Convince me out of buying the Polk Rti10s (Speaker suggestion thread)

As some of you may know I work at Circuit City and get crazy discounts on Polk speakers. Now for mass market speakers Polks reign supreme imo. I can get a pair of Rti10's for $420 shipped to my house. I play these guys at work all the time and they are pretty good to my ears but they sound like they may be geared a little more towards home theater applications then music though. I'd be hooking these up to either a basic SS amp for awhile or jump right into vintage tube gear which I've been dreaming about for sometime now. What other options am I looking at for a low end (to you guys) set of floorstanders. Now the Polks may be a great deal but I would rather spend $600-$1000 and be really happy then $400 and be pleased. I have a local Paradigim dealer and a B&W dealer and liked what I heard in the smaller Pardigims. Even though my system will be vintage I would like to shy away from vintage speakers. Any suggestions either for or against the Polks would be much appreciated.

 

I'm actually quite fond of Polks, especially for the price. Probably the best speakers one can find in the "chain stores." Great customer service, too. Don't look to me to talk you out of them, though I'm sure others will have other recommendations.

 

I a happy Polk user too! Don't look to me to talk you out of it.

 

I've never heard a Polk Audio speaker that I liked or that I considered to be of "audiophile" quality. Furthermore, the superb and now sadly defunct magazine "Listener" slammed the Polks in their small speaker shoot-out issue a few years back. I've heard old and new Polk speakers and I wasn't impressed. I could not live with any of the ones I've heard. The newer units seem to have ridiculously bloated bass, lack of detail, and poor quality high frequency information, IMO. I'm sure there are good and bad models as just about every long-term speaker manufacturer gets it right at some point, but based on my experience....I would never consider looking at Polk Audio. For $400, you'd be INFINITELY better off picking up a good set of much more expensive but slightly older audiophile monitors on Audiogon.

 

If your willing to spend the $600-$1000 shouldn't you be looking at the Polks you could get in that price range?

 

What are your reasons for this? You can get much more for your money buying used.

 

"Vintage" is not the same as "used." And I would be wary of vintage speakers as rubber surrounds can deteriorate and the drivers themselves can be difficult to replace.

 

Spend the grand on something like the Reynaud Twins and be really, really happy.

 

Or just as possibly spend the 1K on about ten other brands and be really happy. Again you should start looking at the Polks you can get for 1K and then find them and listen to them. Then at that point you can compare that sound against other speakers sound given a price point and make a decision.

 

Go and listen to as many speakers as you can. I have no opinion on Polk, but I wouldn't buy them simply because you can get a good price. Amps and cd players have come and gone in my system, but I wouldn't part with my speakers (unless it was to upgrade to the next model up of course ) If you are even going to consider tubes, speaker sensitivity should be considered second to sound IMHO.

 

My wife and I recently bought a pair of Pinnacle Black Diamond (BD) 1000s and are very happy with them. They list for $1,000 a pair. We like their detailed, well-balanced sound. We also auditioned (1) the Paradigm Reference Studio 60 and noticed an obtrusive, tubby upper-bass emphasis and (2) the NHT ST-4, which we found bass-shy. The Pinnacles are comparatively small for a full-range (rated 34hZ-20khZ, +/- 3dB) floor-standing speaker.

What's most important, of course, is what your ears tell you. (I couldn't find any reviews online for the Pinnacles, but we ended up buying them based on the salesman's suggestion and our own listening test.) So, if after listening to a number of speakers in your price range, you still like the Polks, buy them.

Paul

 

Check Stereophile/TAS. I know they have recently reviewed Polks and I was surprised by the good review they got. Can't remember the model. I'll be home in an hour and I'll be able to check my stack of back issues.

Of course, I'd recommend JM Reynaud Twin MkIIIs - these are just a superb sounding loudspeaker.

 

Do you get those through "accomodations"? Yeah, I'd talk you out of an RTi10 and into an RTi12. Thing is, aren't those being discontinued in favor of the new Monitor series? That's the vibe going around Polk's forum right about now. And yes, it does seem the RTi series was more geared toward home theater, but the LSi series was designed as their high-def audiophile speaker.

I'm trying in vain to find a dealer locally that I can hear the LSi15s at. I just missed out on a set of two LSi15s and one LSiC center channel for $1200, with only about 20 hours on the set. With a pair of LSi7 or LSi9, it would make a nice surround setup.

 

Please quit crapping in this thread. Aquateen has already stated he likes the Polks. We're not here to slam anyone. I'd prefer it if you had said said "Polk's speakers don't do much for me, but I'd recommend giving a listen to ________ ."

Thanks!

 

Well, to be fair, Aquateen did ask to be "convinced out of buying the Polks."

***

The other thing to consider is that the Polks can be gotten with a discount. I don't know the going prices, but the $400 could get an $800 speaker. That means squat, of course, if one doesn't like the sound of the Polks, but to keep comparing $400 speakers with $1000 speakers is meaningless.

 

Yes he did...but I suggest we make recommendations for other brands, or different models in the Polk line, without slamming a company publicly. Uncalled for IMHO.

 

Aquateen said he was interested in mating these up with vintage valve amps down the track - and prix is one of the most qualified here to comment. If vintage amps were an interest of mine, I'd like to get prix's view on my speaker purchase.

 

Sigh.. you're both right, guys.

Yes, prix's input is valuable. However, the long rant on why Polk sucks was completely unnecessary and can only serve to vector the thread in the wrong direction. Rudy's right: skip the polk critique and spend the energy on giving recommendations on other speakers.

 

That's a nice turn of phrase. Made me think of applied maths classes way back when.

 

Geoff, you crack me up!

Ok. So you get a good discount on the Polks. Before you make that substantial of a purchase, spend a while listening to those other brands mentioned. Of course I have to recommend B&Ws Maybe try the 705s? They'll be more than the Polks, but you may like the sound that much. I'd just hate to see someone buy something because you get a discount when you'd really like something else instead.

As was mentioned above, get the right speakers, and they should last you a loooong time. While I'll probably turn my source components/pre-amps several times over in the next 5 years, I really couldn't see ever parting with the speakers. Yes, it's a big sunk cost, but they are the things you actually listen to.

 

I can't personally recommend anything, but I also trust vinyl anachronist and Metrella's ears enough to say you might want to check out their recommendation for the Reynaud Twins to at least give them a try at your price-point Aquateen.

 

Yep. As they used to say about buying matresses: get something you really like because you'll be spending a third of your life on them.

 

If I had to to over again I would go for something like Tannoys...

 

Hi,

I disagree w/ some of the stated opinions. Going back to the daze of the 10b's, i've heard many Polk speakers i liked at their respective price points. I currently have a set of 1000's, 600's, and a 245i, that i use in my HT system. I've paired the 1000's and 600's w/ vintage McIntosh gear and they sounded much better than i expected.

IMO, buy them for $400! When you grow out of them, you should be able to get a significant amount of your purchase price (given the substantial discount) back in the used market.

Just Another View,
Jeffrey

 

I just checked the Blue Book: the pair retails for about $1100, and has a resale value of $600. So a pair at $420 already puts a buyer ahead of the game.

That said, I'm also in favor of buying used audio equipment a couple of years old. Let someone else take the hit on the original retail price. Good way to buy close to the latest/greatest without having to pay the higher price.