What is RTA?

sid700
sid700 Posts: 3
edited November 2003 in Speakers
Hello. I recently purchased a used RTA 11TL (tower speakers) and would like to know more about it. I could not find it in the PolkAudio website.

Also, when I press on the woofers, the other speakers seems to move with it. Is this normal? Is this what makes it RTA? I would appreciate any information. Thanks.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,668
    edited October 2003
    Welcome to the forum.

    RTA stands for Real Time Array and the TL stands for Tri-Laminate, which refers to the three layers of material used in the tweeter. Yes, it's normal for the other mid-drivers to move. You've got a nice speaker, enjoy.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • George Grand
    George Grand Posts: 12,258
    edited October 2003
    The woofers have no electrical signal being sent to them. They are activated by the mids movement back and forth, as they "pressurize" the speaker cabinet. Every other speaker company calls it a passive radiator. Polk called the technology "fluid-coupling" which would lead someone to believe there was some kind of exotic water line in the speaker. The "fluid" in the coupling, is nothing more than the air in the speaker cabinet. As we all know, the air around us DOES contain a certain amount of water, or humidity. Great little marketing thingy huh? I'd say it was the closest Polk ever came to a Blose type marketing tactic. Crafty. You have an okay sounding pair of speakers there Sid (I've had 4 pair of those already), that appear to be functioning just fine.

    George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)
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  • andrewe77
    andrewe77 Posts: 17
    edited October 2003
    Great little marketing thingy huh?

    Air is a fluid; as is water.

    The difference in them being that air is a gas and water is a liquid.

    It is perfectly correct to call it a fluid-coupling.
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited October 2003
    Originally posted by andrewe77
    The difference in them being that air is a gas and water is a liquid.

    Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, you don't say?

    Milliseconds of genius here.
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • fgr41
    fgr41 Posts: 432
    edited October 2003
    Originally posted by RuSsMaN
    Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, you don't say?

    Milliseconds of genius here.

    I am not going any where near your BUTT , however I will call ya biscuit.
    BISCUIT!
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  • HBombToo
    HBombToo Posts: 5,256
    edited October 2003
    This friggen forum never stops making me howl:D

    !/4 Twin
    ***WAREMTAE***
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  • George Grand
    George Grand Posts: 12,258
    edited October 2003
    Thank you Andrew. I'll have to jot that down and put it in my notes.......... as a great marketing thingy.

    George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)
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  • har_navalta
    har_navalta Posts: 957
    edited October 2003
    I hope this is the info you would like to know.


    The RTA 11TL

    Specifications:
    speaker uses a single 1" dome tweeter,
    two 6.5" drivers and
    two 8" bass radiators.
    The frequency response is from
    22 Hz to 26 kHz with the
    -3dB limits of 36 Hz to 25 kHz
    Power handling is 250 watts/channel
    the Impedance is compatible with 8 ohm outputs and the efficiency is 90 dB.

    Enjoy your RTA's;)

    Har
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  • sid700
    sid700 Posts: 3
    edited October 2003
    Thanks everyone. I got the info I needed. I feel better now that I don't really hear a good thumping coming out of the "passive radiators." I thought these woofers that were out of whack.

    Oh...I was just thinking, has anyone tried replacing one of the passive radiotors with a wired woofer? I've never looked into making my own speakers, but from what I can gather, I figured I can buy a low frequency crossover, a woofer and maybe a binding post. I secure the crossover in the speaker and attach the wires accordingly to the post and the woofer. The speaker then will be bi-wired (or is it bi-amp?) and I'll get more bass. Will this idea work or will the result be so sonically gross that it's not worth pursueing?
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited October 2003
    Leave it alone. A tweek like that will be VERY involved, and the end result will more often than not be a fubared RTA11.

    Cheers,
    Russ
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,668
    edited October 2003
    Leave them alone! Polk had a great idea with those PR's. If you need more natural bass then get a clean high current power amp and some high-end interconnects/speaker cables, just not Monster.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • scornful
    scornful Posts: 272
    edited October 2003
    Originally posted by RuSsMaN
    Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, you don't say?

    Milliseconds of genius here.

    ROFL... he should have left off the liquid/gas part. He was doing well til that spilled out. Though he's correct in saying air is a fluid (to an engineer anyways).
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  • andrewe77
    andrewe77 Posts: 17
    edited October 2003
    I have a mechanical engineering degree. Looking back, I guess it was funny. Just wanted to give him a bit of knowledge.
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  • scornful
    scornful Posts: 272
    edited October 2003
    Dont sweat it andrew... I'm an ME as well and know what you were saying.
    Denon 3802
    B&K 7270
    Outlaw ICBM
    Behringer DSP1124P
    Samson S1000
    SVS 20-39CS+ (x2)
    RTi150's
    CSi40
    FXi30's
    RTi38's
    Win Vista HTPC
    InFocus 4805 ~100" Screen
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  • George Grand
    George Grand Posts: 12,258
    edited October 2003
    I do not possess an ME, and I understood what Andrew said, and know it to be true. I'm going to go out on a limb, and say that a good majority of the people going into the store, WOULD NOT know that "fluid-coupling" was nothing more than a term for a passive radiator based design. I SINCERELY doubt most of the salesman involved in marketing those speakers when they were available would have been able to explain "fluid coupling" had they not spoken to Andrew, yourself, or of course, me. Marketing tool boys, and it doesn't make for a bad pair of speakers.

    George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)
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  • sid700
    sid700 Posts: 3
    edited November 2003
    Hello. Can anyone tell me the frequency range of the mids in the RTA-11TL (i.e. MW6510)?

    How about the tweeters?

    Thanks in advance.
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