Out with the Bose; In with Polk!!

[Bourne1]

Ok, so I am going out with my Bose AMS 10 system and going to gradually replace the whole system with the Polk Audio RTi-A series. I am going to phase this out and buy the fronts and center channel first.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/rtia/#rtia1
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/rtia/#csia4

Then I will buy my rears and subwoofer. The rears will end up changing and become part of my 7.1 system. The subwoofer, I am not 100% sure yet, I am up to hearing peoples thoughts of what subwoofer would pair well with this system; even if it is outside of the Polk family.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/rm2008/index.php#rm8
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/p...ers/dswpro400/

The RTi-A1's will eventually become my main Rear L/R surrounds while the RM8's will become the back rear surrounds. My fronts will end up being The A5's.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/rtia/index.php#rtia5

Any thoughts? Would the RTi-A1's be sufficient enough for a good pair of front channels? I've read some professional reviews about them; it seems that when tested with a wide music spectrum, they had very good range across the board. Just wondering if they would be good as the main L/R's. I would also like to hear your thoughts on the subwoofer. I will say, my room is small, I live in a 1,100 sq ft condo (don't have the exact measurements for the living room; maybe 12x10). Everything will be powered through my Denon 789.

[SumSuperman]

I have the RtiA1s as my main fronts and the CSiA4 center. I think they sound great. They are very clear, but are a little lacking in the bass department. With a good sub, though, it more than makes up for it.

What is your budget for a subwoofer? Polks really aren't that great when it comes to subs. You definitely don't have to match the sub to your speakers. A lot of people here recommend the Elemental Designs A2-300, which can be had for $350. It is quite a beast in terms of size. I've got the A2-250, which has a smaller driver and is a bit smaller. It provides more than enough clean bass for my townhome.

[Bourne1]

Thanks for the feed back about the paired Rti A1's with the CSi A4 center. I heard the same thing as you mentioned about getting a sub. A subwoofer is a must for me when it comes to a HT system. What are you using for your surrounds?

I am open to subwoofers; it doesn't have to be a Polk. I do prefer ones that have a downforce driver, for some reason I like the sound and feel of the bass more. Just as long as it pairs well and is a good fit for my system. Someone mentioned the Element Design sub to me once. Does anyone have any experience with Velodyne subwoofers?

[brett_day]

polk make pretty fantastic subs dude! i have a polk sub (10") which has more than enough power and shakes the room and know of several people who have polk subs and they are awesome...i would recommend a polk sub any day

[Bourne1]

Does anyone think that the RM8's would be too small for my Rear L/R surrounds when compared to the RTi A1's as my main?

[brett_day]

you do not need anything huge for your surrounds, the amount of sound that comes from rears/surrounds is pretty minimal at the best of times. You do not need rears that will overpower your fronts or center you just need something to compliment them.

[SumSuperman]

I am using the Polk OWM3s for my surronds. They are pretty versatile in terms of being able to mount them. They aren't too big, which is nice when space is a concern, too. They really do an excellent job for surrounds.

[Djnx]

Originally Posted by SumSuperman

You definitely don't have to match the sub to your speakers.

I have to disagree there. If you already considering $300 speakers, the least you can do is buy a matching sub-woofer.

Bourne1:
Your room is small, I wouldn't recommend big speakers or a big sub-woofer at all.

I would recommend:

JBL ES30 as front speakers:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES25C as center speaker:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES10 as surround speakers:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES150P as subwoofer:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=SUB&ser=ES

The JBL systerm would be cheaper, and with the money you'd save buy four of these:
http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/sto...tegorySA182533

Or put some kind of thick carpet in the walls, otherwise, in that small room, the audio coming from the speakers, will become noise.

If you don't like JBL, go with similar speakers of your favorite brand. And I wouldn't recommend a sub bigger than 10".

[SumSuperman]

Originally Posted by Djnx

I have to disagree there. If you already considering $300 speakers, the least you can do is buy a matching sub-woofer.

What is the point of buying a matching sub, merely for looks? I would go with a company that specializes in subs, rather than buying one because it is the same brand as my system.

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by Djnx

I have to disagree there. If you already considering $300 speakers, the least you can do is buy a matching sub-woofer.

Bourne1:
Your room is small, I wouldn't recommend big speakers or a big sub-woofer at all.

I would recommend:

JBL ES30 as front speakers:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES25C as center speaker:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES10 as surround speakers:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES150P as subwoofer:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=SUB&ser=ES

The JBL systerm would be cheaper, and with the money you'd save buy four of these:
http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/sto...tegorySA182533

Or put some kind of thick carpet in the walls, otherwise, in that small room, the audio coming from the speakers, will become noise.

If you don't like JBL, go with similar speakers of your favorite brand. And I wouldn't recommend a sub bigger than 10".

How exactly do you match a subwoofer? Does the manufacturer tag make it match?

[jkwest]

good lord...who is your avatar, Djnx?!

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by Djnx

I have to disagree there. If you already considering $300 speakers, the least you can do is buy a matching sub-woofer.

Bourne1:
Your room is small, I wouldn't recommend big speakers or a big sub-woofer at all.

I would recommend:

JBL ES30 as front speakers:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES25C as center speaker:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES10 as surround speakers:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES150P as subwoofer:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=SUB&ser=ES

The JBL systerm would be cheaper, and with the money you'd save buy four of these:
http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/sto...tegorySA182533

Or put some kind of thick carpet in the walls, otherwise, in that small room, the audio coming from the speakers, will become noise.

If you don't like JBL, go with similar speakers of your favorite brand. And I wouldn't recommend a sub bigger than 10".

Meh, I disagree with all of this. Just because the speakers are powerful and have a good range, doesn't mean you have to have them dialed all the way and blaring. Also, if it's that much a concern, acoustical treatments can go a long way towards helping with that issue.

There's nothing wrong with going with bookshelf speakers if you want a small profile, but simple physics dictate that they aren't going to have the impact and range of larger speakers.

JBL makes decent towers too, so there's nothing wrong with the brand, but there's no reason to steer someone away from towers and decent sized speakers which can easily handle some oomph to some smaller bookshelf system.

[SumSuperman]

Originally Posted by aramis109

Meh, I disagree with all of this. Just because the speakers are powerful and have a good range, doesn't mean you have to have them dialed all the way and blaring. Also, if it's that much a concern, acoustical treatments can go a long way towards helping with that issue.

There's nothing wrong with going with bookshelf speakers if you want a small profile, but simple physics dictate that they aren't going to have the impact and range of larger speakers.

JBL makes decent towers too, so there's nothing wrong with the brand, but there's no reason to steer someone away from towers and decent sized speakers which can easily handle some oomph to some smaller bookshelf system.

I agree with aramis109. The RtiA5s would have much more presence once you get those. I would have gone with those too, but because of space limitations I'm limited to bookshelves right now.

[SDBlu]

Originally Posted by aramis109

Meh, I disagree with all of this. Just because the speakers are powerful and have a good range, doesn't mean you have to have them dialed all the way and blaring. Also, if it's that much a concern, acoustical treatments can go a long way towards helping with that issue.

There's nothing wrong with going with bookshelf speakers if you want a small profile, but simple physics dictate that they aren't going to have the impact and range of larger speakers.

JBL makes decent towers too, so there's nothing wrong with the brand, but there's no reason to steer someone away from towers and decent sized speakers which can easily handle some oomph to some smaller bookshelf system.

Agreed

The only speakers you need to be concerned with matching are the front three. After that anything goes. I also got rid my beginner Bose system and am much happier now for it. The difference is like night and day!

[Djnx]

but there's no reason to steer someone away from towers and decent sized speakers

The ES30 are decent sized speakers, with a nice frequency response and they will provide plenty of power for his room. Sure, as long as he does a nice job with acoustic treatment, towers are not a problem, but if he doesn't he'll just have a lot of resonant room modes, which wouldn't be nice considering he would have paid ~$300 for the speakers.

The design of ~$250 speakers already take into account the acoustics of the speaker enclosure, accurate crossover design, and most importantly, these kind of speakers are designed as a group, not individually, which means, if you trust the speaker designer, it probably made the best effort to create a balanced and matched system along the series, avoiding phase, cancellation, sum and crossover problems as much as possible, while maintaining a constant sound signature.

good lord...who is your avatar, Djnx?!

Allison Carroll

[crackinhedz]

I would get the Polks with an eD A2-300 subwoofer.

...a sub is the last thing you need to worry about "matching".

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by aramis109

Meh, I disagree with all of this. Just because the speakers are powerful and have a good range, doesn't mean you have to have them dialed all the way and blaring. Also, if it's that much a concern, acoustical treatments can go a long way towards helping with that issue.

There's nothing wrong with going with bookshelf speakers if you want a small profile, but simple physics dictate that they aren't going to have the impact and range of larger speakers.

JBL makes decent towers too, so there's nothing wrong with the brand, but there's no reason to steer someone away from towers and decent sized speakers which can easily handle some oomph to some smaller bookshelf system.

Agreed. Just because you have large speakers, doesn't mean you have to shake the house with them. When I upgraded my surrounds from satellites to towers, I saw a great improvement in overall sound quality, especially at lower volumes.

[Bourne1]

I'll have to check these out and consider them.; I really like the rears a lot. But I really do like the build quality of the Polk's and the materials that went in the RTi A1's; being a $300 for a pair. My friend has the RTI A5's and I love the way they sound; he has a Denon also. So that is why I am going to take a phased approach, because I don't plan on being in a small space for too long. Thanks for your input, I'll have to find a place that carries these JBL's and hopefully they will also have the Polk's so I can do a comparison.

Originally Posted by Djnx

I have to disagree there. If you already considering $300 speakers, the least you can do is buy a matching sub-woofer.

Bourne1:
Your room is small, I wouldn't recommend big speakers or a big sub-woofer at all.

I would recommend:

JBL ES30 as front speakers:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES25C as center speaker:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES10 as surround speakers:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=BFS&ser=ES

JBL ES150P as subwoofer:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/pro...cat=SUB&ser=ES

The JBL systerm would be cheaper, and with the money you'd save buy four of these:
http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/sto...tegorySA182533

Or put some kind of thick carpet in the walls, otherwise, in that small room, the audio coming from the speakers, will become noise.

If you don't like JBL, go with similar speakers of your favorite brand. And I wouldn't recommend a sub bigger than 10".

[Bourne1]

I love that it is a down firing sub.

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

I would get the Polks with an eD A2-300 subwoofer.

...a sub is the last thing you need to worry about "matching".

[Bourne1]

Any thoughts on Velodyne subwoofers? My friend can get me a nice discount on them.