Polk RTi Series

Jarvis_R · 07-23-2003, 12:55 PM

I'm looking to update my entire system with in the next couple of months. Now I'm pretty new to the area so please excuse my inexperience/ignorance.

I currently have a JVC 9010 receiver. I thought this was the "best" component in the world until I purchased my first digital optical cable. Stereo sound was great, but now watching movies in DTS overloads the receiver at fairly normal volumes. I most likely will replace this with the HK Avr525. This is not the question at hand (however any comments would be greatly appreciated, as I am not yet completely sure).

For speakers I have a set of old technics that were given to me by dad. They were great for college parties, but aren't even close to cutting it for movies. I'm running a Polk PSW450 sub, which I intend on keeping (at least for the moment). I have the Bose VCS30 (vcs10 and two 161's), for the center and two surrounds. Originally I had planned on purchasing either the 601's or 701's to complete the set, thinking that the two outdated main's were the reason I could barely make out dialog in most movies I watch. But after a bit of research, I don't think I've uncovered one positive comment regarding any Bose products.

So after scratching that plan all together, I am now considering a set up of Polk RTi 100's for fronts, 38's for surrounds, and a CSi30 for the center. I don't really want to spend more than $1500 but may be able to step up to $2k if the purchase is worth it.

Also, the purchases will most likely be spread out over the net couple of months (unless I wait two months and make one big purchase). Should I purchase these items in any particular order? I was thinking of picking up the receiver first, then the fronts, followed by the center channel, then finally the rears.

I've read a lot of great comments about Paradigm speakers but I have yet to see any price information. What price range would I be looking at for this set-up? Would it be worth it to postpone my purchase for a couple of months and go with these?

All comments and insights would be greatly appreciated.

MarkyM · 07-23-2003, 01:14 PM

I have the Polks you mention and I am very happy...Polk is
coming out with new models in October and you can get the RTi series at great prices.......

Terence B · 07-23-2003, 02:46 PM

I would offer this opinion.

Since you already have the PSW450 sub, you might consider choosing the RTi70's instead of the RTi100's. The 70's are less expensive and since the sub is going to do all the LF work you really don't need the 2 bass drivers that the 100's have, and the 70's do sound great imo.

If you choose either the 70's or the 100's I think you should also get the CSi40 instead of the CSi30 for the center since the CSi40 also has 6.5" drivers and will probably match the mains a little better.

The RTi38's will be great for surrounds, if you are going to go 7.1 you can use the RTi28's for the rears.

I just recently upgraded my system speakers with the Polk lineup and I'm very pleased. The speaker setup I have (not including the sub, see below) cost me $1350 delivered from Crutchfield.

Good luck on your decision.

Fronts: Polk RTi70 biwired
Center: Polk CSi40 biwired
Surrounds: Polk FXi30
Rear Surrounds: Polk RTi28
Sub: SVS PB1-ISD
AVR: Pioneer Elite VSX-45TX

Jeremy Anderson · 07-23-2003, 02:47 PM

My recommendation: You can get Polk RTi28's right now for about $100 each (or less if you look around). Buy 4 of those and a CSi30, get the H/K 525, then spend the rest of your budget getting a SVS sub. Since your receiver will redirect bass to the SVS, you don't need much more than the RTi28's. Their -3dB point is 59 Hz, so they're perfect for a system with an 80Hz crossover point. Your Polk sub craps out around 38Hz, so you're really missing out on some sound there. That setup would absolutely smoke your current setup and you can almost definitely get that at well under $2k.

Jarvis_R · 07-23-2003, 03:59 PM

Terence,
You don't think the added bass from the 100's will make much of a difference? I figured since the price difference isn't substantial, I would go with the 100's. Do you think its worth it?

I also plan on getting another sub, but I want to move out of my apartment before I drive my neighbors crazy. The sub will mostly have to wait until next year.

And I think any system would blow my current one away. You have no idea how bad it really is. The speakers on my SonyXBR set sound better than what I have set up now. But I think those technic's did a great job for their time/purpose.

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Brian Kleinke · 07-23-2003, 04:25 PM

If your sub produces enough bass no need to duplicate it in the speakers, instead let the speakers produce the sound that the sub doesn't.

I've got RTi speakers in my 2nd system and even the RTi25's produce a decent amount of bass for how little they are

Terence B · 07-23-2003, 04:58 PM

Jarvis -

It depends on your setup.

I set my AVR for all speakers in my system to be SMALL and the xover set a 80HZ.
The sub does all of the LF work. This accomplishes a couple of things, (1) the main amp doesn't need to work as hard driving the power hungry low freqs - that allows it to better drive the mid and high frequencies, and (2) since the large LF speaker cone excursions on the mains is no longer there the main drivers will work more cleanly reproducing the mids and highs.

When setup this way there is no real reason to make the mains duplicate bass that the sub is alredy producing, not to mention the fact that duplicating bass from the mains could quite possibly phase cancel bass from the sub....

So - the long answer to your question is "No", if it were me I wouldn't get the 100's even though they're excellent speakers they are just more money for a feature I dont need. In fact when I bought my system I tossed the idea of 100's over the 70's, I went with the 70's and I'm totally satisfied.

But the decision is yours - you certainly wont go wrong either way.

yung cheng · 07-23-2003, 06:29 PM

I also got RTi70 and i am very happy.
For me Rti100 will not only waste your money but also degrade the clarity of your sound.
I have HK AVR520 and with RTi70 alone it can go down as low as my PSW-350/RTi70 combanation.
On the other hand, my psw-350 can go down deeper than Def Tech prosub 100TL in my room even DT claims 100TL down to 19hz and psw-350 claims down to 38hz.

Mark Russ · 07-23-2003, 08:08 PM

Jarvis,
I'm going to throw a dissenting opnion in the mix here, and I'll make my case why. Go with the 100s. Set your mains to large, and dial in the subs on your 100s for MUSIC listening, and don't use the seperate sub when listening to music only. Keep the separate self powered sub, and dial it in for movies, and only use it when watching movies. Maybe later on down the line, upgrade the sub. What is the best setting for music isn't always the best for movies, and vice versa, espcially, as you pointed out yourself, the price difference from the 70s is nominal. This way, you can have the best of both worlds. You can never have too much bass, IF it is dialed in properly. Besides, having the 100s for mains will virtually be like having them biamped, thus freeing up even more power for your receiver on the mids and highs.

To say that the 100s would be waste of money and degrade the clarity of the sound is utter nonsense.

I do agree with Terrence about the csi40 instead of the 30.

If you can wait till Oct., the new Polk RTis will be out with the vifa tweeters. Should be killer!

Vincent_S · 07-23-2003, 08:27 PM

I believe you would be very pleased with the RTi's. If you don't mind Ebay they are usually pretty cheap over there. I bought my RTI25's on Ebay and have been very pleased!