KEF IQ5 Vs Polk RTi8 Vs Infinity P362 Vs Polk T90

Have you had a chance to listen to any of these? What is your impression?

Im also interested in this. Can anyone help, where can u get the rti8s for 150???

All good speakers and all would be recommended by the people who own them because THEY like the sound.

You have to audition and see what you like.

I own KEF iQ1 and love the KEF sound; I've never heard the others but would just get the KEF because I know I like them.

I wouldn't worry about listening to all of them; go hear what you can, if you really like something then buy them, listen and be happy.

Go to the KEF owners thread, there are lots of them around, especially with this $360 - $400 closeout happening. Lots of people bought iQ7 for fronts when Vanns had them at $400/pr and got iQ5 for rear. I wish I had $400 to spend, I'd upgrade my fronts to iQ5 and send my iQ1 to the rear, but alas...

In/around the Manhattan area, I'd say 6ave (Long Island or Jersey) for the KEFs, J&R for the Polks, and B&H for the Infinities (and possibly the Polks too).

Things like this are completely subjective, but I have a feeling the KEFs are going to impress the most... 6ave no longer has the IQ towers on their website but they may still have some in store... if you could get a demo/open-box pair at an even deeper discount I'm not sure they could be beat in terms of price/performance (if you like the sound).

A couple of weeks back a friend tried to find the IQ7s in NYC for an audition. She had no luck, but didn't try 6th Ave. She ended up buying the Iq7s blind from Vanns, figuring that in a worse case scenario, she'd just return them. I own RTi8s, but given that I've listened to her system for all of about 10 minutes, I'm very hesitant to give any comparisons on the sound. I will say that I think the KEFs are very well made (as are the Polks) and for the 10 minutes I listened to some jazz material I had with me, sounded excellent. In particular the imaging stood out. My RTi8s seem to have a bit more on the bottom, but again the IQ7s need to be broken in and this weekend's project is to check speaker positioning, mess with the port plug, etc... Suffice it to say, I think both the RTi8s and the IQ7s would benefit from a sub. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Absolutely not. I wish I could upgrade my fronts to iQ5 from iQ1 (which still sound amazing)

Mine are part of a 5.1 system with iQ2 as centre, 2001.2 as rears and Paradigm DSP-3100 sub.

If you are doing 2 channel I would suggest it being 2.1 ASAP as the iQ5 have 5 1/4 in drivers (not great for reaching really low).

btw. jazz lovers tend to be KEF lovers.

I use my RTi8s as part of a 5.1 system as well. Front L/R=Rti8s, Center=CSi3, Rear L/R=RTi4s, Sub=SVS PB10. However, most of my music listening is done in either 2.1 or Marantz "pure direct" mode with just the RTi8s.

My friend has the iQ7s set up as just 2.0 with a HK 3490 stereo receiver.

I have listened to all of these-
My number would be kef and #2 would be infinity. The uni q that the iq line uses works well and sounds natural.

The KEFs are fairly efficient, so an SR304 would probably drive them well enough at average levels.

I'd ask that in the KEF owners thread, more people with KEF/Onkyo backgrounds there then in this thread; I think it should be fine but am no expert.

I *love* my KEFs. I just finished out my 5.1, with IQ7s and an IQ6c in front, with IQ5s on the side surrounds, driven by an Onkyo 805. When I unpacked the IQ5s, I was a little skeptical; they are TINY for towers. Once I got them hooked up and balanced with Audyssey, I watched my HD-DVD of V for Vendetta in all its Tru-HD glory... those speakers absolutely sing. Clear highs, and plenty of punch down to 80Hz, where my velo sub takes over. I'm hearing stuff in the surround channels I have never heard before. They're truly magnificent little speakers. Absolutely worth every dime at these close-out prices. And they look nice too, with their curved cabinets. My wife commented that she loves the "organic" shape of these towers.

-P

Why not?

If you are going to listen to the KEFs somewhere make sure it is hooked up to a similar receiver and see if it gets loud enough for you.

Unless you are really looking to blast these, they should be fine with your receiver.