Customer Reviews

Polk Audio RTi12 High Output Floorstanding Loudspeaker (Single, Cherry)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great speaker for the money. I don't think it can be beat at this price. The sound is great and they look beautiful. I'm pushing these with an Onkyo TXSR805.

Shipping on these has been a nightmare. I ordered a pair from [...] and they arrived damaged from UPS. In my opinion, Polk is at fault for not sufficiently packing these from the factory. These speakers are just too heavy to be single boxed. I have spoken to several Polk owners with similar shipping horror stories.

In Amazon's defense, they have done everything to make this right. They shipped a replacement for the speaker that was destroyed, but it was damaged in shipping as well. That's not Amazon's fault.

In Polk's defense, when I contacted their Customer Service, they said they would replace the broken grilles at no charge.

Again, a great speaker, but be prepared for some shipping damage.

The Polk RTI lineup is an affordable speaker set that is of audiophile quality. The RTI12s have great highs and great lows (Rates at 30Hz - 26kHz (-3db)) and sound very clean even at high volume. Cant wait to bi-amp them! After reviewing various comparable front channel speakers I settled on the RTI12s. They blend well with their black oak boxes (also available in cherry). These speakers are powerful and will sound best with a powerful receiver.

The Polk RTI12s are massive, 4ft at least and weighing about 85lbs. They include cone shaped feet that make them very stable and keep them from running away during high bass. They are being replaced so now is the time to buy them for cheap!

About a month ago, I bought a pair of RTi12s as the outgoing model (they were replaced by the RTi 2008 series.) Little did I know how lucky my timing was; two weeks later, there were no more to be had. And I'd gotten them at just below half of MSRP from Amazon.com.

It was the price that got me to buy when I did, but now that I have lived with the RTi12s for a while, progressively adding components to my stereo, tuning it all, and trying to stay true to my goal of a modest budget, I believe that if I had paid the normal street price I would be no less impressed.

And I am impressed!

According to Polk Audio, "Mid-level amplifiers and receivers will bring out the best performance from RTi models", and thus not high-end audiophile gear, they imply. I believe them, but not because the audible result is less than exemplary. This is why:

As part of correspondence with one of Polk Audio's helpful customer service reps, I wrote

"So far, I have found a combination of two things to be most successful: setting the Onkyo DX-7555 CD player's digital filter to 'slow' (more analog-like, relaxed and warm) and rolling off the receiver's treble knob slightly. Since I don't have a dedicated equalizer, this seems to be my best bet. When I reduced the mid/treble amp's levels, I lost dynamics and sonority in the midrange, especially the lower mids.

Like some other owners, I find the RTi12 to be a bit bright. I can't speak for them, but by 'bright' I don't mean harsh in the treble range. Rather, with respect to treble, it almost seems they were designed to compensate for less capable equipment upstream in the audio chain.

True, with the CD player's filter set to 'sharp' (more digital-like and flat) I hear shimmering air in the sound field and almost bionic sibilance in choral music. The RTi12s reproduce this faithfully. But some instruments suffer from this. And more importantly the spectral balance does: the lower midrange and bass sound de-emphasized and uninspired. It's perceptual, not technical, but there it is.

Anyway, so far I have found that the RTi12 midrange drivers want to be hit hard. So I'm hitting them."

I wrote this before I read Polk Audio's statement about pairing the RTi12 with mid-level components. So I think my guess about "less capable equipment upstream" was right.

Granted, my other components _are_ modest. I have heard that my Onkyo CD player is as close to high-end as you can get without spending several times more. And I cannot believe that most listeners would even be able to appreciate the difference. But what is important is that no matter what it feeds the RTi12s (by way of an AudioSource Amp One/A for the mid/treble), they reproduce it: the desirable and undesirable.

Years ago, I was a musician for many years; toward the end, a professional. During that time I focused on sound as a thing in itself, which led to my practice of sound design, synthesis and production, in addition to writing and playing. I know sound. And the RTi12s, when used in a modest system that has been tuned at all (speaker placement, component isolation, etc.) deliver truly beautiful sound.

Highly recommended.


NB: These speakers do not implement true bi-amping. Rather, they allow their internal passive crossover to be driven by two full spectrum amplified signals.

In true bi-amping, an active crossover first divides the full spectrum signal into (typically) two sub-spectra, each of which feeds a separate amplifier, which in turn drives separate speakers. Thus each amp is more efficient because it is burdened only by its part of the full spectrum, not the whole thing. Also, active crossovers are usually more accurate than passive ones.

I guess one advantage of the RTi12's pseudo-bi-amping scheme is to keep the load on each amplifier at 8 ohms. Thus each amp will still do as much work as if they were used alone (because they are amplifying the full spectrum signal), but will not do any more work (because they are driving only one set of speakers, bass or mid/treble, not both sets.) Or something -- I don't really know!

Another more obvious advantage is the ability to set the levels of one or the other amplifier, to change the balance between the output of low and high frequencies.

Similarly, a particular amp can be chosen for use with the highs vs. the lows. I chose my AudioSource amp for the highs because of its reputation for transparency.

Lastly, it permits summing the output of two amplifiers. This is important since (as many have pointed out) the RTi12 is very power hungry. Give it some power and it sounds good. Give it lots of power and it sings with a beautiful voice.

When I first started my home theater, back in the early 90's, it was sad. It would be a complete embarrisment today. I've purchased speakers made by sony, jvc, pioneer, technique, bose, and many others. Today, my home theater is ran by 7 polk audio speakers. My front pair are the rti12 cherry speakers, my center is an older CSI1 polk center, and my rears are my old bookshelf rti15 speakers. Plus, I have two polk subs, to make up for the bass. The rti12 truly produce remarkable acoustics, that I recently was only able to duplicate with an additional EQ hooked up to my system. I purchased these for a higher price at my local electronics store and listened to the LCI15 and this sounded better. although, they do produce some nice clean bass, you really need a sub for deep rumbles. My old front speakers use to be bose 601's but, they are now retired to my closet. Hope this helps. I'm a big acoustics freak so, thats where i judge a good speaker.

I use a pair of these speakers as the front speakers in my 7.1 media room. They sound incredible. They have a very clear, robust sound to them that sound great with music or movies.

The front grill was broken on both my speakers when they arrived (obviously done during shipping). I contacted Polk, and they quickly sent me replacement grills that took 2 seconds to install even though the shippers were at fault.

Beautiful cabinets, almost perfect sound. Can't beat them for the money. To my ears, the midrange lacks just a smidgen of clarity compared to speakers that cost more than twice as much. Nothing I've heard in the price range comes close.

For detailed reviews regarding the sound quality, Polk website has a lot, not to mention other audio websites. I'd like to comment on the "received damaged" part. I recently purchased two of these from Amazon and both arrived in great condition. The packages are dented/torn up a little bit though.

These speakers are awesome but they came in damaged twice, However I contacted Polk Audio directly to request new speakers grill's because that's the only damage I had on the 2nd shipment.