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Calling all Polkies:Official Polk thread - Page 2

post #31 of 18686
12/20/05 at 2:37pm
One other thing: I'm relatively new to this stuff. I bought my Polks at CC as they sounded great to me. How do the Polks compare to some of the brands that I've been reading about in these forums: Paradigm, Axiom, Onix. Just curious what some of you think.
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post #32 of 18686
12/20/05 at 2:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bjornb17 View Post

Once again you offended all of us. The correct term is Polkism. Do your homework before you use such slurs.







woah! Maybe there should be a required online course in "polkology" before purchasing polk speakers....... please don't tell me theres one...
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post #33 of 18686
12/20/05 at 2:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulesqb View Post

One other thing: I'm relatively new to this stuff. I bought my Polks at CC as they sounded great to me. How do the Polks compare to some of the brands that I've been reading about in these forums: Paradigm, Axiom, Onix. Just curious what some of you think.

The most important thing is that the speakers you bought sound great to YOU. I personally have not listened to the Axiom or Onix speakers as those are sold via the internet but can say that I preferred the sound of the Rti line polks to the paradigms I auditioned(sorry cant remember the exact model ).
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post #34 of 18686
12/20/05 at 3:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pimpcasso View Post

woah! Maybe there should be a required online course in "polkology" before purchasing polk speakers....... please don't tell me theres one...

Just refer to your Polktionary and become familiar with the terminology
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post #35 of 18686
12/20/05 at 5:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulesqb View Post

One other thing: I'm relatively new to this stuff. I bought my Polks at CC as they sounded great to me. How do the Polks compare to some of the brands that I've been reading about in these forums: Paradigm, Axiom, Onix. Just curious what some of you think.

I have had Paradigm Mini Monitors, Kef 104/2, Spica 50s, Magnepan SMGs, and just recently Ascends! I still prefer my Polk RT800s!
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post #36 of 18686
12/20/05 at 6:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pimpcasso View Post

The most important thing is that the speakers you bought sound great to YOU. I personally have not listened to the Axiom or Onix speakers as those are sold via the internet but can say that I preferred the sound of the Rti line polks to the paradigms I auditioned(sorry cant remember the exact model ).

pimpcasso - Thanks. I agree with you and they do sound great to me. I've just never had an occasion to audition the others and have gone through these threads and have read some great things. I got the impression from some of the threads I've seen that Polk is almost considered low-end. So I was wondering if I am missing something becuase I think they sound fantastic.
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post #37 of 18686
12/20/05 at 6:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc99 View Post

I have had Paradigm Mini Monitors, Kef 104/2, Spica 50s, Magnepan SMGs, and just recently Ascends! I still prefer my Polk RT800s!


Thanks Doc. I was looking to see if anyone had experience with some of the others.

Sorry if I have steered this thread away from its original intention!
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post #38 of 18686
12/20/05 at 7:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulesqb View Post

pimpcasso - Thanks. I agree with you and they do sound great to me. I've just never had an occasion to audition the others and have gone through these threads and have read some great things. I got the impression from some of the threads I've seen that Polk is almost considered low-end. So I was wondering if I am missing something becuase I think they sound fantastic.


Hence the reason for starting this thread. It seems there has been a lot of hoopla regarding so many other speakers on this forum and very little praise for these , IMHO, greatly underrated speakers. Hopefully by reading testimonials here, more people will appreciate the speakers .
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post #39 of 18686
12/21/05 at 5:18am
Cheers everyone

Just wanted to check in as well.

My current 5.1 setup:

Fronts: RTi8's
Center: CSi40
Surrounds: RTi38's
Sub: SVS PB10
Driven by Pioneer Elite 54tx

The sound is oh so sweet!
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post #40 of 18686
12/21/05 at 5:28am
Mulesqb,
IMHO it's barely enough for the 10's it wouldnt be enough for the 12's.
As far as set to 4 or 8 ohm, well let me try to explain that a little. They are 4 ohm speakers. Your AVR should be set to 8ohm however and the reason is because if you set it to 4 ohm then the rail voltage in your amp will be limited and you will loose performance from the amp. If I were a Denon tech I would tell you to set it to 4 for warranty purposes. But what it comes down to is that switch is there to limit rail voltage and that's not something I would do. It would be a safer way to run the amp but it will cost you in performance.
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post #41 of 18686
12/21/05 at 5:37am
Monitor 30's for main and surrounds
CR1 for center.
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post #42 of 18686
12/21/05 at 6:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bjornb17 View Post

Just refer to your Polktionary and become familiar with the terminology

"Polktionary". Hmmm. Maybe a new board game for Milton Bradley to work on?

I'm in the market for a 7.1 setup and I listened to the RTi8's and 10's. I was able to do an A/B comparison and I liked the 8's better as they seemed to be a bit less muddy and slightly brighter (my preference). I've also auditioned the Klipsch F2 & F3's.

I still like the RTi8's best. That surprised me because I had had horn tweeter speakers in the past. Anyone remember the old Optimus Mach II's? Ok, it was the way past.

Andy
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post #43 of 18686
12/21/05 at 7:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pimpcasso View Post

Perfect example of the "high end " dealer snobbery we are all familiar with. As soon as polk started catering to the masses they felt polks were'nt good enough to grace thier stores.

It's not quite that simple; today's Polk is not the Polk of yore.

Back in the '80s, Polk offered a focused line of high-value speakers that were carried exlclusively in high-end stores. Far from snobbery, retailers I dealt with always seemed to marvel at Polk's price/performance ratio, particularly in the Monitor series. (If I recall correctly, the Monitor 5 or the Monitor 7 was Polk's original product.) My brother still owns Monitor 10s and 5s, and I owned a pair of massive SDA-1B's for 14 years.

All that being said, in the '90s Polk changed its corporate strategy to low-end, high-volume -- dropping its flagship SDA line altogether -- and there's no magic to that equation; Polk still makes decent speakers, but they don't even try to compete at the high end anymore. Co-founder Sandy Gross left the company for that very reason and founded Definitive Technology; today's DefTech is the closest resemblance to the Polk of 20 years ago.

Anyway, when I finally unloaded my old Polks (too big, vinyl covered), I switched to B&W, and I will never look back.
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post #44 of 18686
12/21/05 at 7:18am
I'm in the market for a 7.1 setup and I listened to the RTi8's and 10's. I was able to do an A/B comparison and I liked the 8's better as they seemed to be a bit less muddy and slightly brighter (my preference).

The preference for the RTi8's seems to be the prevailing opinion as I read through all the threads.

I have RTi8's as my mains, FXi3's for surround, RTi4's for rears and a CSi3 as the center. My sub is a PSW404. The setup sounds great, the only two things I may do is upgrade to the CSi5 center and possibly add a second sub or upgrade to a better sub in the future.
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post #45 of 18686
12/21/05 at 8:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulesqb View Post

One other thing: I'm relatively new to this stuff. I bought my Polks at CC as they sounded great to me. How do the Polks compare to some of the brands that I've been reading about in these forums: Paradigm, Axiom, Onix. Just curious what some of you think.

I can answer that question with no hesitation. I compared some polk Monitor 30s I got at CC with some Ascend HTM-200s. The Ascends were about $35 more per speaker.

Positives for the Polks: They had better bass, being a slightly bigger speaker than the Ascend. I found it a nice touch that they had wall hangers and the ability to be bi-amped.

The negatives for the Polks: The Ascends were smaller, and have mounting screws. They also seem a little better put together. The real negative for the Polks, is that the highs were very harsh. The Ascends were just as or more detailed than the Polks, but I could actually listen to them. The fabric tweeters on the Polks looked like they were made from a burlap bag. The Ascends look like silk. I also was testing some JBL Northridge E20s at the same time, and even though they were a bit muffled sounding, I prefered that to the unbearable harshness of the Polks.

There you go, a comparison between low-end Polks and low-end Ascends. IMHO, the Polks were not even in the same ballpark. To each their own, and it really only matters how you like your speakers. Who knows, maybe the Polks needed more time to break in? I don't think my ears would have stood for it.
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post #46 of 18686
12/21/05 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Brownstone View Post

It's not quite that simple; today's Polk is not the Polk of yore.

Back in the '80s, Polk offered a focused line of high-value speakers that were carried exlclusively in high-end stores. Far from snobbery, retailers I dealt with always seemed to marvel at Polk's price/performance ratio, particularly in the Monitor series. (If I recall correctly, the Monitor 5 or the Monitor 7 was Polk's original product.) My brother still owns Monitor 10s and 5s, and I owned a pair of massive SDA-1B's for 14 years.

All that being said, in the '90s Polk changed its corporate strategy to low-end, high-volume -- dropping its flagship SDA line altogether -- and there's no magic to that equation; Polk still makes decent speakers, but they don't even try to compete at the high end anymore. Co-founder Sandy Gross left the company for that very reason and founded Definitive Technology; today's DefTech is the closest resemblance to the Polk of 20 years ago.

Anyway, when I finally unloaded my old Polks (too big, vinyl covered), I switched to B&W, and I will never look back.

Well I beg to differ, are you then inferring that nothing polk makes now can compare to anything sold in the so called "high end" stores? Like I previously posted, I auditioned a pair of paradigm speakers at one of these stores before settling on my rti 8s. I settled on these speakers not because of the amount of money i'd be saving but because I preferred the polk sound by a huge margin. I have also listened to other so called high end brands hooked up to all sorts of expensive gear that didn't impress me much. With all that being said, maybe you need to clarify what makes a speaker worthy of being "high end".
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post #47 of 18686
12/21/05 at 10:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pimpcasso View Post

Well I beg to differ, are you then inferring that nothing polk makes now can compare to anything sold in the so called "high end" stores? Like I previously posted, I auditioned a pair of paradigm speakers at one of these stores before settling on my rti 8s. I settled on these speakers not because of the amount of money i'd be saving but because I preferred the polk sound by a huge margin. I have also listened to other so called high end brands hooked up to all sorts of expensive gear that didn't impress me much. With all that being said, maybe you need to clarify what makes a speaker worthy of being "high end".

Buy whatever you like wherever you like; I think it's important that you get what you like, not what someone else likes.

Besides, my point wasn't that Polk isn't any good; that's entirely subjective. The point is that the company abandoned the serious market -- and serious listeners -- a long time ago, and that's a fact. (If you think the Circuit City crowd is as discriminating as that at a specialty shop, then I don't know what to tell you.) I was a Polk customer from the relatively early days, but the Polk of today is, philosophically speaking, completely different from 20 or 25 years ago; that disappoints me, frankly, and I think it disappointed lots of people who knew the "old Polk." Hell, they even ruined the logo.

Not to say they'll pop up on this thread, but Polk's original customer base -- the very people who helped Polk established its reputation -- have largely moved on.
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post #48 of 18686
12/21/05 at 11:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dennis21061 View Post

[i]... The setup sounds great, the only two things I may do is upgrade to the CSi5 center and possibly add a second sub or upgrade to a better sub in the future.

Yeah, the dealer I was working with said I'd probably want to get a sub other than the Polk's. I think someone here said the CSi5 is a better way to go too.
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post #49 of 18686
12/21/05 at 2:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulesqb View Post

fergusonv - I have a Denon 3805 with the 10s. Is that good eough?? Also should i have it set on 4 or 8 ohms?? Thanks for the help.

fallerjw - keep up the great work and return home safe! Happy holidays!

Adding to fergusonv's reply. The 3805 is fine to drive the 8's and does a decent job on the 10s. However, you will find a noticeable improvement if you give these speakers separate amps. The extra woofs on the 10s will shine with ~ 200wpc pushing them. It will take a load off the 3805 as well. The specs say nominally 8 ohms, but bridged and metered they are drawing 4 ohms. If you like the way they sound now, you're going to be very pleased later.
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post #50 of 18686
12/21/05 at 3:23pm
[quote=Mr. Brownstone]It's not quite that simple; today's Polk is not the Polk of yore.

Back in the '80s, Polk offered a focused line of high-value speakers that were carried exlclusively in high-end stores. Far from snobbery, retailers I dealt with always seemed to marvel at Polk's price/performance ratio, particularly in the Monitor series. (If I recall correctly, the Monitor 5 or the Monitor 7 was Polk's original product.) My brother still owns Monitor 10s and 5s, and I owned a pair of massive SDA-1B's for 14 years.

All that being said, in the '90s Polk changed its corporate strategy to low-end, high-volume -- dropping its flagship SDA line altogether -- and there's no magic to that equation; Polk still makes decent speakers, but they don't even try to compete at the high end anymore.

QUOTE]Although the Rti and Lsi line seems to only be available in higher end stores. CC and others seem to cut off at the Monitor line!
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post #51 of 18686
12/21/05 at 3:31pm
Also, I was considering the Monitor 60 or 70s, and also the Rti8s. According to the specs on them, it seems they use the same drivers, but the Rti line has the real wood finish. I also heard that the Rtis do have different(better) drivers and tweeters? Is this true?
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post #52 of 18686
12/21/05 at 3:58pm
In Canada on boxing day futureshop is having polk audio R30 a set for 149.00 and r15 a set for 79.00

What would the best way to build a 6.1 SYSTEM without buying the center which isn't available.

3 sets of R15

2 sets of r15 and one set of r30

or

2 sets of r30 and 1 set of r15?



I have a small to medium sized room and do not listen to things loud so the bookshelf speakers may be fine. I am upgrading from energy take 5 with an extra center. Will this be a good improvement??


I have a yamaha htr-5490 amp
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post #53 of 18686
12/21/05 at 4:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fergusonv View Post

Mulesqb,
IMHO it's barely enough for the 10's it wouldnt be enough for the 12's.
As far as set to 4 or 8 ohm, well let me try to explain that a little. They are 4 ohm speakers. Your AVR should be set to 8ohm however and the reason is because if you set it to 4 ohm then the rail voltage in your amp will be limited and you will loose performance from the amp. If I were a Denon tech I would tell you to set it to 4 for warranty purposes. But what it comes down to is that switch is there to limit rail voltage and that's not something I would do. It would be a safer way to run the amp but it will cost you in performance.


fergusonv- Thanks for the info. If I was going to upgrade my receiver to properly drive the 10s. what should I look for?? Do you have any suggestions?
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post #54 of 18686
12/21/05 at 4:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by S_rangeBrew View Post

I can answer that question with no hesitation. I compared some polk Monitor 30s I got at CC with some Ascend HTM-200s. The Ascends were about $35 more per speaker.

Positives for the Polks: They had better bass, being a slightly bigger speaker than the Ascend. I found it a nice touch that they had wall hangers and the ability to be bi-amped.

The negatives for the Polks: The Ascends were smaller, and have mounting screws. They also seem a little better put together. The real negative for the Polks, is that the highs were very harsh. The Ascends were just as or more detailed than the Polks, but I could actually listen to them. The fabric tweeters on the Polks looked like they were made from a burlap bag. The Ascends look like silk. I also was testing some JBL Northridge E20s at the same time, and even though they were a bit muffled sounding, I prefered that to the unbearable harshness of the Polks.

There you go, a comparison between low-end Polks and low-end Ascends. IMHO, the Polks were not even in the same ballpark. To each their own, and it really only matters how you like your speakers. Who knows, maybe the Polks needed more time to break in? I don't think my ears would have stood for it.


Brew - Thanks for the input. Could you explain a little more what you mean by the highs being too harsh?? I'm not sure that I understand.
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post #55 of 18686
12/21/05 at 4:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Temple View Post

Adding to fergusonv's reply. The 3805 is fine to drive the 8's and does a decent job on the 10s. However, you will find a noticeable improvement if you give these speakers separate amps. The extra woofs on the 10s will shine with ~ 200wpc pushing them. It will take a load off the 3805 as well. The specs say nominally 8 ohms, but bridged and metered they are drawing 4 ohms. If you like the way they sound now, you're going to be very pleased later.


Ron - Thanks! You have piqued my interest! Any suggestions on seperate amps? I relatively new to this and am learning a lot from this forum. Anyway, if I'm ever going to upgrade, this is the time of year to do it.
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post #56 of 18686
12/21/05 at 4:59pm
I think he means that the tweeters do not sound as refined as the Ascends. They use better tweeters.
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post #57 of 18686
12/21/05 at 6:24pm
>How do the Polks compare to some of the brands that I've been reading about in these forums:

I have a/b'd a bunch of Polks against a bunch of Infinity speakers in Crutchfield's listening room (Denon 5805? it's Denon and it's huge, whatever it is...) and every time i find the Polk's sound better. Infinity models=???? Polk models= Rti4 and Rti6, but pretty much every similarly sized Polk beat similarly sized Infinities, IMO.

Anyone out there able to chime in on the Lsi towers? I was ocnsidering either those or the Rti12 for my fronts. I run my fronts off a 2-channel pro-amp, 400-600 watts per ch (8ohm - 4 ohm).
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post #58 of 18686
12/21/05 at 11:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulesqb View Post

Ron - Thanks! You have piqued my interest! Any suggestions on seperate amps? I relatively new to this and am learning a lot from this forum. Anyway, if I'm ever going to upgrade, this is the time of year to do it.

I'd ask that question on Amps and Receivers. I'm new to the separates area myself. I recently put a modest amp on my fronts and got a great boost in my Polk R50s. I wasn't expecting it on their low end speakers. I've read a ton of posts on RTi10s, 12s and LSis, nearly everyone touts the improvement with power. I believe them due to my modest gain.
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post #59 of 18686
12/22/05 at 5:40am
I've just purchased the Surround Bar (hasn't arrived yet) and have a question. One of the FAQ's on POLK's website regarded using existing 'rear surround' speakers in conjunction with the Surround Bar. According to Polk, it can be done - by connecting both the Surround Bar's and existing 'rear surround' inputs to the same ports on your receiver. Would like to know if anyone has tried this configuration yet. Thanks.
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post #60 of 18686
12/22/05 at 5:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc99 View Post

Also, I was considering the Monitor 60 or 70s, and also the Rti8s. According to the specs on them, it seems they use the same drivers, but the Rti line has the real wood finish. I also heard that the Rtis do have different(better) drivers and tweeters? Is this true?

The RTi line uses different drivers than the Monitor line. They use better components throughout, better enclosures, better drivers, better crossovers, etc. etc.
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