# Not much love for Polk speakers.



## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

If I have learned anything from my time spent on this awesome site, it would be how subjective listening is. Before I found HTS, I wanted to assemble a modestly priced HT system. I did some research on floor standing speakers, knowing (even 3 yrs ago) speaker selection was very important. I settled on a set of Polk TSi 400s, these speakers were rated a top pick at Top Ten Reviews.They sounded awesome with an entry level Pioneer AVR, for movies and 2 channel was also pretty good. I upgraded my 2 channel amp to an HK3490 & the sound is now awesome...in my opinion. What I am trying to find out is why most shacksters seem to not like POLK speakers. What makes them inferior to other favored brands?:dontknow:


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

Oh I don't know, there seems to be enough love for Polk.
Speakers are the most personal piece of the system and just about everyone here will recommend listening first and buying what you like regardless of the brand.
When listening first is not possible, the recommendation is usually order/purchase from a vendor that has an excellent return policy.
I am one of the people that does not favor Polk speakers, at every price point I think there are better options.
The one good thing in regards to Polk is (in my location) Fry's heavily discounts something in the RTi line every other week and at the discounted prices they become more appealing if that is the price point someone is shopping at.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

Thanks chashint. I am still wondering what you do not like about all lines of Polk speakers? I may have the answer in your profile. I see you are a Klipsch fan, I am in no way being derogatory of Klipsch products. I have never heard them except, I use 2 KW100 subs. In what I have read these 2 product lines seem to be quite different. If someone likes one they do not seem to like the other, maybe its the tweeter difference.


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

I take no offense to anyone not liking any of my audio equipment, it is just stuff and while I enjoy my stuff immensely I do not have much emotional attachment to it.
I don't really like to knock any particular brand of gear, just because it's not my preference really doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.
The reason I do not prefer Polk speakers compared to other similarly priced speakers to my ear the Polk do not have good clarity and definition.
It is difficult for me to hear dialog on the Polks, and when there is a busy sound field it seems to become to blended for me to pick out the sounds.
I prefer Klipsch, Paradigm, Dali, KEF, Definitive Technology.


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## zieglj01 (Jun 20, 2011)

For me, the Polks tend to be somewhat artificial sounding, and lacking in detail and definition.

However, if you like them and are enjoying them - then continue to enjoy your adventure.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

I guess I would benefit from listening to more brands of speakers. Except I am afraid I may like other speakers and end up wanting them. Then where does it end,that is one downside to this hobby.:spend:


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

http://www.frys.com/product/6895346?site=sa:adpages page:P25_FRI date:070414 
If I were in the market for $600/pr speakers this would be competitive.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

Wow! That is an awesome speaker at that price. Unfortunately I live in Canada and we do not get such great deals up here. I recently posted a thread saying how us canucks are at an expensive disadvantage. A lot of U.S. ID companies do not even ship to Canada. If they do, cost would be very high. Our loss!


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

Blainetsuds said:


> If I have learned anything from my time spent on this awesome site, it would be how subjective listening is. Before I found HTS, I wanted to assemble a modestly priced HT system. I did some research on floor standing speakers, knowing (even 3 yrs ago) speaker selection was very important. I settled on a set of Polk TSi 400s, these speakers were rated a top pick at Top Ten Reviews.They sounded awesome with an entry level Pioneer AVR, for movies and 2 channel was also pretty good. I upgraded my 2 channel amp to an HK3490 & the sound is now awesome...in my opinion. What I am trying to find out is why most shacksters seem to not like POLK speakers. What makes them inferior to other favored brands?:dontknow:


I kind of feel the same in a way. I have JBL Studio II's, and I've been poked at because my speaker brand has too many letters, or doesn't have an "&" sign, or isn't a French name etc. The thing is, I know they're not the "be all, end all", but they are clean, clear and super dynamic. And kind of like chashint said, it's about the listening. When I turn on my system early in the day, my master volume is auto set for -30. This can be loud if it's the first thing I hear. What's surprising is, after about 5 min. I go to -25, or -20 and never have fatigue. Ever. Even at higher volumes. At the end of the day if they work for you, that's what counts. I don't personally care any more if ppl pick on my choice. If it matters, they can buy me new ones! I've also owned Polk speakers, and found them to be...not what I wanted. Fwiw though, I have a set of rc85i's in the ceiling by my foyer, and like them. I did build enclosures for them in the ceiling too, but actually like their voicing. To answer your question, ...I'll put on my thinkin hat!
Happy 4th!


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

I do not feel picked on or feel I made a bad choice. I thought maybe due to speaker inexperience I might be missing something. I know I should be happy with what sounds good to me. It is the grass is always greener on the other side syndrome. That is a big part of what drives this hobby. On the one hand I am happy with my sound on a modest budget,but there is always what am I missing.


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## Glen B (Jun 11, 2013)

Blainetsuds said:


> If I have learned anything from my time spent on this awesome site, it would be how subjective listening is. Before I found HTS, I wanted to assemble a modestly priced HT system. I did some research on floor standing speakers, knowing (even 3 yrs ago) speaker selection was very important. I settled on a set of Polk TSi 400s, these speakers were rated a top pick at Top Ten Reviews.They sounded awesome with an entry level Pioneer AVR, for movies and 2 channel was also pretty good. I upgraded my 2 channel amp to an HK3490 & the sound is now awesome...in my opinion. What I am trying to find out is why most shacksters seem to not like POLK speakers. What makes them inferior to other favored brands?:dontknow:


There is a very active Polk discussion forum, Club Polk: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/


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## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

Blainetsuds said:


> I guess I would benefit from listening to more brands of speakers. Except I am afraid I may like other speakers and end up wanting them. Then where does it end,that is one downside to this hobby.:spend:


You have just summarized the life of the serious audio hobbiest. That is exactly the way it works, for many of us anyway. If you want to save a lot of money and energy, just keep on enjoying what you are already enjoying, there is absolutely no harm in that. OTOH, the "never-ending quest" can be its own kind of fun. Just remember that once you start questing, it is hard to turn back.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Blainetsuds said:


> If I have learned anything from my time spent on this awesome site, it would be how subjective listening is. Before I found HTS, I wanted to assemble a modestly priced HT system. I did some research on floor standing speakers, knowing (even 3 yrs ago) speaker selection was very important. I settled on a set of Polk TSi 400s, these speakers were rated a top pick at Top Ten Reviews.They sounded awesome with an entry level Pioneer AVR, for movies and 2 channel was also pretty good. I upgraded my 2 channel amp to an HK3490 & the sound is now awesome...in my opinion. What I am trying to find out is why most shacksters seem to not like POLK speakers. What makes them inferior to other favored brands?:dontknow:


Having been one of the reviewers for the speaker evaluations for HTS ranging from the under $1000 speakers to the $3500 range in several weekends of extended listening to a couple of dozen speakers, I have learned that there are lots of great speakers out there. When we did listne to the Polks, with some very tough competition, they stood up to the rest very well. While I found they lacked a little of the magic that others had, overall they did virtually everything well. They are a well balanced and very listenable speaker that would be very versatile. 

I also worked for a dealer that sold them for a decade and lots of people love them. The people who bought them were very happy with them. 

They don't appeal to audiophiles probably because they are a mainstream product that covers modest price ranges and there are lots more esoteric speakers out there that may or may not be better, but get more attention of the audiophile crowd. 

Good product in a field of many good products. There is ultimately more, as you said, subjective reasoning behind what people buy than objective reasons.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

I followed the $1000 speaker evaluation and the arx5 was crowned the winner. Has the $2500-$3000 evaluation been completed. These evaluations are very cool. It must be very hard for the evaluators to come to a consensus on a winner.


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

There are more than a few of us on here (HTS) that have full (11 speaker) Polk Speaker setups. I am very pleased with my polk speakers. I'm not one to spend a decade sampling various speaker brands and :spend:

I find they are a quality product for a reasonable price. Especially if you buy them when they are on sale (amazon, newegg).
I have the following in my Home Theater Room FXiA6, RTiA1, RTiA3, RTiA7, RTiA9,CSiA6. 
I also have a pair of TSI 400 in my living room.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Blainetsuds said:


> I followed the $1000 speaker evaluation and the arx5 was crowned the winner. Has the $2500-$3000 evaluation been completed. These evaluations are very cool. It must be very hard for the evaluators to come to a consensus on a winner.


The three threads in this series of evaluations are stickies in this forum:
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-audio-speakers/


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

Thanks for the info on the speaker evaluations Icaillo.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

I did not see your reply yesterday phillihp23. Wow! you are definitely a Polk fan, great system. Perhaps I may have been a bit sensitive regarding my speaker selection. I do love my Tsi 400s in a small room 1700 Cu.ft. they are great. I agree buying on sale it is hard to beat price to quality ratio of Polk.


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## KevinJSteward (Jun 15, 2014)

I bought mostly Polks for my first foray into home theatre.

Front channel is handled by Monitor 65t ($300), centre by Monitor 15c ($130), surrounds by Monitor 45b ($168)

Sub and front presence have SoundStage offerings and the rear surround is a JBL centre that I picked up for free.

Even though I did some research here and at AVS, I found the heavy discounting of the Monitor series difficult to walk away from. I wanted music; lots of it, and I wanted it now. I had been looking at a Bose Acoustimass 10 system, so the forums managed to steer me away from that line of thought, at least.

Now I can listen to my music on a far better system than I have ever owned before, I have time to look around and see what is on offer, without having put a massive investment into my first system.

As far as the Polks go, I love listening to them. I hear they are "bright". Big deal. They sound good to me, and that's pretty much all that counts.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

For us in Canada, I feel Polk is hard to beat for quality,sound and above all price. I noticed Vision Electronics usually have Polk products on sale almost weekly. Have you purchased anything from them? I am wondering how they are service and return wise. Unfortunately in Can. we are drawn to big box stores for value reasons. The US internet direct sellers (which have loads of awesome products) are hard to buy from up here. If you had to return any products for warranty issues or worse, would add huge costs. A lot of ID sellers will not even ship sale items to Can. even if we wanted to try their products. So we are limited to mainstream sellers like Polk and Klipsch. However Fluance has interesting products with free shipping for us and a lifetime warranty. Hard to go wrong with these 3 choices for us.


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## KevinJSteward (Jun 15, 2014)

Blainetsuds said:


> For us in Canada, I feel Polk is hard to beat for quality,sound and above all price. I noticed Vision Electronics usually have Polk products on sale almost weekly. Have you purchased anything from them? I am wondering how they are service and return wise. Unfortunately in Can. we are drawn to big box stores for value reasons. The US internet direct sellers (which have loads of awesome products) are hard to buy from up here. If you had to return any products for warranty issues or worse, would add huge costs. A lot of ID sellers will not even ship sale items to Can. even if we wanted to try their products. So we are limited to mainstream sellers like Polk and Klipsch. However Fluance has interesting products with free shipping for us and a lifetime warranty. Hard to go wrong with these 3 choices for us.


All of my stuff came from Visions. I notice FutureShop sell Martin Logan electrostats, which I'm seriously eyeing up for my next system. It appears that they only do the lower priced models, although that makes little difference to me. I can't see dropping more than $5000 on a pair of speakers, for the simple reason that my wife would stick a knife in me if I did.

I can't speak highly enough of Visions' service (although this thread is probably not the right place to get into that discussion.)


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

Cool Thanks Kevin. I agree . If I paid $5000 for speakers I better be able to drive them to work also. I think it is more about getting your speakers and other equipment to fit your room acoustics within your budget. However some things are just to cool to resist.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Blainetsuds said:


> So we are limited to mainstream sellers like Polk and Klipsch. However Fluance has interesting products with free shipping for us and a lifetime warranty. Hard to go wrong with these 3 choices for us.


Just curious about your home grown manufacturers like PSB, Totem Acoustic, Mirage Loudspeakers, Athena, Energy et al. Can you get better deals on the Canadian brands?


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

I have not seen any deals on these Can. brands with the exception of some deals on Energy products(mainly entry level stuff at local big box stores). I do have a couple of upscale audio stores that sell PSB products ,Focal, Paradigim Moon audio,and such higher end gear, but never see anything on sale in my desired price range. Even the Can. makers are more geared to sell to the larger US market, understandable from a profit stand point.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Get to know the dealers that have what you want. Once you and they become comfortable talking about price, let them know you want to buy from them, but also what you are willing to pay for the specific speakers you want. Tell them that if you can't buy them for that price, you will wait until you find them or something you like as much used.

When they know they are not competing with another new item that is the same, and only with your own sense of the value of the product, you are more likely to get an offer of some accomodation, particularly if you are patient. When they have a bad month for sales and need some cash flow or to reduce inventory you might get a call if they know you are serious about both buying and waiting.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

That is great advice Leonard,thanks.


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## Jeff L (Jun 24, 2014)

I have RTIA3's, very happy with them. very spatial and are great with music. My only complaint would be they can be a tad bright in some HT scenes, I like to listen at reference levels or close, eq'ing down some of the higher fq's helped.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

What are you using to eq your sound? I had a 2 channel system in the early 90s, technics amp,realistic mach 1 speakers and a 11 band 2channel realistic eq. With this you could tailor a great sound. EQs have really fallen out of favor. Most people with RTIA line of Polks seem to really like them.


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## KevinJSteward (Jun 15, 2014)

nova said:


> Just curious about your home grown manufacturers like PSB, Totem Acoustic, Mirage Loudspeakers, Athena, Energy et al. Can you get better deals on the Canadian brands?


A buddy of mine has apparently just opened a high end audio store so I'll drop by there some time and report back. Sounds promising.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

Very cool.


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## Jeff L (Jun 24, 2014)

I go into the avr settings and run [email protected] -4 and [email protected] ive been around power tools all my life so my hearing is probably not what most normal people hear. dont get me wrong, I very happy with the speakers, im waffling between another set of a3's or getting a7's so im a fan.


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## opotente (Mar 24, 2011)

Hi, I own a pair of Polk TSi200 and I am very happy with them. I also have a Pioneer SC-LX56 so the speakers should be better but I run out of money to buy better speakers. For music like jazz and small ensembles they sound fine (had formerly Paradigm columns) and also for voices y you can forgive some lack of content on the low end voices. For U$D 200 they are very good! Perhaps the center channel is not all god formed like the Paradigms and they are not king of detail.
I am planning to change them any time soon but would never regret of them!


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

Blainetsuds said:


> I guess I would benefit from listening to more brands of speakers. Except I am afraid I may like other speakers and end up wanting them. Then where does it end,that is one downside to this hobby.:spend:


A little acoustic treatment goes a long way. You won't need Golden Ears to notice the improvements or strain to hear the differences. The EQ recently discussed also makes a big difference. And guess what? Acoustic treatment performs just as well with different speakers!



willis7469 said:


> I kind of feel the same in a way. I have JBL Studio II's, and I've been poked at because my speaker brand has too many letters, or doesn't have an "&" sign, or isn't a French name etc. The thing is, I know they're not the "be all, end all", but they are clean, clear and super dynamic. And kind of like chashint said, it's about the listening. When I turn on my system early in the day, my master volume is auto set for -30. This can be loud if it's the first thing I hear. What's surprising is, after about 5 min. I go to -25, or -20 and never have fatigue. Ever. Even at higher volumes. At the end of the day if they work for you, that's what counts. *I don't personally care any more if ppl pick on my choice. If it matters, they can buy me new ones!* I've also owned Polk speakers, and found them to be...not what I wanted. Fwiw though, I have a set of rc85i's in the ceiling by my foyer, and like them. I did build enclosures for them in the ceiling too, but actually like their voicing. To answer your question, ...I'll put on my thinkin hat!
> Happy 4th!


I like your attitude :T


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## ht-core (Jun 13, 2013)

Hello all. I own a pair of Polk R 40 towers and matching center channel. And they were not the best pair of speakers I ever owned but they worked for now. I've been happy with them but was thinking of upgrading to some rti7 I think would be night and day from my current pair. I'm interested in seeing where this conversation goes.


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## Insearchof (Oct 21, 2014)

I have Polk towers. 3 of them for LCR duty.
Are they the best to me? For the heavily discounted price I paid for them? Absolutely.
They do everything well and are easy on the ears. I don't suffer any listening fatigue with my towers.
People tend to describe Polks as bright. Imo, they are bright initially but after suitable break-in mine aren't. A good amp woke mine up and the sound quality improved. Isn't that true of most speakers?
They have no glaring drawbacks but I realize that there's better. 
I have auditioned several Focal, Golden Ear and Paradigm towers to scratch my upgradeitis itch. I'd love to demo some Monitor Audio, Totem and RBH speakers too just to hear a small slice of what's out there. 
Any of the towers I listened to were better in some aspects. A couple were better in every aspect BUT they should be. Even with a discounted package price, I'm in the neighborhood of 10x the Polk's purchase price to replace my current LCR.
Unless my priorities change, I'll probably never make that purchase. 
To scratch my itch I'll most likely go with the Chane A3rx-c or A5rx-c and a 2nd sub.


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## ht-core (Jun 13, 2013)

I'm kinda on a tight budget and think this will be the way I'll have to go for about 5-7 more years. Bottom end is taken cared of by a lovely Lms ultra 5400 in passive radiator alignment. It's going to over power the r40's in a heartbeat. Need something to get me by for now. Rti7 should do the trick for the meantime.


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## BNestico (Jan 20, 2015)

I use polk speakers and I love them, I've heard some of them, particularly the RTi's referred to as bright, which I don't disagree with, but that's what I like about them. When I finally added the RTi8's to my system I felt that I was good now for some time to come.


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## Blainetsuds (Feb 12, 2013)

I currently have Tsi 400s as mains which I like a lot. However I am thinking of upgrading to the Tsi 500s or the Chane A5rx-c when the become available.


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