found a local guy (fairly local to me) selling tube equipment on the internet (Grant Fidelity). All chinese stuff, had a 50% off sale on a much more powerful tube amp than what I orignally had, so I bought that. 

McIntosh - same thing - about 60% off with full waranty - so I bought that. 

And there you have it. And you're right, it is three very different sounding systems (I don't count the Polks in the basement, that's just background noise for my workouts). 

Can't really say what is better, as it changes with my moods, but if you put a gun to my head and told me I could only have one speaker brand, I'd choose the Hawks for music, and the RC's for home theater. 

I'd rank them this way:

1. Totem Hawks
2. Energy RC's
3. Energy Veritas (note - only because I prefer the fuller, more holograpic sound of the Hawks - these I swap with the Hawks for two channel).
4. Ascend
5. Polk (distant 5 actually)

Ascend sounds most like the Veritas, but they're not as smooth nor go as deep. Also, the Energy's (all of them) have a much deeper sound stage and better imaging than the Ascends - which are the orignals, not the SE's).

Sorry for the long post Mark, you asked  Eventually will probably sell the Veritas, but right now I just can't bring myself to do it.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Oh,... I didn't wonder "why" you had all that stuff at all, I understand that completely... at one time I had five complete 5.1 systems :coocoo:. What I'm curious about is the variety. Me? I kinda zeroed in on RBH, but you,... well you have four (IMHO) very different sonic signatures.


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## KptKrunch (Jul 21, 2009)

haha , got ya. I guess just for variety. That's why I got into tubes too. This way I always have something different to listen to. I know a lot of people always focus on one sound, one speaker, but I find those people are always getting the 'upgraditis' bug, always wanting something different. For some, their gear barely gets broken in and they're selling it for something else. I really have no 'upgraditis', at least on my speakers per say. I like what I have now, and whenever I feel like a different sound, I'm there. 

Though when I build my h/t room, I haven't decided what I'm doing for speakers there. Use my existing ones (if I do it would the be RC's) or go into something like a pro monitor style speaker - the 'spark' and 'Catalyst' from Seaton Audio looks good, or if I go the passive route maybe the JTR's or something in that nature. Lots of time to figure out that one though


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