POLK RTi8 or RTi10 for Yamaha RXV2500

[Marco]

I have listened to a number of speakers for my new Yamaha RXV2500 receiver. I am going for Polk.

Problem is that the RTi8 has to mids with a tweeter and the RTi10 two lows, one mid and a tweeter (it also comes with the power port plus). I am also including a Polk central speaker(the 3 series, not the 5) and the polk 404 subwoofer to the system.

I asume, by looking at both specs that the RTi10 is a much better speaker, but I don´t know if there is to much bass there, and a lack of mids. I am wondering, if the RTi8 with two mids, and my 404 subwoofer would do the job with low frequencies. What do you think? Should I go for the RTi10 and not loose any mids?

Marco from Costa Rica

 

[Johnny Canuck]

I have the 12's and the 6's. I tried the 10's and 8's. I would get the 8's all around. The 10's mid range is not good, sounds like a hole in the soundstage. The tweeter is not as crisp. The 8's sound like my 12's, very nice, without the drivers that are crossed over anyways at 80hz.

go to the Polk forums. You will see an overwhelming number of people saying yamaha and Polk are a bad match. Polk speakers are bright (detailed to some) and the Yamaha sounds bright. The warm sound of the Denon receivers are better suited for the Polks to tame some brightness. I think you will get headaches from the 8's with the Yamaha.

Second altenative, if you must get the Yammie, is try the 10's as they are not as crisp sounding, may offset the bright yammie.

JC

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

The RTi10 is simply a RTi6 bookshelf with two 7" woofers. The RTi6 has better midbass than a RTi4. You don't get the RTi6 (6.5") drivers in the RTi12, only the RTi8.

When you purchase the RTi12, you get two "mini" (5.25") drivers instead of one large 6.5" in the RTi10 (same as in the RTi6). You also get an extra 7" woofer. In my opinion, two of these 7" woofers really don't produce very good bass unless you add a separate amp, or really push the speakers. Three would be extremely hard to reproduce punchy bass, as these units aren't the most efficient speakers made.

There is absolutely no "hole" in the sound with the RTi10's. The crossovers are set differently in the Rti10's compared to the other towers.
RTi12: 120Hz and 1.8kHz (may explain why these are so bright)
RTi10: 125Hz and 2.7kHz (6.5" driver handles more of the vocals)
RTi8: 2.2kHz (no 2nd crossover needed as these are 2 way)

I'm a nut for tweaking sound, and my Denon 3805's eq is set to bring out the best of the Polks. I've never had an issue with these speakers being bright. You just need to take advantage of speaker placement, room acoustics, and your receivers internal eq. If your speakers sound great out of the box without any of the above (which I highly doubt will), you are in luck. If not, don't fret. There's a reason sound recording rooms have the massive eq's they do. Because room acoustics aren't perfect. Recording engineers will do their best to level the sound, but it's up to us to balance it in our rooms.

I've also got the CSi5, FXi3, and RTi4's in a 7.0 setup. My room is large - 15x32x9' ceilings. Your receiver should do fine with any of the three towers mentioned. Just don't buy them for the bass unless you plan on adding a separate amp.

Here's some photos. The RTi4's that were sitting on the towers are now on top of the entertainment center used as presence speakers. The center channel is no longer facing up (tried bouncing sound off the ceiling).

 

[Sheep]

thats a nice system buck.

One way you can tilt the center so it points downward at the listening position is by using a door stop. This way you can adjust to the right angle.



the Sheep

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

thats a nice system buck.
One way you can tilt the center so it points downward at the listening position is by using a door stop. This way you can adjust to the right angle.
the Sheep

Thanks Sheep. Appreciate the kind words.

There's a post in the back of the CSi5 that will angle it down (meant to sit on top of projection sets as a "kickstand"). It sounds pretty good just firing straight ahead. I did bury the speaker wire in the wall on the rear dipoles - that looks terrible. Those are pretty old photos.

 

[Sheep]

I have included a pic, i guess as a reference as bucks center is magical
PS: its says "cool" on it as i painted it when i was really young

The Sheep

 

[Marco]

Oh God!!!

I do not have the Yamaha RXV2500 yet, I have another option: Marantz 8500??? I did not know that Polk an Yamaha do not match!!!! Howcome?

On the other hand Buckeyefan tells me that if I buy the 10´s thre would not be a hole? What about the mids???

This is the original plan:

Yamaha RXV2500
Polk RTi8 speakers
Polk subwoofer 404
Central speaker CSi3
and two RTi4's

How about:

Marantz 8500 with Polk Rti10´s?

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I have included a pic, i guess as a reference as bucks center is magical
PS: its says "cool" on it as i painted it when i was really young

The Sheep

My side hurts. LOL. You are the engineer.

Here's to the doorstop-

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I do not have the Yamaha RXV2500 yet, I have another option: Marantz 8500??? I did not know that Polk an Yamaha do not match!!!! Howcome?

On the other hand Buckeyefan tells me that if I buy the 10´s thre would not be a hole? What about the mids???

This is the original plan:

Yamaha RXV2500
Polk RTi8 speakers
Polk subwoofer 404
Central speaker CSi3
and two RTi4's

How about:

Marantz 8500 with Polk Rti10´s?

Make sure the 8500 has an internal eq - either graphic or parametric. It's a great receiver. I'd also recommend staying clear of the Polk subs. They are pretty lousy for the money. Pay a little extra for a PB10 ISD by SVS. The RTi8's are perfect.

 

[Marco]

Information

by the way, I have a mis size room. Like the one in the picture maybe. 75% of the time we watch concerts and music videos, 25% movies.

 

[Marco]

Buckeleyedfan

Please comment on Johny´s conclusions about the Yamaha 2500 and Polk RTi8, NOT matching. Do you think that I am going to get headaches with this combo????

How about these prices:

Yamaha 2500: $950
Marantz 8500: $1,350
is it worth it

 

[mardelgo]

Actualmente tengo un reciever Yamaha Rx-v1400 con las Rti-12 de Polk, y me parece que suenan muy bien. Creo que los nuevos modelos de Yamaha ya no tienen esa "brillantes" de los modelos anteriores.El problema con los Forums es que mucha gente idealiza o generaliza a veces sin siquiera haber probado los equipos de los que hablan, por lo que no siempre te creas todo lo que aqui se dice.Por ejemplo antes de comprar el RX-v1400 tenia la intención de adquirir un reciever Pionner, ya que en estos forums se habla muy bien en cuanto a el poder que tienen, pero despues de escuchar varios modelos, simplemente me parecio que la calidad musical era muy por debajo a la del Yamaha( por lo menos el modelo que escuche que creo que era el 813 y el 912 de Pionner), he incluso me parecio mas potente el Yamaha. Yo tambien vivo en Costa Rica por lo que se que en la tienda donde vas o piensas comprar los Polk, es la de mejor en cuanto a precio/calidad en parlantes. Personalmente no creo que consigas mejores parlantes a ese nivel de precio. Ahora el 8500 de Marantz es un gran receiver,por lo a pesar de que personalmente prefiero Yamaha (he tenido muy buena experiencia con todos los productos yamaha que he tenido) a menos que el Yamaha sea $300 o - yo compraria el Marantz. Ahora recuerda que tiene mas importancia los parlantes y la acustica del cuarto que el receiver a este nivel de calidad( es decir la diferencia entre el yamaha y el marantz no es tanta,por lo que es mejor invertir mas en los parlantes y en mejorar las condiciones del cuarto de escucha o incluso si tu fuente DVD o CD player no esta al nivel, entonces si es mejor invertir la diferencia en buen DVD-CD player, y comprar el Yamaha.Pero en mi opinion cualquiera de los dos receivers suenan muy bien con los Polk.Cualquiera de los dos es una excelente compra. Saludos

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Please comment on Johny´s conclusions about the Yamaha 2500 and Polk RTi8, NOT matching. Do you think that I am going to get headaches with this combo????

How about these prices:

Yamaha 2500: $950
Marantz 8500: $1,350
is it worth it

He's correct in that a lot of Polk forum members dislike how the Yamaha's match up with the RTi series. But I've also read many happy Yamaha/Polk owners reviews. My opinion, and it's only an opinion, is that you will be fine with the Yamaha/Polk as long as you learn how to operate the 2500's internal eq.

I'd take the Yammy over the Marantz for those prices listed.

 

[CaliHwyPatrol]

I run my Polk RTi 8's with the Marantz SR6400 and they sound just fine. I got the 8's because I am using a sub with it and I have no use for multiple 7" woofers then a lack of midrange. I'm still planning on adding a 2 channel amplifer to them to get 200wpc for each speaker, but they sound decent how they are.

~Chuck

 

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

Sheep that is freaking hilarious!....rofl....hahahaha.....that really is great!

 

[Sheep]

thank you, thank you, now taking orders


The Sheep

 

[shokhead]

The RTi10 is simply a RTi6 bookshelf with two 7" woofers. The RTi6 has better midbass than a RTi4. You don't get the RTi6 (6.5") drivers in the RTi12, only the RTi8.

When you purchase the RTi12, you get two "mini" (5.25") drivers instead of one large 6.5" in the RTi10 (same as in the RTi6). You also get an extra 7" woofer. In my opinion, two of these 7" woofers really don't produce very good bass unless you add a separate amp, or really push the speakers. Three would be extremely hard to reproduce punchy bass, as these units aren't the most efficient speakers made.

There is absolutely no "hole" in the sound with the RTi10's. The crossovers are set differently in the Rti10's compared to the other towers.
RTi12: 120Hz and 1.8kHz (may explain why these are so bright)
RTi10: 125Hz and 2.7kHz (6.5" driver handles more of the vocals)
RTi8: 2.2kHz (no 2nd crossover needed as these are 2 way)

I'm a nut for tweaking sound, and my Denon 3805's eq is set to bring out the best of the Polks. I've never had an issue with these speakers being bright. You just need to take advantage of speaker placement, room acoustics, and your receivers internal eq. If your speakers sound great out of the box without any of the above (which I highly doubt will), you are in luck. If not, don't fret. There's a reason sound recording rooms have the massive eq's they do. Because room acoustics aren't perfect. Recording engineers will do their best to level the sound, but it's up to us to balance it in our rooms.

I've also got the CSi5, FXi3, and RTi4's in a 7.0 setup. My room is large - 15x32x9' ceilings. Your receiver should do fine with any of the three towers mentioned. Just don't buy them for the bass unless you plan on adding a separate amp.

Here's some photos. The RTi4's that were sitting on the towers are now on top of the entertainment center used as presence speakers. The center channel is no longer facing up (tried bouncing sound off the ceiling).

I got a pair of wedge shaped rubber door stops from HD for a couple of bucks and put them under my center to aim at me. Helped alot.

 

[Sheep]

I got a pair of wedge shaped rubber door stops from HD for a couple of bucks and put them under my center to aim at me. Helped alot.

see see, im not the only one. everyones laughing at me


The Sheep

 

[Johnny Canuck]

Buckeye is the man around here for Polks. I have to say though my research showed many people stating yamaha and Polk were a bad match. I have never heard it myself. Just what i read.

I often wonder if the 10's would have been a better fit Buckeye. My brightness may have been tamed. My friends however, say it's detail and clarity. I would not want any more high end than what I have so a bright yammie would be more painful to say the least. I often wondered how an amp can sound warm or bright??

 

[Johnny Canuck]

I actually talked to a guy today from Yamaha Canada. Daniel. very helpful. was asking about DVD players but I did ask him this as well.

he said Yamaha and Polks are a bad match. Yamaha is "natural" sounding. Denon is warmer, not as bright, because there is some alteration with the lower frequencies, not "natural" if that makes sense.

he also told me Yamaha does not make great DVD players. Their low point. Not to say they are bad, they just use Philips parts, or Panasonic or Denon.