Calling all Polkies:Official Polk thread - Page 534

You and Geoff... geez, you guys are sick, you hear... SICK!


Price, or more specifically incremental price was why I chose the XPA5 over their 2 or 3 channel models. I figure if I'm gonna blow $500-600 on iron, I may as well step up to $760, which is what the XPA5 cost on sale. Also I happened to stumble upon a once in a lifetime sale on A9's (Thanks CR!) otherwise I'd still be running A7's.

What is the best way to install a pair of A9's in a bathroom?

LOL!

Great advice!

I did face that situation on buying first a XPA-3 and at the end it was replaced by a XPA-5, mainly due to the size of my room (4K+ sqf).

I know money is not always available and that we "always" want to buy our gear "now". But, if you have a big room, then best bet is to wait a bit longer / save some extra cash and pull the trigger on the XPA-5. My two cents!

Really happy you were able to grab these bad boys at that incredible price. I didn't see that price listed again since then......other wise I'll have 6 of them by now................ha, just kidding..............or not?

the TP roll holder goes on the side

Hey, I've been out of the loop for a few days, I'll try to keep my replies short;

IMO, I'd plan to have an AVR with pre-outs, as mentioned, the 70's LOVE power, the more you feed them, the better they sound....fo sho


When I break in my race bikes, I ride the crap out of them, break them in slow, they race slow, break them in fast, they race fast, I don't recommend this for your speakers

I saw your later post, congratulations, bout time you got yourself a stinkin sub


AMEN to that one, too much is NEVER enough, not enough is down right painful

What noticeable difference is there between a Monitor 30 (AM3025-A) and a Monitor 30 Series II (AM3095-A) ? The TSI100's specs look really good, but they're double the price.

I tried some Cambridge S20's today and was not impressed at all.

Ha, ha......Tommy21's thread is the one that is making me consider this upgrade for my speakers. Yeah, that crossover look really sick............I want!

For the folks interested in this modification, please have a look of Tommy21's thread here:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?137382-VR3-DIY-Fortress-Mod-quot-Plus-Edition-quot

Go to post #31 to see the difference between the stock crossover and the Fortress + (pics).

Cosmetics. The monitor and monitor series ii's is only cosmetic. The TSI vs the monitors is mostly cosmetic, there is some speculation that the tweeter may be slightly different and the crossover may be slightly different, however when I demo'd TSI500's along side monitor70's I couldn't hear any difference.

I found a nice pair of Monitor 30 Series II's, for $120/£75. (pair) Postage added on for shipping to the UK? $120/£75. I then found some TSI100's for $240/£150 with free shipping to the UK. I think I'll go with the TSI100's.

[edit] Didn't get it, photo was of black pair, description says cherry.

Why are Polk's so hard to find in the UK!?
Edited by Ak Gara - 1/13/13 at 7:28am

FWIW... forgive me friend, but the phrase "I don't hear any difference" is often used in audio forums. The difference is after you've become accustomed to listening to better speakers, and are then subjected to hearing lesser quality speakers. The "difference" then becomes more than noticeable. Thank you for at least including that they "may be slightly different".

Right, that XO looks pretty sick indeed.

Do I hear this right? You're obataining a second set of A9's? I know your room isn't condusive to wides, but if you ever get a chance to set up a 2nd set of 9's as wides, you'll be astonished at the increase in sound your front stage will produce.


Jason summed it up on the differences. Good find!! Don't have the answer to your question. You may try contacting Polk and asking them.

Do you remember that I had an issue with one of my cherry speakers (dented at the front)?. Well, long story short, I ended up with the dented enclosure (no drivers/crossover). Then I found a slightly damaged RTi A9 at an incredible price and I pull the trigger on that one.

So, I need to find all components for the empty enclosure and I'll have an extra pair of A9's. I'll share some pics later during the day.

Hmmmm, I'm sure you tried contacting Polk for a replacement price on drivers and XO's? Or asking if they have a used parts bin?

Yep, I did contac Polk directly, one of the cool things is that due to we are members of PA forum, we receive 20% discount and free shipping. However, the total cost quoted is $332.00...........ouch!

So, that is the reason I'm looking for alternatives. Speaking of which I found this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330676296079?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

But, you will notice the tweeter is not the same and the crossover is a Cervin Wega.

Well said. Each set of speakers I've had over the years sounded great. Until I unboxed a set I hadn't listened to in a long time... Wow, they sounded like poop.

One thing to be said about that; when I upgraded my RTiA9's over my Monitor 70's SII, the difference was in your face. There was no mistake this was a different, better sounding speaker. I had moved my 9's over 70's into my 200watt amplifier.

After the initial "wow" was over, the 9's were suddenly in your face bright, too bright for my liking to the point of buyers remorse. Mind you, this wasn't a problem for H.T. just for 2ch music.

After upgrading my amp to 300wpc, it took the edginess off the A9, smoothed it right out, I was like, yea, that's the speaker I was hoping for!

When I went to sell my M70's after listening to my 9's for a few months, I hooked them to my 300w amp, during the H.T. demo, it sounded the same as it had before, when I changed to 2ch and demoed some Lynard Skynard and some Pink Floyd Animals, the sound from those M70's was phenomenal, they approached rival status to the 9's, I was shocked and awed.

Needless to say, I got my asking price for the speakers. I sent the buyer away with a warning, that if they didn't sound that good when he got them home, it was due to the power I was feeding them.

A valuable lesson learned that day, when someone asks if an AVR has enough power to drive said set up, the answer IMO is most definitely NO.......if you feed them, they will play.

Here are some pics from my quickie setup. Havent done any cable management to my office setup at all recently, been too busy on the nursery. So no comments about any of that. I will be fixing all that in the future.

Here is the configuration:

Source: FLAC files on my computer being sent out through USB using the WASAPI driver in XBMC
DAC/Pre: Audio GD-NFB 5 - this unit can be used as a pre ONLY if your using digital inputs. Its got a USB and Coaxial input with one set of RCA outs which can be fixed (DAC mode) or variable (pre mode). I have it in variable mode.
Amplification: Fisher 460-A tube amp using 4 Soviet EL84/6BQ5 with 2 7247
Speakers: Polk T90e (European version of the Monitor 60's)
Misc: Pepster power cable for the NFB-5, cheap Monoprice 14 gauge SC's with Monster quick connects, Audioquest G-Snake IC's





Impressions: with no EQ I am getting better overall clarity and sound than I was with a TON more weight to the bass in songs. I am loving it, even the wife is singing along with the music while we work on the nursery (the next room over)

Nice. I'd love to be able to give a listen to that.

Is that a crib on the near left side? If it is i wonder how the baby takes ur music??? Lolz nice man

If you don't want to hear the baby crying....turn the volume up right! just joking.

General rule of thumb... if there is a weakest link in the system, it is probably the speakers.

Thousand dollar speakers will certainly outperform $500 speakers, but a thousand dollar amp might not sound that much better than a $500 amp.

LOL, the crib thats there is not a "real" crib. Its going to my niece to hold her dolls . Right now its just there for storage, hence why my room is covered in other junk.....

As a side note, the baby LOVE techno and anything with a nice bassline in it, and also one way to get her to move is for mom to drink some Mt Dew, so she is her fathers daughter already lol...

I am looking forward to introducing her to music starting as soon as she is born

my son is same way, loves his dubstep/drum & bass/house. He is due within next 4 days.

Waiting on better newegg sales still!

Thankfully, I am mostly done speaker setup wise downstairs, just need a couple more pieces of equipment upstairs and I am done there too.....

Good luck man! What speakers specifically are you looking for so I can keep an eye out?

Yeah, I can dig it. I can still remember when I first joined this forum not too long ago, the saying was, spend 1/3 on AVR and 2/3 on speaker (or a close ratio to that).

And though I don't have nearly the experience in this hobby as I'm sure most do, I have learned that both speaker and equipment can sustain damage from underpowering the speaker. At "low" volumes, where's the worry, but "low" volume is relative and who doesn't like the occasional twist on the volume knob to see what this baby will do?

And although I only have experience with entry level Onkyo speakers and entry to mid level Polk speakers, one thing I've noticed is you can change the sound of the speaker by how much power you feed it and as I mentioned before, with home theater, not so much, but with 2ch music, changes in the depth and clarity of the music becomes obvious with the different amounts of power you give it at higer volumes.

And just today, I stumble across this link, very interesting.....
http://sanderssoundsystems.com/technical-white-papers/172-tubes-vs-transistors

All this talk of more power has me drooling for a new AVR with preouts. I built my first system the last couple of months and I did get a great deal on all the components, but mmmmm power.

I purchased my Denon 1712 for only $199, so all the AVR's I've seen with preouts are way more money (and out of my current budget).

Then again judging by the conversations here.. as soon as I get the power I'll want to upgrade my Polk Monitor 70s. Lol

I'm feeling you! I just put together my first real HT system. Reading this page everyday, and I'm allready looking for amps and upgrades!
Just don't let the wife read this! LOL

Monitor series ii (70, cs2, 40) or new monitor (75t,45b,25c) they just either aren't in stock or aren't on a good enough sale in regards to series iii, and new monitor line is just not comparable in pricing with series ii yet.

fortunately with a newborn(any day now man...he won't come out) I got time to wait as I won't be able to crank it up anyways

Maybe a steady stream of heavy bass notes might bring about some contractions.

Can the CS20 overpower the Tsi300? I like the CS20 but it seems to "overwhelm" the TSI300 speakers I have. I went to the store and heard a CS10 and it seem to sound better. It was an HHGregg and it was in a wide open place, no special room acoustics, so I know it was the special "sound room." I thought about selling the CS20 to get the "lesser" CS10.

I don't know what receiver you have but maybe you don't have the settings right. You have Audyssey in your receiver? You can always turn the level down for the center speaker if you have that option in your receiver. The CS20 is a far better CC than the CS10.