Towers to go with my system

[Gmoneywp15]

I have Emotiva A300 , Polk rti A9s, 2 x Hsu VTF3, Marantz 1607 head unit
Looking to upgrade my floor speakers budget like to be around $3k total. Was hoping to find floor speakers to compliment my Hsu’s as they over the bass real well, so don’t feel like I need floor speakers with amazing bass.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not sure how you imagine this "compliment" thing works particularly, but lots of things will work. Many floorstanders in that budget range won't have amazing bass otoh. You looking for more extension, or spl or ?

 

[shadyJ]

I have Emotiva A300 , Polk rti A9s, 2 x Hsu VTF3, Marantz 1607 head unit
Looking to upgrade my floor speakers budget like to be around $3k total. Was hoping to find floor speakers to compliment my Hsu’s as they over the bass real well, so don’t feel like I need floor speakers with amazing bass.

Polk RTi A9s were pretty decent speakers, so I don't think it would be easy to top those under $3k. Some of my favs under $3k were the Polk Reserve R700s. I am not sure how big of an upgrade over the RTi A9s though. Another great speaker around that price range is the Arendal 1723 Tower S. You might also consider the Arendal 1723 Monitor. Also consider the RBH Sound 661-SF/R since you already have the bass covered.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I would definitely go for the RBH 8300-SF.

1" silk dome tweeter, 2 x 6.5" aluminum midrange, 3 x 8" aluminum woofers.

 

[shadyJ]

I would definitely go for the RBH 8300-SF.

1" silk dome tweeter, 2 x 6.5" aluminum midrange, 3 x 8" aluminum woofers.

His budget is $3k total, not $3k each! Although those would be seriously killer speakers.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

His budget is $3k total, not $3k each! Although those would be seriously killer speakers.

I know what the retail price is.

But if my brother says his budget is ABOUT $3K, I would get the 8300-SF for my brother.

And yes, I agree, the 8300-SF are seriously killer towers.

 

[j_garcia]

I would think monitors might be a better option since you have dual subs already. As Shady mentioned, you're going to need to spend more to get a noticeable improvement.

Philharmonic BMRs look like they won't be available again until August. For a Monitor, that's what I'd be looking at for that kind of money.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I would think monitors might be a better option since you have dual subs already. As Shady mentioned, you're going to need to spend more to get a noticeable improvement.

Philharmonic BMRs look like they won't be available again until August. For a Monitor, that's what I'd be looking at for that kind of money.

I agree, BMR Monitor (unfortunately also out of stock till August) would be a very serious upgrade over the RTI's, but ADTG could get you RBH 8300-SF in your budget, then I'd run and get and not look back. What happens on the back of a truck, stays on the back of the truck ;-)

 

[Bobby Bass]

Polk RTi A9s were pretty decent speakers, so I don't think it would be easy to top those under $3k. Some of my favs under $3k were the Polk Reserve R700s. I am not sure how big of an upgrade over the RTi A9s though. Another great speaker around that price range is the Arendal 1723 Tower S. You might also consider the Arendal 1723 Monitor. Also consider the RBH Sound 661-SF/R since you already have the bass covered.

Good recommendations. I’ve had both the Polk R700 and the Arendal 1723S towers. I preferred the sound of the Arendals. Both have strong bass but the soft dome tweeter in the Arendal was better than the ring tweeter in the Polk in my opinion. Arendal let’s you buy, try at home for 60 days and return free of charge in the US if you’re not satisfied.

 

[Tankini]

I have Emotiva A300 , Polk rti A9s, 2 x Hsu VTF3, Marantz 1607 head unit
Looking to upgrade my floor speakers budget like to be around $3k total. Was hoping to find floor speakers to compliment my Hsu’s as they over the bass real well, so don’t feel like I need floor speakers with amazing bass.

Been MIA huh? Your last post was close to 4 years ago 2021. Those Polk RTi-A9 are pretty good, can get loud. Those are Definitely not for small rooms. You have 2 subs, plus gear seems to be good. What is it You feel that is lacking? Those are some pretty big tower speakers. Very nice well built speaker. Those RTi-A9's are still highly sought after in the used market.

 

[Gmoneywp15]

Been MIA huh? Your last post was close to 4 years ago 2021. Those Polk RTi-A9 are pretty good, can get loud. Those are Definitely not for small rooms. You have 2 subs, plus gear seems to be good. What is it You feel that is lacking? Those are some pretty big tower speakers. Very nice well built speaker. Those RTi-A9's are still highly sought after in the used market.
View attachment 73672

The mid range speakers on both towers are blown. At first I thought it was my tweeters and could not find any for sale, but after disconnecting tweeters narrowed down my mid range have static like sound coming through them. I found 4 OEM mids on eBay and purchased them. Hopefully works. Still not sure how they got blown. The RMS rating on those polks is like 450 @ 2 ohms or something crazy like that. And yes, I have been MIA- last time I posted you all pointed me towards the emotiva A300 and the Hsu VTF3’s. The room is 18 x 25. Hopefully replacing mids buys me many more years with the A9s. If not, will up my price range to $6k for new towers and post here again!

 

[Tankini]

The mid range speakers on both towers are blown. At first I thought it was my tweeters and could not find any for sale, but after disconnecting tweeters narrowed down my mid range have static like sound coming through them. I found 4 OEM mids on eBay and purchased them. Hopefully works. Still not sure how they got blown. The RMS rating on those polks is like 450 @ 2 ohms or something crazy like that. And yes, I have been MIA- last time I posted you all pointed me towards the emotiva A300 and the Hsu VTF3’s. The room is 18 x 25. Hopefully replacing mids buys me many more years with the A9s. If not, will up my price range to $6k for new towers and post here again!

I was going to recommend an ATi amp to drive those tower's. Something alone the line of say 200 X 2 @ 8 Ohms load. Do you have the matching center channel?

They are somewhat power hungry and you do have a lot of drivers to drive. What? 6 total 7" drivers plus 4-5" 1/4 drivers total. I would say under powering more than likely took out your mid driver's.. * had the little brothers RTi- A5 loved them shouldn't have sold them off.

Beautiful speakers, those are definitely worth replacing the mid-range drivers. You would have to come out of pocket 3k+, plus, probably more to get an improvement over those. An ATi-Amp set your back about 1500-1800 bills. Just a suggestion and an opinion.

Edited: just read you could up your budget, well than an juicy ATi two channel Signature amp would fit in nicely.

You like to listen very loud huh? Reference level?

 

[Gmoneywp15]

I was going to recommend an ATi amp to drive those tower's. Something alone the line of say 200 X 2 @ 8 Ohms load. Do you have the matching center channel?

They are somewhat power hungry and you do have a lot of drivers to drive. What? 6 total 7" drivers plus 4-5" 1/4 drivers total. I would say under powering more than likely took out your mid driver's.. * had the little brothers RTi- A5 loved them shouldn't have sold them off.

Beautiful speakers, those are definitely worth replacing the mid-range drivers. You would have to come out of pocket 3k+, plus, probably more to get an improvement over those. An ATi-Amp set your back about 1500-1800 bills. Just a suggestion and an opinion.

Edited: just read you could up your budget, well than an juicy ATi two channel Signature amp would fit in nicely.

You like to listen very loud huh? Reference level?

Yes we listen loud sometimes. Pretty much as loud as the marantz will go. So the specs on the rti A9 says 50-500 watts at 8 ohms. My emotiva is rated at 300 watts per channel at 4 ohms, so 150 at 8 ohms. I know my understanding of all this stuff is elementary, but I figured the emotiva was decent. You think I need a better/bigger amp? And yes I have a matching center channel that runs direct off the marantz.

 

[Gmoneywp15]

Yes we listen loud sometimes. Pretty much as loud as the marantz will go. So the specs on the rti A9 says 50-500 watts at 8 ohms. My emotiva is rated at 300 watts per channel at 4 ohms, so 150 at 8 ohms. I know my understanding of all this stuff is elementary, but I figured the emotiva was decent. You think I need a better/bigger amp? And yes I have a matching center channel that runs direct off the marantz.

AT6002 is $4000? Dang. What about emotiva XPA-2 Gen 3? Guessing it’s a step or two down from the ATI. Both are 300W per channel at 8 ohms

 

[Tankini]

Yes we listen loud sometimes. Pretty much as loud as the marantz will go. So the specs on the rti A9 says 50-500 watts at 8 ohms. My emotiva is rated at 300 watts per channel at 4 ohms, so 150 at 8 ohms. I know my understanding of all this stuff is elementary, but I figured the emotiva was decent. You think I need a better/bigger amp? And yes I have a matching center channel that runs direct off the marantz.

Kind of hard to say really, I'm no audio EE either. Blowing out 5" 1/4 driver's though never have I ever heard or have I done such a thing. Tweeter's yeah, mostly on cheap speakers.


So you do have the matching center, since you like to Crank up the volume, your room is kind of big maybe a 3 channel ATi amp? EMO amp huh? Good value amp but it really isn't an ATi amp though is it. Could have been source material, like some ole rock music that has a lot of recorded distortion in it.

EMO amps have a high gain if I remember right. At least the first generation, second generation XPA amps did, something around 32? Could be wrong though slept since then.

Anyways, I do agree, speakers is where your funds would be better spent. Those RBH tower's would most Definitely be an upgrade over what you have now. But they are 3k each, unless you find a dealer who is willing to give you a good brother-in-law deal.

 

[lovinthehd]

AT6002 is $4000? Dang. What about emotiva XPA-2 Gen 3? Guessing it’s a step or two down from the ATI. Both are 300W per channel at 8 ohms

The difference may be in build quality and long term support....not likely a lot of difference otherwise

 

[shadyJ]

Yes we listen loud sometimes. Pretty much as loud as the marantz will go. So the specs on the rti A9 says 50-500 watts at 8 ohms. My emotiva is rated at 300 watts per channel at 4 ohms, so 150 at 8 ohms. I know my understanding of all this stuff is elementary, but I figured the emotiva was decent. You think I need a better/bigger amp? And yes I have a matching center channel that runs direct off the marantz.

If you listen so loud that the mids are blowing on Polk speakers, you are going to need to get a loudspeaker with a very wide dynamic range. Polks will not cut it, nor will Philharmonic. Arendal speakers might. I would be looking at the 1723 Towers or Monitors. Klipsch R7s might be in order as well. Look for deals on JBL HDI-3800s too.

 

[TLS Guy]

The mid range speakers on both towers are blown. At first I thought it was my tweeters and could not find any for sale, but after disconnecting tweeters narrowed down my mid range have static like sound coming through them. I found 4 OEM mids on eBay and purchased them. Hopefully works. Still not sure how they got blown. The RMS rating on those polks is like 450 @ 2 ohms or something crazy like that. And yes, I have been MIA- last time I posted you all pointed me towards the emotiva A300 and the Hsu VTF3’s. The room is 18 x 25. Hopefully replacing mids buys me many more years with the A9s. If not, will up my price range to $6k for new towers and post here again!

Case number 2 this week on blown midranges on those speakers. The cause is that the design is incompetent, as the so call mids are crossed at 120 Hz which is bass. So with a design like that the mids are going to blow unless you play them quietly. Even then a passive crossover that low is a very bad design choice.

 

[Mr._Clark]

If you listen so loud that the mids are blowing on Polk speakers, you are going to need to get a loudspeaker with a very wide dynamic range. Polks will not cut it, nor will Philharmonic. Arendal speakers might. I would be looking at the 1723 Towers or Monitors. Klipsch R7s might be in order as well. Look for deals on JBL HDI-3800s too.

AT6002 is $4000? Dang. What about emotiva XPA-2 Gen 3? Guessing it’s a step or two down from the ATI. Both are 300W per channel at 8 ohms

I recently listened to a pair of JBL HDI-3600s in a large room that were powered by a Denon X3800H. I was somewhat surprised at how good they sounded (to me anyway) and how loud they are (I didn't measure the SPL, this is just my subjective impression). In my opinion, they do need subs, though (if you care about base)(Ha ha, we all care about base of course!). The grey HDI-3600s are $999 each right now at Crutchfield.

My impressions are based on a few minutes listening to parts of a couple songs. There is a review of the 3600s at ASR. Amir noted some issues (see vertical reflections chart). I expected to pick up on this when I listened to them, but I honestly didn't notice it (hence my surprise when I heard them).

I have not heard the HDI-3800s, so I don't have a direct point of reference.

Disclaimer: These impressions are highly subjective and I certainly don't have golden ears or anything, so I'm not comfortable recommending the HDI-3600s. Nevertheless, you might want to give them a listen if you get a chance.

 

[lovinthehd]

Case number 2 this week on blown midranges on those speakers. The cause is that the design is incompetent, as the so call mids are crossed at 120 Hz which is bass. So with a design like that the mids are going to blow unless you play them quietly. Even then a passive crossover that low is a very bad design choice.

Think it's the same poster, he's got a coupla threads going.