Why Rti100 are considered so bad?

SteveH

I just bought a pair of Rti100 at CC for 360/pr. It seems they have a low reputation on this board. Is it just because of the "subwoofer"? Personally I don't care for much of the subwoofer 0.1 material in movies-it gives me a headache and is mostly added for effect and not realism. How many people have had the RT70/100/150 in their place and auditioned one against the other. I admit I'm not all that hot about having active parts in the speaker. Unfortunately the RT70s are not on clearance(yet) at CC, they are in the next 30 days I'll reconsider.

VR3

to...uh....enclosed for me. Great speak though, just does squat for me

Terrax

hm.............. did you say you had to squat, Sid?:p

VR3

Yup! One huge dump is on da way!

faster100

never had the 100's... But have the 70's and 150's.. all different in some way or another, but i like both. the reason for a sub is for the low frequency(sp) effects in movies.. explosions, fight scenes, punches, and the like.. its not all hype. When you get a true subwoofer or if you have one it shouldnt bother you, if setup right, it will add just the right amount of bass and impact.. but back on the topic, The 100's are a cross between the other 2 speakers, 70's and 150's .. they have a place, alot of us have nice subs and enjoy the effect they bring so their is no need for a powered sub in our mains.. that is why alot of people don't like them.

Terrax

Steve,

I auditioned the RTi100's in hom for about a week, I think they are nice for the money spent. I just had to have something more um..... well, um...... bruteish. Something about that driver array of the 150's said, Pick ME! Pick ME!. So uh.... I did.

Airplay355

i have owned all three speakers in the rti tower series and i must say the rti100s are the worst...the rti70s have the great midrange, the rti150s have the gret bass...the rti100s have? never quite figured it out. they dont have a low reputation they just dont suit us well. they are for someone who likes bass but cant have a powered subwoofer, or the amps to drive the damn rti150s.

no1 hates the,, i never hated mine, they just dont have the bass of the rti150s or the midrange of the rti70s, making them, in my eyes, the worst out of the 3 speakers

VR3

Originally posted by Airplay355
i have owned all three speakers in the rti tower series and i must say the rti100s are the worst...the rti70s have the great midrange, the rti150s have the gret bass...the rti100s have? never quite figured it out. they dont have a low reputation they just dont suit us well. they are for someone who likes bass but cant have a powered subwoofer, or the amps to drive the damn rti150s.

no1 hates the,, i never hated mine, they just dont have the bass of the rti150s or the midrange of the rti70s, making them, in my eyes, the worst out of the 3 speakers

War War 3 is about to break out. *straps on army helmet and gets behind fort* Dangit Airplay...

Airplay355

guys who cares we all have our different opinions, dont get ur panties in a bunch over anything i say

Terrax

Words like "worst" kinda rain on a persons parade, carefull verbage, can save hurt feelings, and save face. Just a thought.

VR3

Note the...
uh...

WORLD WAR 3!!

faster100

yup, they may suit someone, just no one around here really

organ

Steve,
If you like the way they sound, don't worry about a thing. I like the way they souund. I was going to get a pair of RT1000p once(earlier version of the 100's). They sounded excellent for HT and with the subwoofers volume calibrated properly, they sound very good with music. I couldn't get them because it was hard for me to get the cash at the time.

Maurice

walk

With powered towers you are paying for the seperate amps and interconnect, wiring, etc in each speaker. (Then you have to hook both up to your sub/LFE output, and finally plug both into AC power. It's a pain.)

With non-powered speakers you are paying for more drivers and/or higher quality drivers instead of all that junk. Plus most of us already have a seperate subwoofer so there's no need for another 2...

organ

How do you have them connected to the receiver? They'll sound better without the LFE interconnect and with the jumpers relaced by speaker wire. Hook them up to the upper terminal because this is the most important area. The lower post gives the sub its signal. Make sure to set the receiver to large and subwoofer "no".

Maurice

Tour2ma

SteveH,

There are a large number of folks here who do not run to Polk for a stand-alone sub. So I think that starts the move away from the 100 and powered towers in general.

Personally I do not like the idea of tieing together mains and sub's. Where you'd place them to get the best bass, most likely in a corner, is not where you'd place them to get the best imaging. So the set up ends up being a compromise.

But as said above, the only analysis that matters is yours and how well pleased you are by the 100's. If you are pleased, enjoy them. If you are not, you can always get a store credit... yes?

VR3

Tour,
From what I have heard...the 2000p and 3000p etc had EXCELLANT sub sections! Killer! SRT has cut throat bass! Totally awesome!

I'm not a fan of powered towers, or the i100. It's just not for me.

SteveH

I've seen the RTi70s for the same price(at Fry's unfortunately-hopefully CC will have them on clearance as well-their customer service is much better), so I may buy those as well and compare them. The RT100s are just being used for music, not HT, and aren't likely to be. Also, they are connected to a somewhat underpowered amp(40 W/ch), so I was hoping the powered subs would augment that. For HT I still use my (quite old now) SDA-2 without the crossover cable. I dont' really want a sub, like I said the LFE effects I find obnoxious. Actually the SDAs are amazing, they really go low considering they only use 4" drivers(and the 10" passive radiator). Sometimes I wonder if speakers are actually getting better, or if manufacturers just change them to justify higher prices. For example, I think the best bookshelf speakers I ever heard were a college roommates EPI100(early version).

rwrvpem

I have a set of RT2000i's and really like them. I compared them to the RT800i and RT1000i. The 800's had a slight edge in midrange, but for me, the 2000i really had the range over the entire spectrum. The 1000 didn't really seem to have an advantage like the midrange of the 800 or the full range of the 2000.

The big thing with powered towers is to calibrate the subs. It took a long time with setup discs, test tones, and positioning, but once you get there, they really are great. I also have a decent sub that I use for LFE impact. The big thing is just getting everything to work together and having the adjustable sub volume on the towers is one more thing that you need to tweek.

The best thing is to listen and compare. If you like to 100's, get them. They aren't bad speakers. They may actually save you some money and space if you decide one them and don't feel you need a seperate sub.

Good luck and happy listening.

Rick

dcarlson

I picked up some RT1000i's at a huge discount a while back and I'll say this.

They get a bad rap I think because they're usually run with a receiver. Since I've picked up my Musical Fidelity Integrated I've been getting some great bass out of the RT1000i's that I wasn't getting out of my Denon receiver. I've stopped using my sub for 2 channel. The bass is tight and deep enough music, not enough for HT thought. I find I need to feed them some nice juice for the MF to take charge of them, only then I can really enjoy them.

My current setup.
Mains - RT1000i
Center - CS400i
Surrounds - R10
Sub - Boston Acoustics PV600
Receiver - Denon 2802

So, my eventual HT plan is this.
-Get some RT800i's for mains
-Move the RT1000i's as surrounds

I imagine they would make some killer surrounds set on large.

scottvamp

My first pair of Polks were rt1000p's and to this day they sound awesome - have them with my bedroom HT setup and I don't even need a sub. And I like bass.

dcarlson

I love em too. I wouldn't give them up for the RT800i's alone. RT800i's and a sub, maybe.

I have a sub in my HT setup so I might as well use it. I can't imagine having the RT800i's without a sub. The RT1000i's are great if you don't have the space for a separate sub. In my case, they'd run great as large rears and the footprint is small enough to use them in that sort of setup.

2 channel wise, give me RT1000i or higher.

SteveH

I just bought another pair, the RTi70(in cherry, which I think does look better). I will run a DBT on my family and see what the results are. Both speakers were $360/pair(Frys', CC). Really strange thing was that Fry's was selling the black ones for 600/pair and the cherry for 360/pair-weird. One pair will go back.

phoenixpolkaudio

Polk RTI100.

They’re not bad at all. I just acquired a pair in cherry and they’re nothing short of wonderful. The highs sharp, but not overdone. The lows are good too. Hook them up to a nice powerful amp and they’ll sing. If you want more bass than what they put out, I’d recommend going with an added sub. These were $1100 new back in the early 2000’s.

mantis

The RT1000p, RT1000i and then the RTi100's where all nice speakers but needed to be setup correctly in order for them to shine. The sub section was not good enough on it's own to carry a full theater system. It worked but didn't hit hard or low enough. They added to the full range experience of that speaker and I preferred them all over the Rt800's and newer model of it's kind.

VR3

17 year old thread, holy smokes

mantis

VR3 wrote: »

17 year old thread, holy smokes

It's cool sometimes you gotta bring it back

techwhisperer

Still have mine after all these years. They were made very well. The amps in the speakers have held up well unlike subwoofers I had from the same time period.