How would these Polk speakers compare to my Onkyo HTIB speakers?

Big step up, IMO.

Can you get a matching center channel?

They'd sound better.

But THESE that are being dropped or discontinued would probably sound even better.

Those prices are per speaker, btw. THESE, which are also being dropped or discontinued, are only $130/pr.. You may want to try and find the recently discontinued Polk RTi6 bookshelf speakers. They're available for really good prices right now, too.

I presume you mean the Boston Acoustics towers. They are being dropped by CC or discontinued so the price is very good and they are a much better speaker than those Polks. They retailed for $425/each.

Note that I edited my above post.

no

you don't say which onkyo htib you have,but on about 99% of all htib's you get them at a good price because the speakers they package with them are junk. have you listened to any other speakers at cc or best buy? if you're going to upgrade your speakers is go to different stores and see which ones sound best to YOU!! we all have different tastes so you may not like what someone recomends to you so go listen to different speakers and decide what you like.

which ever speakers you decide on get a matching center so the sound as it travels across the front sounds the same.so go listen to speakers and decide for yourself which ones you like.

No, you do not HAVE to replace your center channel at the same time.

When your home theater is at its final state, at least your front 3 speakers should be from the same manufacturer and line though. (i.e. - when you purchase the center, purchase one from the monitor series if that is the series your front speakers are from.)

Ideally all your speakers will be from the same manufacturer and line, but many agree the front three are the most important.

I do highly recommend listening to both speakers (your current Onkyo and the new Polks) at the same time. (even if you have to take your Onkyo speakers into the store with you to do it) I am sure the floorstanders will sound better, but they may not be better enough to you to justify the cost.

As I stated before - the RTi line is really the value leader from Polk right now since they are closing them out. If I wanted to purchase speakers from Polk for home theater use and was on a limited budget, the RTi line is what I would be looking at.

no you don't have to right then,i used to run mismatched stuff across the front when i got my current set up it was like WOW these guys were right you DO need to have the same line of speakers across the front.

Since 20khz is beyond the hearing of most mortals, I really don't think I would worry about that 24kHz-50kHz range you would be missing with your HTIB speakers.

There are lies, damned lies, statistics, and then there are speaker specifications.

floor standing -- Polk rti8 pair $300 from fry's. Probably the best deal out there.

No. That's a very broad generalization that's also untrue.




You can't at all judge a speaker by its published stats.



No, you don't have to replace it at the same time. However, if you buy any of the speakers that have been mentioned here that are on close-out, you may have trouble finding a matching center the longer you wait. Plan accordingly.



This depends upon many different factors. Bookshelves with a competent subwoofer can outperform towers. If you have no subwoofer, then towers may be preferable. Bookshelves are generally less expensive than comparable towers, however they also usually require stands.



Yeah, I forgot about these when I mentioned the RTi6s. If you want towers, these would be a very good choice for the price; better than the Polk Monitor towers you asked about. The Boston Acoustics towers that I linked you to earlier are also very good speakers for the price.

So did you get them? Assuming yes, how do they compare - Exactly the same as their specs would indicate??

Thats a hell of a deal getting RTi8s for $236