Polk Audio Vs Sony - Floor standings and Center Channel

I was actually demoing the Polk's and Sony's at Best Buy today and the Polk's were so much better. No contest, Polk. No Sony. I don't know what happened to them. They used to make pretty good audio equipment. Actually, I'm being too hard. If you didn't compare the two and just listened to the Sony's, you'd think they sounded fine, but once you do an A-B comparison, it's night and day.

No matter what, don't get the Sony SS-CN5000. The frequency range is all wrong for a center channel. The SSF-5000 is a pretty good deal for floorstanding speakers though, even if the Polk's do blow them out of the water.

I would have a really hard time recommending Sony speakers vs Polk. They (Sony) are not horrible, but they just are not very good either. At least that has been my experience.

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I have inspected the TSi100/Monitor 30 and TSi200/Monitor 40 models down to the Nth. detail and, despite Polk's ad copy, I can assure you, that those models are the same. Same drivers, same X-overs and same boxes.
Only the cosmetic details are different.
I assume the same is true for the floorstanders as well.

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Maybe, now that the TSi models are discounted.
It's amazing how a piece of piano black changes the look, adds a touch of class.
If you are the type that like to look at the drivers with the grills off, the Monitors.
The TSi's look better with the grills on and if there is an element of WAF, the extra $60 dollars might be well spent.

Or,
Spend that $60 on the Monitor 60's, considered by some(myself included), to be the best of the entire TSi/Monitor line.

A little late here, but I concur that there is no comparison between these Polks and the Sonys. Maybe the Polk M10 or T15, but not the Monitors or TSis.


Nothing happened to them--as far as I know, speaker companies have always outperformed major consumer electronics companies when it comes to speakers. If the reverse was ever true, then it was before my time. Sony's decent equipment is overpriced and not well known to the public, while their entry-level audio products have never been very good. They still make some of the better boomboxes, but in comparison to regular speakers, that's not saying much. Among consumer electronics companies, Yamaha has probably had the most success with speaker quality.


They've gotten better recently (especially their large speakers), but they're still way out of their league against speaker companies. That goes for Onkyo, too.


No because at any given time the receiver is only giving the speaker enough power to play at whatever volume is set. For casual background listening, that's barely 1 watt most of the time, although obviously it can get much higher at loud volumes (like when watching a movie). In this case, the receiver will obviously be the limiting factor, but as long as you stay within its limits with the volume control, then it won't be underpowering the speakers.


Yes, if you turn the volume too high and a really loud sound is played on a soundtrack, then the receiver may basically short-circuit and literally fry the speaker's drivers (specifically their voice coils). This doesn't happen too often, but it can happen. Usually you'll hear so much distortion (or the soundtrack will just be so loud) that you'll naturally turn the volume down before any real damage is done, or the receiver will sense an overload and shut down by itself, but since you asked, yes it can happen.

By the way, having a receiver with a lower watt rating than that of the speakers may not be ideal for the safety of the speakers, but it is the common case for the general public and even many audiophiles. Just don't go crazy with the volume, turn it down if you hear distortion, and like most people you'll probably be fine.

I'd go with either polks, I've had some polks that went from my HT system to my bedroom and there about 6years old and still going strong and sound great . Im not sure but I think there the 600 RTI .

I recently bought some rtia5's, using them on my ht/music setup. I'm pretty impressed with them, paired with a sub of course.

I was tempted to buy some monitor 70's: http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Mon...1447826&sr=8-2

I've never heard them though, so I shyed away from them.

I own Polk Monitor 50s with the Polk CSR center. I love my setup. I've demoed the sonys that you listed and they're ok sounding at best. To me, they just felt light and the crossovers weren't that great in there (I heard female voice bleeding into the woofer). You'll enjoy the Polks a lot more IMO.

Like others have said... The Polks >>>>>> Sonys. Monitor series and the TSi series are very similar, since the TSi series is just a revision of the Monitor line. Get whichever you think is better looking or costs less.

By the way, the RTi series is higher-end than the Monitor series.

I purchased a setup for my inlaws a couple years ago, I bought RTi8's for them. That's partly why I went with the RTIa5's, I demoed them locally, and thought they sounded a bit better than the 8's.

I had thought about about about the monitor 70's based off of price. $400 for the pair would have been nice..

Newegg.com has the Polk Audio Monitor 60 Cherry Single Floorstanding Loudspeaker for $149.99 - $30 off coupon code EMCLTLN56″ (Expires 06/08/2009) = $119.99 with free shipping.

I have a pair of polk rti a5's and find them to just be too bright and fatiguing to listen to. I'm now looking to sell them. Too bad because the bass was excellent. The Sonys have much smoother and more natural highs, but the bass isn't quite as tight and good.