Circuit City rocks - Polk trade-in story. (1 Viewer)

Went to Circuit City to buy an Onkyo SR600 today and was lamenting that my current system consisted of Polk CS245i and 4 RT25i's (and a SVS20-39CS+/Samson1000/ART-351), hence I couldn't find another RT25i to use as a rear surround. So then the guy tells me I can bring in all those speakers and get full store credit (i.e. what I paid for them) since they were purchased within the last year. Plus, since Polk has that "buy five speakers, get a free subwoofer" promotion, I could apply that amount toward another set of speakers. Plus, they had an open box CSi30 for $129.

Long story short: I took my 5 speakers in and walked out with the CSi30 and SIX RTi28's for $160!!! Haven't gotten the rear surround hooked up yet (because I've got to hire someone to run it through the attic and walls) and I didn't need but 5 of the RTi28's... but hey, I have a spare now and it was a cheap upgrade! The guy even knocked $100 off the price of the Onkyo SR600 for me!

Not sure if it's the new receiver or the new speakers, but I -REALLY- love the way music and movies sound on this setup. Everything is much more crisp and detailed in the high end and mid-bass is more defined. With the Glen Phillips DVD-A, I'm able to hear the individual bass notes much clearer. All in all, I'm really diggin' Circuit City right now.

Had you bought the previous speakers at Circuit City? I'm looking to buy a CSI30 there and if they'd take my current speakers that'd be a sweet deal(purchased about six months ago).

Eric - For upgrades you have to buy the speakers at the store you purchased them at. At least every upgrade policy I have seen worked that way.

Yeah, I had bought all my Polks from that store, which is why the guy mentioned it (because I always bought from him).

Jeremy, What amount did you have to purchase to get the free subwoofer? I also have a set of polks That I have been wanting to upgrade but after Christmas I am totally broke. Were you able to not take the subwoofer and uses the value of it toward the new speakers?

The polk sub offer is for purchases of $499 or more :
http://www.polkaudio.com/home/promo/freesubwoofer/
Since the offer is from polk I wouldnt think you could use it toward something else, but it doesnt hurt to ask.

Yes, so long as you're buying Polk speakers with the credit, you can use the value of the subwoofer instead of taking it. That's why I got away so cheap.

The speaker upgrade policy applies to any speaker package purchased at any CC w/i the last year. The Polk package is really aggressive and is easily manipulated by a Salesperson to use the 200 dollar sub value toward any other Polk speaker you need on top of the already good sale prices.

Technically, they give you a giftcard to do your upgrade w/ and you *could hypothetically keep upgrading year to year as long as you rang each new speaker package out on a new ticket, b/c it would be very difficult to trace your purchases if they are on separate tickets.

Good point, Adil. Sometimes working with commissioned sales people is good. I too noticed that Circuit City's way of processing the sale had to be done as a new transaction. I upgraded from a pair of RT1000i to RTi150, which was more out of pocket than the $499 necessary to qualify for the subwoofer deal though. Too bad I've reached the peak of Circuit City speakers now. No more upgrades for me. I used the $200 to get a matching center channel speaker instead of the little subwoofer. The salesman thought at first that the $200 could be applied only to another Polk subwoofer but he checked the documentation from Polk and said the offer could be applied for any Polk speaker. By the way, the offer expires this weekend. This is how Polk gives discounts through its authorized dealers. The only better deals are when they closeout models every two to three years.

Congrats on the upgrade. I bought my speakers at CC too. I have RTI28's for L/R surrounds, RTI38's fro L/R fronts, and a CSI30 for center and I love this setup. I also got the free PSW202 and love it. It is my first sub and I can't see why anyone would need a more powerful sub than this as this one already rocks the house.

I may upgrade the RTI38's to RTI70's in a year. Sounds like your upgrade was hassle free.

Mark, I am curious what you think of your new 150s. I have them as well and I really like them alot, but there don't seem to be many of us yet. What are you using to power them?

I also used CC's upgrade policy to get one of my current Polks. Keep in mind though that once you do ONE trade on a speaker thats it, no more! :frowning: I traded a DCM for my CS245i and then 5 months later when I went to trade my CS245i for a CS400i I was told (the trade applies once per purchase)....doh! But still...what a GREAT PLAN. I wish more stores would do it.

Do you have to get CC extended warraty plan to use their speaker trade-in? Just to make sure, does this trade-in policy applies to all speaker brands and not just Polk? From reading what's posted, it seems you can only trade in your speaker once within

Steve and Mark,

Please share what you have pushing those 150's and how they sound. I would love to know considering I am thinking of buying them soon. I think Polk RTi are some of the best speakers in their price range. My current system is: CSi 40 center, RT600i fronts, FXi 50 rears. Sub is a crappy KLH. Reciever is a Integra DTR 8.2

I plan on getting another set of FXi 50 for the rear surrounds in the 7.1 setup I would like.
Also a PSW 650 sub for the rear. And of course another 2ch amp and RTi 150's in front.

Currently,I have all monster interconnects, 16g speaker wire to gold plated bannanas. I am very happy with my sound so far. I need a better DVD player though. Big screen coming as soon as tax return gets here. Can't wait. This is my first post!

Didn't mean to Hijack. Hope you enjoy your new system Jeremy. I just upgraded from the TXSR600. It is a great reciever for its price range IMO. Bet it sounds good in there.

I've auditioned the RTi150 several times. They have lots of dynamic power, and are great for home theater. CC isn't always the best place to get a good demo, but I have been thorougly impressed by the RTi150 on a good setup. For music, they are very easy to listen to and have a nice full sound. They are priced similarly to their "higher-end" counterpart, the LSi15. The LSi15 is more refined and detailed for critical music listening, but doesn't have the RTi's impact for movies. The RTi150's are fairly easy to drive, and are thus a good match on most receivers without a separate amp.

I'm using a Denon AVR-3803 as a pre-pro and a Rotel RMB-1075 for amplification. Denon+Rotel+Polk RTi makes a very smooth sounding system. I agree the RTi line doesn't need separate amplification, but the speakers do gain extra strength and authority with it. I use the 5 channels from the Rotel to power a pair of RTi150s, a CSi40, and a pair of RT1000ps as surrounds. I also have a single Polk center channel speaker powered by the receiver in back. Although the RTi150s will handle up to 500 watts, I thought it would be overkill at this point to drive them with an RMB-1095 and settled on a 120 watt per channel amplifier.

You may want to toss your subwoofer if you get the RTi150s. They overpower my Polk PSW450 subwoofer and have made it redundant. A PSW650 would probably be a better match, although an even deeper subwoofer would be preferable in my opinion. I'm saving for a new one myself.

If you have the money, the Rotel 1075 would really kick butt on the RTis. Mark, are you on the Polk forums? I remember a few people there running the 1075 on RTis. Rotel is highly regarded over there.
However, if you run the RTis off a receiver instead, you'd lose much of the authority in the bass region, and I doubt the RTi150's could carry the LFE and all the other bass as well as real subs. If you look at the specifications, you'll also see that the 650 sub has a 7Hz lower -3dB point than the 450 (ie the deeper sound you're missing). The 650 also has nearly 50% more swept volume, and 10% more RMS amplifier power. So two 650s, or even just one will seriously beat a 450 and RTi150s. Then again, maybe I'm just throwing these facts out there cause Ed's on the list to get my old 650

Derrick, don't worry, I am selfish and want it all. I have it laid out in my head, and have looked at what I want so much that I can literally see it in my living room allready...lol.
I want a 650, thats going behind the reclining loveseat in my living area which is direcly in front of my very soon coming Mits 55 WS (replacing 27" there now). Another pair of FXi 50's are coming for the 7.1. I am keeping both the RT600i and RTi150s up front, plenty of good high, mids and hopefully midbass to woofer (not sub) coming from the front. I think it will sound great. I want to be enveloped in sound when watching movies like in a very nice theater. I think the integra 2 ch amp will be plenty for the RTi 150, but I will consider another. How much should I pay for a 2ch amp? I would even consider a 4 channel and bi-amp my center (CSi 40).
What do ya think this setup is gonna sound like in a pretty compact room 15'.5" x 13'.5" x 8'
I am looking to the future, getting a house with a descent sized living room or family room. Putting together before we start having kids.
Opinios welcome, thanks for the replies!
--Ed

I think your potential setup is absolutely insane! I love it I would check into the voice matching on the RT600 and RTi150 though, since I think they're different. Then again, it seems that you are going for sheer impact and envelopment over accuracy, which is probably more impressive for home theater anyway.

I was thinking, to get the silk tweeters all round since everything else will have them I could:

Either buy the tweets or take them to a polk dealer and see if they could retrofit OR

Trade them in at CC maybe for some RTi 70's?

Whattya think?