Polk RTi28' vs Onkyo speaker set (1 Viewer)

[JerryCulp]

I'm looking at the RTi28 + CSi30 as a replacement for the speakers in my Onkyo HTS760. I've got a good sub (PB2+) and I'm now thinking about improving the speakers.
With the price dropping on them a CC it's got my interest going. I'm hoping to talk them down to about $500 for the 5 surrounds and the center.

I've listened to them in the store, which means almost nothing, and they sound fine. They also are the right size for what I want.

Any opinions?

 

[Jack Shappa]

Wow, when I bought my set (4 rti28s, 1 csi30, and 2 fx30s)less than a year ago it was about $100 more per pair (and about $100 more for the center). At least I got a free sub-woofer with it

I love my Polks. I was looking for speakers that had a nice lush, warm feel, not shrill, and these fit the bill and sound great with movies and music... Good luck...

- JS

 

[Vincent_S]

You can't go wrong with the Rti series speakers IMO. Especially at the prices that they are at right now. I have a pair of RTi25's for my surround backs and they sound good. I did hook them up to my mains when I got them and I was really surprised at how such a small speaker could sound so good. I think they will go nicely with your SVS. I would go buy some before they run out!

 

[Dave Bennett]

I've got the larger RT35i speakers running off of an Onkyo 494 mated to a CSI245i in the front and a pair of older audiosource speakers for surrounds(though I plan on replacing these with polks soon) and an 8" Yamaha sub. Anyhow, to reiterate what the others said, the polks sound amazing mated to the Onkyo receiver. Very smooth lush highs for music with solid bass/midbass. Movies sound very good too.
In my eyes, it's very easy to make a speaker that sounds good for movies but not so easy to do one that sounds good for movies and music. Polks seem to have the perfect balance however. I highly reccomend them for a good all purpose speaker.

 

[Ellen]

If you are handy with a soldering iron, you might find this article on Fixing the Polk RTi28 interesting.

 

[EricSm]

I'd definetly recommend spending the extra bit it costs for the RTI38's. Circuit city has them really cheap right now since they are being discontinued.

 

[JerryCulp]

Thanks to everyone that replied, you got me off my duff and down to CC.

Eric, I'm definitely going to keep an eye on the RTi38's. The cheapest of the two CC's has them for $106. It worked out that I paid $75 for RTi28's. I'll have to sneak another 60 bucks past the wife, who i should add has been wonderful about me breaking the bank on the HT.

The preliminary findings are pretty surprising.
The Onkyo speakers are pretty darn good. Considering that the entire 6.1 set would be valued at about $200. I replaced the sub very quickly with an SVS, but i thought the speakers were good enough. The closeout deals on the Polks, got my interest going to replace them otherwise they might have been around for a while.
One of the things that is a negative for the Onkyo speakers is that are not efficient, 86db for the mains and 82db for the surrounds. When I recalibrated it was very appearant, as I lowered my surrounds down by 5dbs. that should take a load off of the reciever. I still think the Onkyo HTS760 is the best HT package out there for the money, but it is an upgrade trap. It's good enough that you are enticed into wanting to see what "better" is really like.

Tested against the Polks, the mains and surrounds sounded pretty close. The Polks are fuller, especially in the vocals. At the high end, the Polks are sharper. This isnt a huge difference, and at first I envisioned the Polks going back.
Listening to Bonnie Rait at higher volume, I could tell the difference, and I thought "now that is more like it". Much fuller, more personality, less mechanical/tinny sounding.
The closer of the deal was when I put in LOTR FOTR and watched the Balins' Tomb chapter. There is a lot of everything there, vocals, echo, surrounds, highs and lows. I could play it at reference without pain, the Onkyos always hurt my ears at reference, the sound was everywhere and clear and sharp. The room seemed to have lost the blind spots, while the directional effects were still prominent, the entire room was filled with sound. With the Onkyos, you just about pinpoint where the surrounds were.

The center channel was no contest, the Polk CSi30 is just much better than the Onkyo center. The only downside is that it is not a great match tonally for the RTi28's, neither was the Onkyo. I guess it they way they tune them for vocals. To be fair the Polk center approaches the cost of an entire Onkyo speaker set.

These little RTi28's are amazing, for their size they sound much better and handle more power than would have thought. I hope the replacement models do as well. I really like the way they managed to get a wall mount on the speaker.

Thanks again everybody....