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

Most Polks suck even for the money but the LSi series has been reviewed positively in Stereophile.

For the same money I would look close at Paradigm. They are tremendous bargains for the money. I like B&Ws also.

 

One thing we are forgeting is the different sounds with amp-speaker matching.

I highly recommend you buy from a dealer that will allow an in-home audition so you can hear the speakers in your own listening room with your own components.

 

I have. As I pointed out before, I own the 602S3's, and tried powering them with 12-24 Watts of tube power. Bass gets sloppy and uncontrolled, while mids and highs are clean. The whole system sounded, I might say, "a bit lazy".

My SS 130W amp made things a lot tighter and better sounding, so I now use a tube pre with them.

 

My Parts Express catalogue... the Graebner ribbons Rudy, you have your heart set in the right place!!!!

I always thought about building my own speakers, but the risks seem too high to end up with something you won't like. There are so many parameters involved in making a great sounding speaker, I'd only risk building subwoofers (and they sometimes come out different than you expected, even though they are infinitely more simple than a whole speaker!).

But the Graebner ribbons have a flat response to 150 Hz, so theoretically, you could just build a Titanic 12" subwoofer and mate them to it with a very simple active crossover... or a 200 Hz Fmod... ah, dreams are made of this.

 

My problem is, that's a lot of money to spend on drivers. And what if I don't even like ribbons when I'm done?

I once tried to build my own electrostatic panels, but I could never find mylar thin enough to use. I already have a power supply (stripped from an old copier). They're really not difficult to build, just labor intensive.

 

Aquateen, you are probably dizzy from all the "new" options now on your plate. Here is my generic speaker offering. First, the speakers do matter, but the reproduction equipment matters more. When you are at the MID-FI level (which can still be quite expensive) the ability to send quality signals, to whatever speakers you have, far outweighs the speaker choice...within reason of course. Go listen to many, many systems and do your best to audition equal equipment as well as speakers. Choose a high end receiver (for that store) that most closely matches the one used at the other store, exact models being the best choice. This will eliminate differences in the reproduction equipment. Choose a few (five at most) recordings that you like, and know very well. This will allow you to notice differences in the reproduction. Try your best to forget ego when listening. If you happen to fall in love with a "cheap" "lesser" "smaller" speaker...then so be it, that is what your ear gravitated towards. Try to audition at off times. Peak hours often are cluttered with button pushers, window shoppers, and volume checkers, all of which cloud your listening test. Buying in the lower $$ category often gets you little time with the salesman. Use this time to learn how to work their equipment so you can continue after they have left you alone. Do not forget about used equipment. This can, and often is, a VERY good way to get into higher end gear for much less $$$. Your $1000 limit can get you some really nice speakers. If you are eventually going to get tubes I would steer you towards Klipsch Heritage line of speakers. These are best purchased used, and work very well with tubes because of the efficiency, and horn loaded mids and highs. The Synergy...or whatever it is now, line currently at home stores are not of the Heritage caliber and should not be used as a comparison. Also, use the discount to your advantage. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of a good thing when it is available to you legally and honestly. Maybe you could buy a set of the RTi10, sell them for profit, get another set, sell them, and then take your new load of cash and get a much better pair of speakers than you first imagined. Another option, and probably a more realistic one, is to simply get the Polks for cheap because you can. You will, most likely, get upgradeitis and want to change them in the near future anyway...this seems to happen a lot in this particular game. Good luck.

 

Cleandan, I checked out Klipsch a little bit and have found that a lot of folks think that Cornwalls or Klipschorn make a great match for tube gear. The horns seem to need corners that I don't have free so I think between the two the Cornwalls would work the best. Anybody have a set? How much do these guys go for?

 

Don't just settle on what others say. Try the Forte II's or even the Heresy/Heresy II's as they are the "small" versions of the heritage line. The Cornwalls are very large in comparison to the Polk's you have been eying...Huge in fact. The Chorus, LaScala, and Khorns just get bigger and bigger. Look for these Klipsch speakers first. (Legend series)KLF-20, KLF-30, (Heritage series)Heresy II, Forte II and then the Cornwalls. All of these will work great with what you want, and are very much improved with some hot rodding of the internal components. Try the Klipsch forum for used gear. Good luck.

 

Aquateen, you might just try to audition some forum members speakers that are somewhat near by. Myself, and another member are located in the Twin Cities area of MN. This is about a 4 hr drive from Neenah (cheese head area) Mine is SS gear and the other is tube gear. If nothing else this would be a great excuse to play a little.