Inexpensive For The Sound Quality
Written: Jan 26 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Flatness: |
|
|
| Imaging: |
|
|
| Overall Sound: |
|
|
|
Pros: Great for all types of music, Great for Surround Sound. Low Price
Cons: Make sure you put the sharp tips down for the carpet to avoid tipovers.
The Bottom Line: If you've got the money buy them. If you want to spend double the money, listen to these first. They might be better.
|
|
|
| pribut's Full Review: Polk Audio RTi100 Main / Stereo Speaker |
I listened to speakers at a highly rated Audiophile shop and at Circuit City. Very surprisingly these speakers outdid the one's that I heard at the Audiophile shop at 50% - 100% higher price range. (And the salesperson was better at CC - an unusual occurence.)
The powered subwoofer made such a large difference that when listening to other speakers in this price range or below $1,000 per speaker without the powered subwoofer there is no comparison. I did a direct comparison with $750 Polk Speakers and felt the lack of the low end immediately.
Considerations: These are 4 ohm speakers. Make sure your receiver is well rated for 4 ohm loads. Wiring may be as simple as you like or biwired for the powered subwoofer.
Use: I am using these in a surround system with a Yamaha A-V reciever and in conjunction with a center channel Csi40, Rear Fxi30, and PSW404 subwoofer (but only for special effects channel and supplementing the rear and center channel low end.) Evaluation is for CD use in stereo mode, and surround sound mode.
Appearance - Black wood only.
Construction - Solid, but top heavy. Make sure you use the right support at the bottom to keep them from tipping over.
Shape - Tall and slim. Looked bigger in my medium size living room then they did in the showroom. My spouse said they looked expensive.
Sound - Amazing at this price. Probably amazing for speakers up to $1500 each. I did not think I could get this sound from a $500 speaker.
The combination listed above is fantastic for the prices. I first tried to cheat in my system and combine ADS speakers with the Polk center - but the matching 3 front speakers has now given a full front image and with all speakers matching the surround sound system works superbly.
This has been checked out with Star Wars I and II, XXX, and Lord of the Rings. I thought I was in the middle of the battle with the Orcs.
Music: Jorma Kaukonen Blue Country Heart - Folk, Bluegrass acoustic - sounds like you are there. No Doubt - latest album - rock and electronic - great presence.
Opera - La Traviata - the separation of voices and instruments is fantastic. The clarity and low distortion is excellent.
I have purchased 12 gauge wire. Currently using 16 gauge (watch our for Monster wire - unlabeled as to gauge) - but it sounds fine. I will replace the 16 gauge wire shortly with the 12, but I'm still impressed with the sound quality with the 16 gauge wire. I used 12 guage wire with my previous speakers.
Great for surround sound and music. Even at a normal listening volume the rumbling of the space ships in star wars II caused the pictures on my walls to vibrate. For music (Jazz, Pop, Rock, Classical I listen to it all) the full range sound is fantastic. If you do not have a properly matched subwoofer, the sound is crap in comparison.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 499
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
pribut
|
|
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.