Calling all Polkies:Official Polk thread - Page 443

Picked up the last speakers in my polk monitor set earlier today. Went for an entry level setup. Since Canadians are blocked from buying directly from Newegg I had to buy through Amazon (on which the prices ride the Newegg offering by about the additional shipping cost). Got the 4 monitor 30's for the rear & surrounds 5 weeks ago when Newegg showed that they have deactivated the cherry line and I jumped to get them from Amazon. ( All 30's came in good). The Cherry colored Monitor 30's are still not available on Newegg. When taking delivery today one Monitor 60 box had a gaping hole in it but no damage inside. The other box had no hole in it but the grill has a small crack. Trust UPS. Should be easy to fix with a bit of model cement though. The CS2 is fine. Can't wait for the media room in the man cave to be done so that I can try them out. Will be driving them with a Yamaha V671.

Congrats!!!!

Try to contact Polk, they might replace the damage grill at no charge.

Dang man, I had a freak out moment today.

Last night, chillin, puttin back mass quantities of cold ones, playing Floyd remastered; Wish you were here and Animals, some Clapton, and was listening in 2ch at -9, jammin.

This morning, went to play some Skynnard and the tweets on my A9's were "fuzzy", crap, I know I can't blow these things, I've got them bi-amped, 200w to the top, 300w to the bottom. took everything apart, all the wiring, all the interconnects and put everything back together and presto, clean sounding speakers again.

Whew!

Both of them sounded fuzzy? Sounds like maybe just powering the amp down and back up might have done the same thing. Still, at least wiggling the wiring would probably be the first thing I'd do too.

Sorry if this has been previously addressed on this thread, but I was hoping for a shortcut from the Polk experts represented here. I have a 7.1 system and a Pioneer vsx-52 AV amp. This drives a Polk CSi5 center channel speaker, two very nice custom made free standing speakers, and 4 Polk ceiling RC80i speakers as front highs and rear surrounds.

I have come to realize that I have underestimated the importance of matching my center channel and fronts which carry the bulk of all the audio I listen to. Instead of getting a center channel to match my custom speakers, I was thinking of getting Polk floor standing speakers to better match my Polk CSi5. I noticed that LSiM and LSi are a little pricey for my $1000 budget, as are the RTi A9. My question is whether the RTi A7, A5, or theTSi line will match my CSi5 well enough, and get an opinion of the difference between the RTi and TSi lines?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

What are your custom speakers? Are a they a known DIY design?

Your best match would be any RTi line speakers. I too have the CSi5 (nice speaker) paired with RTi10 fronts and RTi8 surrounds. These were available from Polk's e-bay page a couple months ago. I don't know whether or not they may still be available. Anything from the RTi6's (bookshelves... I got some from the Egg last weekend at half off) thru the RTi10's all have the same 6" drivers that match your center.

The equivalent in Polk's new line would be RTiA3's thru RTiA7's. LSi's and Tsi's will not match your center. As for your second question, the RTi's use totally different drivers from the Tsi's and the RTi's sound noticeably clearer.

Oh yeah, both, but more noticeable on the right. Power down was the first thing I did, check connections was the next. Power down a second, tightened all the connections. Pulled the right tweeter to check connections. Then disconnected everything and re-installed and finally, a healthy sound once again.



The CSi5 will be a timbre match for all speakers in both RTi and RTiA series. The RTi and iA line is a step up from the TSi line. I know that both Rob Lee and myself recently stepped up from the TSi/Monitor line into the RTi/iA line and theres a significant difference.

Do your CSi5 a favor and forget about the TSi line.

Glad you got your tweets going again. I hate that "Oh Quap broke it" feeling ... Also I'm really gad to see lively discussion in this thread once again, after the amp wars nearly chased everyone away

Regarding RTi's and Tsi's, I have a new quandary looming on the horizon. As I mentioned, I bought a pair of RTi6's last weekend... couldn't pass up the 1/2 off deal. I used them to replace the RTiA3's which are themselves only a month old or so. These RTi6's now match everything else I have from the older RTi line (10's, 8's, Csi5 and Csi3).

So I'm thinking of putting the A3's in the bedroom to replace the M40's there. I like the M40's - they do a good job in the bedroom. (Of course, I liked the M70's in the LR before moving up to RTi's there. Most likely if I setup the A3's in the BR I'll like them better.) The quandary is do I pair the A6's with the CS20 I used to use with the M70's? Or do I buy a CSiA4 to match the A3's?

The plus and minuses are: both the A6's and CS20 have 6" drivers, though not timber matched.
The CSiA4 will match the A6's cosmetically and have the same tweeter, but the A4 center has only 5" woofs while the A3's have 6". Unfortunately I boxed up the CS20 and A3's and put them in the garage, so it would be no small task to set everything up to try it out.

Speaking of putting stuff in the garage... I can't help but think of Seinfeld's "garbification" bit. If you haven't seen it, look it up. It's all about the timeline of posessions, starting from unboxing some prized new item to eventually stacking it in the garage next to (ultimately) the garbage cans.

They are a pair of Salk Sound HTS-MTM Monitors with cherry wood. Very nice. I no longer think they are matched properly to my center speaker.

http://salksound.com/hts%20-%20speci...ons-prices.htm

Ok. It looks like I have a direction toward the RTi's. There are two sets local to me on sale by private owners, a pair of cherry RTi70s and a pair of RTi10s. Is the RTi70 precursor to the RTi A7s? I am not sure what predates the RTi10.

It looks like the RTi70's are a predecessor or the RTi8 and RTiA5, having two 6" woofs.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/recent/rti70/

The RTi10's are a bit larger, with two 7" woofs and one 6" mid (although the cabinets are almost the same height). I use the 10's up front and the 8's as surrounds, though I believe the 8's would work as mains in a smaller room. Also I think the 10's may be a newer model than the 70's, except for the bottom port. I'd go for the 10's IMO.

I'm not an authority, but I believe the old/new equivalencies are:

RTi4 => RTiA1
RTi6 => RTiA3
RTi8 => RTiA5
RTi10 => RTiA7
RTi12 => RTiA9
and
CSi3 => CSiA4
CSi5 => CSiA6

A quandary indeed!

If going in the bedroom, my vote is the CSiA4.

I sold my monitor line and now have a 5.1 after replacing my M40 surrounds with FXiA6 surrounds. The move the FX's were a huge bonus. Way extra sound. The memory of the bookies now have a flat sound compared to these Bi/Dipole speakers.

End of next month my friend, a 7.2 set up with an extra set of A9's in the wide spot.

I emailed them twice about replacing blown tweeters in a pair of R50s but never got a response.

Give'em a call. I've had nothing but great results over the phone.

Too late now, this was a couple years ago. I bought some different tweeters (Boston acoustics) instead and installed them. Plus, I've heard too many horror stories that their tweeters blow quite easily. Interestingly, the bostons weren't a bad match while being quite expensive.

Why don't you get Jim to put together a center channel for you? You have an awesome set of speakers. Finish it with a matched center. Just get another HTS-MTM.



Take notice that there are five speakers there and one is horizontal.

I would state it the other way around: I don't think your center channel is matched properly to your L/R mains.

So tell me I'll be happy please. lol

I have a yamaha htr6250 with 15 year old e710 cerwin vega fronts, cerwin vega center, velodyne dls4000r and 20 year old acoustic profile surrounds.

I recently bought polk tsi 400 fronts, polk rti a1 rears and a cs10 center to replace the old stuff. I know no one is super hyped at the budget tsi series, but will I be pleasantly surprised compared to the cerwin vegas at least?

Right now I only have the polk center, the rest is still in transit to me and I'm hoping I won't be dissapointed. I did listen to them in visions and liked them but I realise they aren't "high-end" by any means. But cerwin vegas are far from ideal HT speakers as well.

Thanks.

Yes I am considering that as well. I was just thinking that the RTi series towers are better than the HTS-MTMs. It is hard for me to quantify whether that is true or not. The grass is always greener on the other side of the Home Theater room.

If you aren't a critical listener then it may not matter to you. If you are into 2 channel or multi-channel music however my money is squarely on the Salks. There is no debating that the driver components and X-Over is of higher quality on the Salks.

I think jinjuku has a valid idea with matching what you already have but I have to tell you (imo of course), without spending 1499 to 2K per speaker, my grass is pretty darn green. I'll be adding a second set of RTiA9's to complete the front stage.

Note that the "best speaker" may not be the best speaker for HT. Speakers that do well for critical music listening may not perform well for movies. Short of owning two different systems, it's best to hopefully find a good balance.

Four RTiA9s in the front with a center speaker? Maybe not $2k per speaker but still pricey.

I like jinjuku's tag line about the difference between an audiophile and a DIYer.

Yeah, me too. I try to DIY when I can, I've made my own speaker stands and my own equipment cabinet.

Four A9's might be a bit pricey indeed, but it does round out a 7.2 set up quite nicely and the sound is pretty hard to beat in an HT set up. Four A9's still comes out a good chunk cheaper than two LSiMs.

So in this case, I'll brag about money saved and good sound acquired, IMO of course.

Hey guys, just a quick question...

Im looking to upgrade my LSi7s to LSi9s and i currently have a Parasound HCA-855A and my question is, is my amp sufficient to power the LSi9s or do i need something more robust to make them sing?

Also, any real differences in the sound signature? Im reading different impressions where the 7s were better/9s sounded muddy, etc. Overall, what would i really gain swapping to 9s?

I will be crossing them over @ 80hz with 2 Emotiva Ultra 12s.

The 9's dig MUCH deeper than the 7's. I heard the 9's at a friends house and kept asking if his 18" sub was on......

If your low end is taken care of with the subs to your liking, I would just keep what you have now as the 7's are quite good. The 9's would allow you to cross the subs over a bit lower if you wanted to.

Thats the only real difference? Hmmmmm, i do like that they dig lower but if theres no increase in soundstage, holographic & airy highs, dispersion, etc. ill stick with the 7s.

Can anyone confirm what Enders said? And would the Parasound i have be enough for the LSi9s?

EDIT: Also, would the Pioneer Elite SC-55 make the 9s sing with no amp? Theres two paths im considering...

A - Upgrade amp with something like a Emotiva XPA-5
B - Sell both receiver and amp and get a SC-55 (if its powerful enough for 9s)

They will have more of what you stated, but not enough IMHO to justify buying them when you have the 7's.

The Parasound should work with them at moderate levels of listening.

I know some guys on the forum running LSi setups with their Elite AVR's, but I am not sure if I would personally do that.

Now RTi, totally would run those on the Pio and get rid of the amp. LSi's, not so sure.

Check out the Polk Audio Forums for a bit more detail from the guys that are using that setup: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums

How do you connect 4 A9s to your front in a 7.2 setup? Two of them are front speakers, then you have a center, and what are the other two connected as?