MisterUCLA

I have an Onkyo 575X reciever with Polk rt800i's, cs245i and bose 201's as my rears. I was wondering if I should buy some interconnects for the speaker cable. I was also wondering what kind I should get. I saw spade connectors and some springy rods at circuit city. I'd also like any tips on configuring/tweaking my 575X.

On a side note, my polks are fairly new and I've noticed that many people suggest getting PSB speakers for Onkyo receivers. I spent 800 dollars for the three speakers. Are they that much better? SHould I consider returning the Polks and getting the PSBs? Does anybody know Circuit City's policy on returns? 800 dollars is a lot of money and I wouldn't feel too good If I knew there were better speakers for the same amount of money. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

stevevt

I think that the term you are looking for is "connectors," rather than "interconnects." Most people use the word interconnect to refer to the RCA-type cable that goes between components. Not a big deal -- just a clarification.

Anyhow, there are several kinds of connectors/connections for speaker cables:

* Bare Wire (which is how I assume you have things hooked up now)
* Pins: these look exactly like what something called a "pin" should look like, and work well with spring-loaded and a few other connection types.
* Bananas: these are made to work exclusively with banana connections on speakers and receivers/amplifiers; if you don't have 5-way binding posts, you probably can't use them. These are probably the "springy rods" you saw.
* Spades: these look exactly like what something called a "spade" should look like, and work well with 5-way binding posts.

Any of the last 3 choices will be easier to insert and remove than bare wire, but will probably not give you better sound unless there's some physical reason that you aren't able to make a solid connection with bare wire.

I'm not sure about Circuit City's return policy, and I haven't heard those Polks, but I will say that PSB makes very hard-to-beat speakers in almost every price range. If you're happy with the Polks, that's all that really matters. If you feel something is lacking, and you can return the Polks, you might consider checking out PSBs, Energys, Paradigms, Klipsches, B&Ws, etc.

Good luck.

edclem

are the speakers still in their boxes?
Circuit City is usually pretty good about taking returns, AFAIK.
(This would explain their open box buys that they always seem to have...)

The best thing you can do is go listen to other speakers in your price range. In my opinion, much better speakers than Polk can be had in the $800 range.

B&W, Monitor Audio, Paradigm Reference Series, and PSB all come to mind.

Remember, though: speaker preferences are just that: personal preferences. The only thing that really matters is what sounds best to you.

MisterUCLA

Thanks both of you for your help.

I decided to stick with my polks, CC's free speaker upgrade was a major factor.

I also picked up some dual banana plugs.

thanks