Rti a7 is it worth the upgrade

polk500

Good day,

So I have Tsi series 500's for mains & CS20.
Now I'm thinking on buying the Rti a7 and Csi a6 as I can get then for a decent price. So the question is it worth it. I have the Emo Xpa 5 Amp and from what I read it should power the 7?s.
So is spending a $1000.00 to upgrade worth it? I appreciate any feedback.

Upstatemax

IMO, yes.

I had Monitor 70's before my A7's and I felt the M70's were better speakers than the TSi 500's. When I got my A7's I felt it was a huge improvement.

Cleaner low end punch, more detailed top end and I find the A7's to image very well. Awesome for HT and pretty good for music. Source and cables can help the music performance of the A7's a lot.

pyrocyborg

RTi line is better than TSi series for Home Theater duties. As for your amp, it will power it adequately. A lot of people are powering those monsters with an mid-level receiver with good results, but an external amp is way better to give them plenty of power and your emo amp will make them happy.

As for the upgrade price, it depends on how much money you have. IMO, it is a worthy upgrade if you can sell your TSi series for a good price. Also, keep in consideration that it you still use TSi series speakers as your rears or side, it might not sound that homogeneous as they do not "timbre match". However, as the sides doesn't carry that much of the overall stream, it might not even be important, as long as the front match.

If I were you, however, I would try to get some LSi15 at closeout prices. http://www.sounddistributors.com/buynow.asp?action=detail&prid=838&crid=297&cat_name=Polk+Audio+LSi+Speakers and a center. Use the coupon code VG15, and you got yourself a pair of brand new great towers for less than 950$, or refursbished from Polk Direct @ 850$ ... but yeah, the center speaker is however kinda hard to get, so it's a drawback. I mean, your emotiva XPA-5 is a powerful amp, able to power 4 ohm speakers, and you could get speakers that are better for both music and HT duties... at least, to most people taste.

Anyways, it's up to you and everyone has a budget, and it's better to respect it for numerous reasons.

polk500

Thanks for the replys.
And I'm going to go for the Rti series.
Have a great day

over50

I had M70II, Very good speaker. I replaced my Monitor series with the Rt series. I should have bought the Rt in the first place. I'm very happy with the Rt. & plan on keeping them for a long time. The polk product page has Monitor, TSi and then RT series. They are all decent speakers. I think the RT are better sound and construction. Another reason i bought the Rtia5 is reading
a lot of threads that A5 with sub is better then A7 without a sub. I guess the same could be said about the Monitor or TSI. The bottom line is your ear, which one do you think sounds and looks best. Enjoy its an expensive hobby.

polk500

Thanks again for the opinions.
So I picked up the Csi a6 today and hooked it up ran the calibration and the HK 3600 set the crossover to 150 (strange) so I switched it back to 80.
So anyway I have to wait for a couple of weeks till the A7’S comes in. Even with the mismatched front sound stage playing Jeff Becks live at Ronnie’s Scotts on Blueray I can hear the improvement.

chumlie

Cool, you will really enjoy the a7's. I did. Went from tsi 400's to the 7's. Much better.

cr136124

polk500 wrote: »

Thanks again for the opinions.
So I picked up the Csi a6 today and hooked it up ran the calibration and the HK 3600 set the crossover to 150 (strange) so I switched it back to 80.
So anyway I have to wait for a couple of weeks till the A7?S comes in. Even with the mismatched front sound stage playing Jeff Becks live at Ronnie?s Scotts on Blueray I can hear the improvement.

@ polk500

May I ask you where did you purchase your RTI A7's? I'm looking to buy a pair too and of course, I'm trying to find the best deal available.

Thanks in advance!

polk500

Sure $499.00 each at Future Shop,I've been looking for a while and now they are the same price across Canada it seems from my internet search.
Cheers

cr136124

Ok. Thanks for sharing!

Looking forward to hear from you...........as soon you have all your speakers up and running!

KYFHO

I am running 305 watts of external amplifier power to each of my A7's and trust me, there is no lack of bass. If you feed these speakers proper "high current" power, you will only need a sub for movies. I played around with running my just my AVR (which is no slouch) to the A7's and noticed a night and day difference compared to my Parasound and Carver amps. Lastly, like someone mentioned already, some folks like the A5 with a sub. I know for a fact the A7 leaves the A5 in it's dust in 2 channel stereo. You will be happy you went with the 7's.

Good luck with your new speakers!

polk500

Great news got my 7’s today (was expecting to wait for two weeks like they said) and a lower price to boot. They were $499.00 each plus 5% taxes and they reimbursed me $250.00 plus the taxs because of a promotion so that made my day twice so.:-)

cr136124

Wow! What a great start for this weekend!

As soon you have a chance please post your initial impressions and of course some pics (if possible). Congrats you made a great deal with this set.

polk500

Yes it is, just listening too wish you were here. Way more detail. Keeping the volume moderate for a while till these break in. And will let you know how they sound. Who am I kidding they sound freaking awesome right out of the box. Will probably take some pics over the weekend.

Cheers

Theheadsn

polk500 wrote: »

Yes it is, just listening too wish you were here. Way more detail. Keeping the volume moderate for a while till these break in. And will let you know how they sound. Who am I kidding they sound freaking awesome right out of the box. Will probably take some pics over the weekend.

Cheers

Ok your almost in the same boat as me. I have the same setup you did (500's and cs20) but no external amp just the ice amps inside my sc-37 (still pretty decent amp)

I REALLY would love to upgrade to the rtia's and seeing as I got a pretty decent tax refund back this year, Im just wondering if I should pull the trigger and get them?

I use my speakers about 70% ht, 20% gaming, 10% music.
I was thinking about getting and external amp for the 500s and the cs20, but would I see a better upgrade from the rtia's? Personal experience is awesome if you guys have any opinions, or any ideas.

cr136124

Glad to hear they sound great out of the box! I bet your XPA-5 is helping to achieve the terrific good sound. Are you planning to bi-amp them using the XPA-5? Pics will be great, any chance to have a video of your setup running? What you currently have is my wish setup. Here is what I have so far of that wish project:

TV - Samsung PN51D7000
Receiver - Yamaha RX-A1010
Center - Polk CSI A6
Surround - Polk RC80i
Surrround Back - Polk RC85i

Missing
Polk RTi A7
Emotiva XPA-5
Sub - TBD

So, I am really looking forward to receive all input that you can share with me. But first, enjoy your weekend and don't forget to report back..........:biggrin:

cr136124

@Theheadsn

What are the RTi A's that you are looking at? I'm tracking the RTi A7's, that will be my next purchase and right after that I will be working on the Emotiva XPA-5. What amp do you have in mind?

I'm also new to the external amp stuff, but based on several sites visited it seems like it is something that will improve significantly the quality of the sound coming out to the speakers (not loud noise, but quality of sound at a considerable high level). As you, I am looking forward to hear from polk500's experience. But, so far...........it seems things are looking really good for him.

polk500

Theheadsn wrote: »

Ok your almost in the same boat as me. I have the same setup you did (500's and cs20) but no external amp just the ice amps inside my sc-37 (still pretty decent amp)

I REALLY would love to upgrade to the rtia's and seeing as I got a pretty decent tax refund back this year, Im just wondering if I should pull the trigger and get them?

Well first I would like to say that I love my Tsi series And have a second rig upstairs with the 300 as mains and cs10 running off a HK 3650.

As for the amp it sounds great if I had more money to spare I would probably upgrade to a B&K As i was at a audio store a while ago And listened to some great sounding B&K amps and Romainio I think I got the brand correct speakers that was mind blowing ten grand apiece wicked.

I been reading about your sc 37 lots of great things being said about it probably make the 7s rock.

So any way I glad I did make the purchase and in a couple of weeks when these baby break in I'm sure they sound even better. should you pull the tigger well that's up to yourself of course I glad I did.

Cheers

polk500

The head sorry about the reply in your quote lol. I'm using my iPad and I don't know all the quirks about yet.
cheers

Theheadsn

haha its ok ive done it before too

Im actually looking at the 7's but I wouldnt mind getting the 9's, kinda all depends on price. Im figuring I would get a better sound/quality boost from the new speakers rather then the external amp. Still would love to amp them up a lot though once I did have them

polk500

Well the amp makes a big inprovement. Those 9's are big I,ve only seen one set and only listened to then for a couple of minutes. With your 37 they would rock I'm sure.

The 9s are going to be my next purchase, probably in the fall unless they pop up on a killer sale!! And move the 7s back to \surround duty.
Best of luck finding then.
Cheers

polk500

So going on two days with the Rti,s. I had lefted the Tsi' along side the Rti's and switched then back and forth to compare the difference in SQ. I listened to some Floyd, Diana Krall, Kenny G And watched Star Trek.

Well as I have read so many times and of course no surprise the 7's have way more details. I had turned off the sub also not bad bass.

Still smiling.

Cheers

gtaudio

Love my A7s and A6 center with two pair of A1s for rear and left right surround. I am very happy with this set up. Currently driving them with an Onkyo RC 260, they sound great but I can't wait to get a bigger receiver just having trouble deciding what I want to get.

Geoff4rfc

Nice set up!! For a new receiver, try picking something out with pre-outs so you have the option of adding a power amp if you ever feel you want to :biggrin:

Power is welcome in this house!!!