Great full Range speaker
Written: Dec 19 '02 (Updated Dec 19 '02)
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Pros: Built in Powered subwoofer. Full range sound. Slim Design.
Cons: Expensive
The Bottom Line: Great full range sound. Perfect for music and movies.
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| winshawn's Full Review: Polk Audio RTi100 Main / Stereo Speaker |
One of the new things in speakers is to put a powered subwoofer into the speaker. After hearing these and other speakers with built in subwoofers there is no other way to go. One would need a 15" woofer to get a similar sound out of a speaker. That smooth soft low base rumble adds immensely to the the overall sound quality of the speaker. You do not need to be a so called audiophile to hear the difference. Go and listen to these next to a pair of Polk speakers that do not have powered subwoofers. The unpowered speakers are a joke. One other thing to consider is the "Wife Factor." "There is no way that you are going to put that big black box (subwoofer) in my living room!" These solve the "wife factor" problem.
Construction - These speakers are as solid as a brick. They have real wood veneer and 1.25" thick mdf walls.
Appearance - Nice unobtrusive black wood grain.
Shape - They are nice and slim so they do not take up much room. The speaker is tall so the drivers are at a proper listening height from the floor. The "Power Port" on the bottom of the speaker means that you can locate the speaker a couple inches from the wall and they still sound good.
Sound - Outstanding. 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.
Tip - Wiring! I am an engineer and do not believe in all of the audiophile expensive speaker wire crap. However, when I first bought these speakers I set them up with 10 feet of 16 Guage speaker wire.(typical old fashioned speaker wire set up). Surprisingly I was immediately disappointed. It is hard to describe what I heard but it was kind of like the speakers were in a tin box. I listened to them for a few weeks but was still disappointed. So I went out and bought subwoofer cables and more speaker wire. After many listening tests (wiring one speaker one way and the other speaker the other way and switching the balance back and forth between each speaker I decided upon my final solution) I decided on biwiring (biwiring has one set of wires from your receiver to the speaker high frequency terminals and another set of wires from your receiver to the speakers low frequency terminals). (the sound quality when using the subwoofer cables was not good) The difference in sound from my original 16 Ga single wires was ASTOUNDING! Once again I must say I never would have believed it but there was an incredible difference. Mainly the change was in the upper mids and highs. I can now hear the little breath sounds of the saxophonist as he inhales right before he blows. Amazing.
Final advice. Do not buy a speaker without a built in subwoofer. My low price is because I got them used on Ebay.
One final note. Audiophiles talk about a "soundfield". I never knew what them meant until I listened to these speakers. When I sit in front of these speakers it is as if the instruments are right in front of me. It does not seem like there is sound coming from the two separate speakers.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 650
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Epinions.com ID:
winshawn
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Location: Danville, CA
Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Mechanical Engineer, Dad, with Wife and two little girls.
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