Thoughts on Polk RTI A7 foor standing speaker??

[stevenlevel 146]

I have been thinking about up-grading my speakers to a pair of Polk RTI A7 floor standing speakers. They have 2- 7 " woofers and 6 1/2" midrange driver and a 1" soft dome tweeter.

 

Supposed to be the best you can get for under $600 each. AT $500 each they are a lot of speaker for the money.

 

No need for watching the gain setting on my preamp with those Polks as they can handle a ton of power,

 

I'm just sick of bookshelf speakers and have never had a truly good floor standing speaker with fantastic bass response and a 1" soft dome tweeter that won't need a L-Pad and simply will not be harsh at all.

 

Anyone own a pair of those here ? If so your thoughts please?

 

They look like the best front ported full sized speakers I can afford at $500 each.

 

I will keep the 450's as the side and rear surround sound speakers on good stands.

 

Anyone heat these at sometime? If so please let me know what you think of them?

 

This a long way off but within 2 years I would like to have them and possibly sell my SVS 12" subs or keep one and sell one if I can get what it's worth to put toward the Polks.

Maybe even both SVS as I should not need a really good sub with those twin 7" woofers driving the bass.

[weitrhino 1,445]

For a $1000 you could get a set of Plats.

[aslan7 955]

Polk's are certainly great speakers Steven. I also like Klipsch (although they can be a little bright sounding for some), AR, and of course Monitor Audio Gold or Platinum series.   How about some Carver AL's-platinums or silvers?

 

My AL Silver's enhanced by SVS Ultra PB13 and Velodyne SPL-1200R subs is a deadly combo-- 1000 Watts pushing each individual speaker & each sub.  Piano is reproduced so well from those ribbons as is any type of brass.  Bass is earth shattering.  Accurate and powerful.  

 

Teenager's smiles-priceless. 

[PDR 1,195]

For under $1000?.....THESE 

 

You can read a bit about them HERE 

[kingman 663]

I thought about buying those at one time. Never heard a set but heard they are more suited to surround sound home theater work. I'd look for a set of AL3's or if you are into the Polk sound, I bought a set of Polk Monitor 10's that sound really big for their size. The ones above these , in the $400-$700 range sound really good, but IMHO nothing sounds like ribbons.

[PMAT 2,061]

Good luck Steven. On the west coast here there are all kinds of great vintage speakers in that price category that are better suited for two channel. Kingman has a point though. I have owned many kinds of speakers with all kinds of configurations and the big ribbons stopped me cold. All the ALS are capable speakers. If set up right they can astound you. Jaw dropping sound. Fact, I owned ALS (several) for over two years before I got them to sound "amazing".

[stevenlevel 146]

Thanks for the advice as the Polk's do get some reviews about a lack of midrange which bothers me some what.

 

I can't buy any towers that have a rear port or a rear passive that needs to be near a wall.

 

My right speaker is in a open spot too close to my Kitchen doorway and thus need a speaker with a sealed enclosure or a front port.

 

I like my Definitive 450's after putting the L-Pads on the main fronts and fixing the air leak from the right front 6 1/2" driver (Had 3 stripped screws I forgot to get repaired) and that was the output or lack there of that I was hearing before and brought up here.

 

Anyhow plenty of time to listen to some speakers and get plenty of feedback as well.

 

It will be at least 2 years before I buy them so keep it up with the suggestions please.

 

For now I'm really enjoying my 450's with the SPL being nice and even now that I fixed the stripped screws that really messed with it's S.P.L. output that is now mice and even with the bass being exactly like the left speaker.

 

Pretty stupid of me to forget that I had 3 stripped screws in the right speaker that caused so much trouble.

 

Anyway thanks and keep the suggestions coming, as I'll be writing down the speaker models that everyone gives and try my best to check them out.

 

Please keep in mind they can't have rear ports as I can't use rear bass reflex speakers in this apartment since I'll just lose the bass.

[Ratamahatta 437]

Polk makes some great bang for your buck speakers but IMO you can do much better. Like buying used, This guy has a ton of great stuff and is only a short distance from you.                                         http://chicago.craigslist.org/search/chc/ela?query=773410203six+

 There was a ton of great gear on CL in your area. Another option is to buy a kit and do it yourself, Lots of great kit speakers out there and some include cabinets.  

[trav0810 588]

I've owned those Polks Steven. I'm a big fan of Polk. I had the RTi12's and then the RTiA7's. They are GREAT Home Theater speakers, which is the direction that most companies have gone. But they don compare to their vintage ancestors when it comes to audio. If I was going to spend $1000 on a pair of speakers, it would be either a pair of Silvers/Plats or Polk SDA's. (3.1's, 2.3's)