Need help with a home theater solution

This is what I'm planning to go with:

Receiver: Yamaha RX-V375 ($250)
Front Speakers: Polk Audio RTIA3 ($330)
Center Speaker: Polk Audio Centre CSI A6 ($300)
Rear Speakers: Polk Audio T15 ($90)
Subwoofer: Polk Audio PSW10 ($95)

These prices are the best I found (in Canada). The only reason I'm choosing Yamaha RX-V375 over Denon AVR-1513 is that for the same price I get a newer model with some extra features such as automatic speaker setup.

Everybody tells me center speaker is very important, so I think CSiA6 would be a good choice. As for front speakers I can't really go with tower speakers, they are both expensive and very heavy. Will RTiA3 do well as front speakers?

Any suggestions about this setup?

Thanks in advance!

for that price you could get some towers for the front somr monitor 50's or something, thats what i have, i paid $100 for the pair used practically brand new.

That receiver uses discrete through hole MOSFETs. They don't operate at as high a carrier frequency as surface mount MOSFETs or HVICs, meaning less resolution. The only advantage is that they are much easier to replace if they fail, but that's very rare. There's also an Eco mode but I'm not exactly sure what it does. It might reduce the lag if it turns off various DSP effects, so try it.

The center speaker isn't even necessary. Just get some good front speakers and you're good to go.

wagex said:

for that price you could get some towers for the front somr monitor 50's or something, thats what i have, i paid $100 for the pair used practically brand new.

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Unfortunately where I live (Vancouver, BC) I don't have many options when it comes to buying used. I'm only looking in craigslist, but I rarely see anything that's good.

NiHaoMike said:

That receiver uses discrete through hole MOSFETs. They don't operate at as high a carrier frequency as surface mount MOSFETs or HVICs, meaning less resolution. The only advantage is that they are much easier to replace if they fail, but that's very rare. There's also an Eco mode but I'm not exactly sure what it does. It might reduce the lag if it turns off various DSP effects, so try it.

The center speaker isn't even necessary. Just get some good front speakers and you're good to go.

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How did you figure out what type of MOSFET the Yamaha receiver uses? I can't find any information. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with these terms at all. I understand that this is very subjective, but how much does this affect my movie/music experience?

As for front speakers I'm hoping I can avoid tower speakers, because of their size, price, and weight. Are there any good bookshelf speakers that eliminate the need for a center speaker? FutureShop has a good collection of speakers on sale, RTiA3 was one that seemed to have very good reviews. Do you have a suggestion?

meh i have a very similiar yamaha receiver and it sounds great i think mine is the rx-v371 instead of 375. with digital hdmi input it can decode almost any kind of digital audio source.

goosfand said:

How did you figure out what type of MOSFET the Yamaha receiver uses? I can't find any information. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with these terms at all. I understand that this is very subjective, but how much does this affect my movie/music experience?

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They show it right on the product page.
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-V375-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B00B981F38
The MOSFETs are the black blocks bolted to the heatsink.
Through hole MOSFETs and IGBTs have high stray inductance, which tends to limit carrier frequencies.
IPMs (Integrated Power Modules, much bigger than discretes and have many pins) theoretically can do better as the drivers and some decoupling are integrated into the same package, but in practice, they perform about the same as through hole discretes.
Surface mount MOSFETs have much lower stray inductance and can work at higher carrier frequencies, but HVICs (High Voltage Integrated Circuit) have the drivers are on the same piece of silicon and are the best. (Note that "high voltage" is because the 50V or so rail voltage is high voltage as far as integrated circuits are concerned.)

Counterintuitively, on amplifiers/receivers with a fixed rail voltage, it's at lower volume where the difference is audible. Basically, reducing the volume is done by reducing the output voltage, and if the supply rail stays constant, the only way to do it is to narrow down the duty cycle range and lose usable resolution. With a variable rail voltage, there can be basically no audible difference as the DSP just tells the PSU to reduce the output voltage rail in order to reduce volume, with no loss of resolution. (Think of it as like the difference between digital zoom and optical zoom on digital cameras.)

From what I can tell, Samsung and Panasonic are the only major manufacturers using HVICs. I have read about some newer Pioneers using either those or surface mount MOSFETs but I don't know for sure. (Both HVICs and surface mount MOSFETs are covered with heatsinks that look something like MOSFET heatsinks on a motherboard if you were to look through the top vents.)