Monitor 70 or RTi10 ?

weitrhino

I've been a member here for a while although admittedly in lurk mode because I don't actually own any Polks. I suspect that's going to change soon as I have a need for a moderate pair of towers for my front room to be driven by a Sunfire Ultimate Receiver. The room has built-in Cambridge surrounds and side surrounds. Eventually I'll work in a center and a sub but for now I'm focused on the mains.

The Sunfire puts out 200 watts into 7 channels although I may skip the side surrounds and biamp the mains instead. I'm not a big DVD movie guy so I won't be running into much 7.1 media. So I've found a couple of Polk models I'm interested in and thought I'd look for some opinions from the cogniscenti. Can anyone give a comparison / contrast between the Monitor 70 and the RTi10? I can see the specs for the RTi10s but yesterday while I was researching on the vintage Polk page it refreshed on it's own and the background changed. Now the Monitor 70 product page delivers a 404 error:mad: Judging from various sources it looks like a Monitor 70 pair can be had for less than $400, not too sure about the RTi10 pair.

Any general opinions are appreciated.

HTguru1982

RTi10's are superior to the Monitor 70's in every way. That said, since you've got a Sunfire receiver, I would recommend the Polk LSi15's. They're currently available from Polk through their Ebay site for $800/pair. If that's out of your budget, Polk also sells the RTi8's for $400/pair. Shipping is included in the price for both sets.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-RTi8-BLACK-Towers-from-Polk-Audio-GREAT-DEAL-/390313133259?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item5ae079c4cb

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-LSi15-LSi-15-CHERRY-Tower-Loudspeaker-Polk-Audio-/230629800429?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item35b29b79ed

Another option would be the LSi9's.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-LSi9-Cherry-Bookshelf-Loudspeakers-Polk-Audio-/360448180951?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item53ec62c2d7

weitrhino

I appreciate that, but I think the LSi9's and LSi15's are out. The 9's aren't a tower and the 15's are over my modest budget. I have looked at the RTi8's but thought I'd get a little more bottom end grunt from the RTi10's, no? Interesting to hear they are superior to the Monitor 70's. Care to elaborate?

I won't be doing my critical listening with this system.

cnh

Here are your specs:

Monitor 70s

http://www.polkaudio.com/products/monitor70

Rti-10s

http://www.polkaudio.com/products/rti10

The Rti-10s have a more robust tweeter. Can hit 5 hz lower than the 70s. Handle a little more power and also have a little more detail up high because they have a different tweeter and crossover system.

The 10s would benefit most from extra power. Although the 70s also like a bit more.

If you can find the 10s for a "good" price, consider them. If your budget is really tight, the 70s would not be a bad choice.

I see you have a set of Carver Amazings and some tubes to run them, so I can see why you won't be using the new system for much critical listening!

cnh

deronb1

If you look for awhile, you might be able to find a nice pair of RTi12s for around 400.00. You have plenty of juice to power them properly.

weitrhino

I mentioned the Monitor 70's because I've seen a couple pair sell for a good price. Just missed a CL deal at $275 because the seller failed to respond for 5 days! The RTi10's look to reach a bit lower, a bit higher, and handle all the power I'll throw at them for only 1 dB less efficiency by comparison. (I swear the Monitor 70 product page was down for about 36 hours!) The RTi12's are a much closer comparison the the Monitor 70's, in fact they're almost identical spec-wise, but they don't seem as abundant judging by the number of reviews posted and on my anecdotal observations.

Thanks to all for the input so far.