Rti8 muddy sounding

elcobbler

originally I had posted this problem in a thread I had about a center channel, but thought It would be better to start a new one being that this problem has nothing to do with a center channel at all anymore http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101328


At first I thought it was just my receiver not being able to power the rti8's hence them not sounding so great.
I messed around with them a little more to try and figure out if that was the case. They just sounded really muddy, No highs at all.
And from all the reviews I've read I don't think I've heard one count of them sounding to muddy. So My first thought was the tweeter might be blown? Then after searching online for a while I think the crossover might be fried?
I am not sure how I could tell? (pretty much a total noob )
I tried taking out the Jumpers and plugged into the top set of inputs (if not mistaken are the highs) and got no sound whatsoever

I purchased them off craigslist, the guy selling them said they were in absolute perfect condition minus a little crack in the grill, nothing blown or anything.

I know my best bet would to contact polk to try and diagnose the problem, but being that they're closed til Tues, I wanted to try and figure this out as quick as possible as if in fact they are fried or not an easy fix I can try to get a refund from the seller.
Thank you in advance!

elcobbler

I was using them with an older Sony STR K740P receiver.
After plugging the speakers in I didn't turn it up very loud at all, not wanting to clip them to death from the underpowered receiver.

polkfarmboy

Hmmm if you jacked into the top set and got nothing then they are fried

I have had my rti8 hooked up to a few receivers and they sounded kinda crappy at low volume but never had them sound really bad

elcobbler

That's what I was afraid of...
At first I thought I was just expecting to much from them, then hooked up a set of R300's and they sounded x1000 times better. That's when I started to think there was something wrong.

polkfarmboy

Well I hope you never paid cash for them without hearing them first

elcobbler

stupidly I did... :mad:
lesson learned the hard way.

polkfarmboy

If I was you I would contact the seller be very polite and explain the situation and if he is being unreasonable then keep your cool and threaten to take him to small claims court

Dont do anything stupid and take a witness with you if you go to the guys door

When I was a bit younger a store owner sold me a really expensive battery that was defective . The guy was a jerk a basically told me he would not refund me ???

This unjustly action by the store owner made me so made that I threw a set of his shelfs on the floor and kicked a rack over his face ...... nothing happend to me except I could no longer file a claim

elcobbler

Dang, That's pretty bad to not take back a defective battery at a store, I would be pretty pissed too!
But yeah, I just sent him a polite email explaining the situation, and that I could bring them by to try on his system so he could see for himself.

mystik610

How much did you get em for?

You can always call Polk and buy replacement tweeters.....the cost should be reasonable.

elcobbler

$200 for the pair
I contacted the seller here's his response

"They have always worked flawlessly for me,never used crossovers though.I don't think the tweeter is meant to Be very pronounced on those speakers,hence they have the crossover output.I used the lower connections and never noticed any prob whatsoever."

From my understanding the crossover wasn't something you necessarily controlled from the speaker?
If you remove the jumpers, The top set of binding posts is for the high's and the bottom posts are for the lows?

But he's being pretty nice about it, he offered to give me the center channel he was originally selling with the towers to try out and see if that will achieve the sound I was hoping for. It's a klipsch KV-2,

curved

Don't get that center speaker.... and he doesn't know what the heck he's talking about. Are you sure the receiver works properly? Test out some other speakers with it and see if it works. If it does, take the jumbers off and connect to the top. Keep the balance/bass/treble flat. Let us know how the tweeters sound and report back to us.

comfortablycurt

Sounds like the seller is confused, or simply trying to get out of it. It's possible that he never noticed though, I suppose.


Sounds like the tweeters are probably blown, but there's a chance that it's a problem in the crossover too.

Remove the tweeters from the cabinets, and connect the speaker cables from your receiver/amp directly to the tweeters. Play something through them at a low volume. If you're getting sound through them, then it's probably a crossover issue. If you don't get any sound, then you've got blown tweeters. I'd guess that the tweeters are the problem, and not the crossovers. It's worthwhile to check though, just to confirm.

polkfarmboy

Thats some good info curt

Kchill

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Thats some good info curt

call polk and find out how much the tweeters are....they may not replace them but will send them to you.

elcobbler

Got this all resolved, I ended up taking the speakers back to his place to try on his set up so he could hear that the problem was with the speakers and not with my receiver.
We hooked them up and they sounded the same and after hearing them he gladly gave me a refund.
So all in all it was a good experienced, and a lesson learned!
haha
and Thank you Everyone for all your help!

AresPolk

Good seller! Honestly, he could have just told you sold as is. Nice to see there are still some decent people left.

elcobbler

Yeah, it is very refreshing to know there are still some honest people out there.

elcobbler

But I ended up picking up a set of Monitor 60's from newegg, so far I am extremely pleased with them. And I just got a Harman Kardon AVR 254 in the mail today, refurbished from their ebay store.
Now I just need a sub and I can call it a day... or at least til upgraditus kicks in.