Polk RTi6 Brightness

[Dessayfan]

Anybody out there have Polk RTi6 speakers? If so, are they as bright and bothersome to you as they are to me? I listen to mainly classical music, and I suffer from "ear fatigue" after about an hour. I use an Onkyo 701 receiver, and finally boosted the bass 2 db and cut back the treble by either 4 or 6 db to make the speakers sound anywhere "flat." They still don't - and I may have to just give up and sell or trade them in on - what? Don't know.
Any comments or suggestions welcome! With thanx

 

[av_phile]

IS this your first set of speakers? IF not, did the previous speakers bothered you as being bright as well?

 

[Rob Babcock]

What's the listening room like? Is there any acoustic treatment? Do you have bare wood or tile floors? Do you have lathe & plaster walls? Are they situated very near the wall? How far away from them do you sit? We'd need a little info on the environment to make any educated guesses.

If your room is very "live," with lots of echoes and little absorptive material, then almost anything you buy might sound bright. How loud do you play them? If you like your music loud, it could simply be that the woofers just can't "keep up" with the tweeters (ie become non-linear at high volumes).

It could simply be that you prefer more bass than some people. Sorry to say I've not heard those particular Polks, but they don't really have a reputation for being overly bright.

 

[Dessayfan]

More info on RTi6s for U

These are the second speakers on this amp - the first ones were older Celestion DL6s - and they were very dull-sounding, in comparison.
My room is 16x20 - carpeted - with lots of artwork on the walls and a large Oriental rug on the wall opposite the stereo. The room is not "dead," but certainly not "live" with echoes, either. The speakers are about 18" out from the wall - separated by about 7 feet. I sit about 14 feet in front of them. I do not play the music very loud, but do notice that when the full orchestra is playing the Polks often seem to get a little distorted or ragged in the higher frequencies. Aside from that, the bass is good enough, and the overall sound is good - but rather strident.
I have listened to the same system with B & W 705 speakers (much more expensive than I can afford - I borrowed them) and the B & Ws blow the Polks out of the water insofar as clarity and "transparency" are concerned.
The Polks seem better on pop or jazz than on classical. That's about as much info as I can think of now. Many thanks.

 

[Unregistered]

odd i own the rti4 and they sound great to me not birght at all, could it be your receiver, cables....have you tried replacing..maybe the jumpers on the back of the speakers ?? I listen to everything...and never fatiguing at all..maybe some breakin time ?

 

[markw]

Not all speakers please all people.

In fact, I can't think of one that does. It might simply be that you don't really like the way these speakers sound in your home. That's not a sin. That's why there are so many different speaker manufacturers out there, and they all sound different.

Don't bother with cables. The amp's contribution is minimal at best. Break in is not an issue after a week or so. If minor room tweaks don't solve the problem, and I doubt they will, trade 'em in on something more to your liking while the option exists.

 

[Dessayfan]

Tried, and tried and tried. . .

. . .to do all that you have suggested, and more. Although it may not be a "sin" to be bothered by the sound of speakers, well, I bought them on the Internet (Crutchfield) and have had them now for about four months. The time for "exchange" has long passed, I'm afraid.
I'm starting to "listen around" to see if there are other speakers more to my liking - within my price range, that is! I know I love the B & W 705s, but at $1,500 - gulp. Thanks for the ideas and comments! LR

 

[Rob Babcock]

It may simply be that your tastes don't mesh with their sound. Even if you can't return them, there's always Audiogon or Ebay. I feel your pain- it sucks to get a listen to something way better than you can afford!

You may want to listen to some PSB speakers. Their Image series is pretty affordable, and I'd characterize them as being somewhat "dark" in sound. They've garnered a lot of good reviews, and were named an "Editors Best Buy" by TAS.

 

[Polkfan]

Based on what I've seen online by other RTi 6 owners, it seems to be a brightish sounding speaker in general, but not overly so. It could be that you are more aware of the difference since your older speakers sounded more muted in comparison.

I recommend the RT7 if you can find them. It is a very good sounding speaker, one of the best bookshelf speakers Polk made according to many people. I have a pair I have owned since '96. They excell at classical, especially brass, but for a bookshelf speaker they can really put out the bass as well which is why I bought them. Paired with a good sub they rock!

Good luck on your quest.

 

[Dessayfan]

An "insane" idea - maybe

Well, I thought I'd heard about every nutzy idea for "sound improvement" in the world - until last night.
A friend called to say that he and another friend had "discovered" how to make Polk speakers sound smoother on the high end - and would I like to come over for a demonstration? As he was serving good Scotch, I decided what the heck.
His friend had recently purchased a pair of RTi6s for surrounds. And he has a relatively new pair of the floor-standing RTi8s. OK so far.
Well, his friend had read somewhere (Science Fiction magazine?) that if you take a very soft cloth and "massage" the soft-dome tweeters it would "break them in" and make for smoother highs. What? Whoa, here, fella!
Anyway, he'd gone ahed and "massaged" his tweeters for about two minutes each - and swore his speakers sounded better. I assume this was AFTER drinks? Anyway, I needed a free drink, so what the heck.
Went over to the house, where they had all four speakers lined up against the wall - one pair to the "A" outputs of the amp - the other pair to the "B" outputs. So far, so good.
First, I took a look at the "massaged" RTi8s - didn't look any different, but the chap explained that Polk tweeters are "crackly" when first touched, but, as he put it "age out" with a little direct attention. Yeah, I thought, there goes the old Polk warranty! A little slip and WHAM-OH!
To the test. We put on Renee Fleming's new "Bel Canto" CD - and listened. I'll have to admit the "massaged" speakers did sound good - but then we flip-flopped back and forth between the two speaker sets, using A & B outputs alternately. Hmmm. . . maybe I was just hearing the difference between the RTi8 and RTi6 - but the very highs in the 8s DID sound smoother.
After about 15 minutes of that (hated to stop the music!) plus a nice glass of 12-year old Scotch (always makes the music smoother!) it was time for the demonstration.
Out came what my friend said was an old, soft bit of terrycloth that had once been a towel of some sort. It WAS very soft.
Off came the RTi6 grills, and my friend proceeded to "massage" his tweeters. I did notice that, the first time he touched them, they did seem to "pop" a bit - and that scared me.
Well, after the massage we popped the grills back on, and did the A-B comparison again. Well, I'll be darned! The difference between the two speakers had disappeared - and the sound DID "seem" to be sweeter on the very highest frequencies.
We listened for awhile - then I came home - not to "massage" my speakers, but to post this on the forum - asking -
ARE THESE GUYS NUTS? OR IS THERE SOMETHING TO IT? I'd love to hear directly from Polk, only I'm sure they'd just give me a stern warning, and talk about warranty violation, etc. SOO. . .
Anybody out there heard of massaging soft-dome tweeters? (NOT the aluminum ones!) And if so - did it do anything other than, well, soften them up? Hope to hear some answers, as my RTi6s could use a little smoothing-out! Thanx in advance!

 

[Az B]

That's a new one. I wonder if using fabric softener would help?

"I liked the Snuggle, but the Bounce fresh scent didn't have as much openess."

 

[Unregistered]

wondering if hair spray would tighten up the bass on a sub or mid range on a speaker

 

[Unregistered]

RTI6 had to sell em

I had a pair of 6s for about 3 months and had to trade them in for a set of PSBs, which only cost me an extra $100. Its not just the highs out of the tweeter that makes these things hard to listen to, but the high mids is what I found to be responsible for the harshness of these speakers.
Seriously, I would look at the PSB image series which arent that much more expensive, very smooth and flat with nice highs and a really tight bottom end.

 

[Dessayfan]

Glad for the harshness support!

Thank you for your posting - I am always glad when somebody backs up what I have been claiming for some time now. Yes, I think the Polks will eventually have to go. As to the PSBs - never heard of them, but I will now go Online to learn about them - with thanks!

 

[Mark of Cenla]

I have RTi4's with the same tweeters. Just turn down the treble. It works for me. Peace.