Rti38 or RT35i?

xmp999

Quick question: which would be better as front speakers - a pair of RTi38 or RT35i? I had my heart set on the 35, but i just noticed a cheap pair of 38's on Craigslist ($140 CDN, which is about US $100) should I get them, or wait for 35's?

dromunds

I just posted on another post recently that I got a pair of 38's for a friend who is using them for music in a 2 channel with an entry level Pioneer Elite receiver. I was really surprised at how good they sound for the money. I would try to negotiate those babies.

heiney9

The Trilam's in the 35i's are the better tweeter. That series of Polk speakers was excellent. Sadly, the trilaminate tweeters are no longer made.

I have a pair of RT25i's that will always be with me. Those are amazing on vocals and acoustic music, simply amazing. Very natural and completely lacking any mid-range coloration.

In fact stock RT25i's do a better job with mids and upper mids than my modded 5B's as far as being completely uncolored.

I'd get the RT35i's over the RTi38's if you have a choice.

H9

P.s. I had a pair of RTi 38's and they didn't compare to the RT25i's. They had a thicker, more congested midrange and weren't as accurate with vocals and acoustic music as the RT25i's.

ken brydson

IMHO, if they sound good leave them alone.

honestaquarian

I believe the main difference between the two is the tweeters.Not sure exactly what tweeters the 38's use though.

honestaquarian

They also changed the cabinet

xmp999

Yeah, I read that the trilaminate tweeters in the 35's were replaced by silk ones in the 38's. I have no idea if that translates into a difference in the sound....

classic carl

I have a pair of both. I don't think the tweeters are different. I can check tonight. I think the only difference is the cabinet finish and the Polk logo on the grills. I've used them mostly as rear surrounds in my HT, but they sound very good playing music driven by a 2 channel amp. I don't think there is much, if any, difference in the sound, but I never did an A/B comparison.

Where are you located?

heiney9

A few times the RT25i's made the hair on the back of my neck stand up on some vocal and acoustic music. They obviously don't have a huge bass output since they are small. But they dig deeper than you would think and they rarely get congested at louder levels, nor do they sound "huffy" in the bass area. Very smooth and natural roll off, etc.

I think they would give the LSi 7 a run for it's money......I really do.

One of the better speakers Polk has made regardless of price. I continue to be impressed with the superb balance they display. I bought them cheap and I'd assume the RT35i is cut from the same cloth.

H9

classic carl

I just looked at mine and if the tweeters are different, I can't tell by looking at them. The RT35i is below the RTi38. Excuse the crappy cell phone pics.

xmp999

So I bought the RTi38's, and they sound pretty darn good to me. However, they have a little issue. One of the tweeter domes has some small dimples, probably from being pushed in and fixed. So the seller threw in a SCi30 to make up for the flaw. For the life of me, I can't hear any difference between the damaged and undamaged speaker, but it's bugging me a bit... So I've been thinking... In view of the comments above, what about swapping out the tweeters in all 3 speakers with tweeters from RT35i's (I believe the part number is SL6506). Would they fit? Would they improve the sound? Should I just leave well enough alone?

VinyLover

Rti38s bought mine in 2000 Australia because at that time I moved into an apartment. Drove those speakers with Yamaha RX V8 amp and fed LP music at them via Yamaha gigantic tremendous GT750 with Shure M97xE cartridge. for what they are (I mean bookshelf) they are nothing short of amazing. (they do not disappoint you if you keep in mind what you pay for them now in 2018, I still got them. I didn't abuse them, didn't expect or asked them to become sub woofers, nor did i expect from them 3 way system output or even floor standing model output their bass is good but not boombox sounding........ at the kind of pricing i read here being asked fro them dont walk past them. THEIR current replacement model from Pollk you'll pay many more $$$.

K_M

heiney9 wrote: »

A few times the RT25i's made the hair on the back of my neck stand up on some vocal and acoustic music. They obviously don't have a huge bass output since they are small. But they dig deeper than you would think and they rarely get congested at louder levels, nor do they sound "huffy" in the bass area. Very smooth and natural roll off, etc.

I think they would give the LSi 7 a run for it's money......I really do.

One of the better speakers Polk has made regardless of price. I continue to be impressed with the superb balance they display. I bought them cheap and I'd assume the RT35i is cut from the same cloth.

H9

Was wondering if you still feel this strongly about the RT25's?
Still own them?
Might look for a pair, your comments combined with stereophiles great review, made me think we need to look more at Polks speakers beyond the Lsi and Older vintage lines and Rti's we own..

VR3

The original rt series, as a direct descendant from the srt was a great series.

The rtixx was awful, less than 2 years production. The next series, the silver faced, rti12 etc has incredibly poor quality enclosures. The current series is perhaps a parallel move from the original series with nicer looking cabinets.

msg

Another thumbs up for the RTxxi series. I picked up a set of RT25i speakers under the recommendations on the board for a desktop/small office setup, and that's one of my favorite systems of all. I have to agree, there's something special about the RT25i. Very smooth, not at all fatiguing.

Also agree about RTixx - to me, awful for music, but they did seem good for HT.

I did also try a set of RTi38 just to see how they sounded, because they do appear similar in design to the RT25i, but the sound just isn't there for me. I'm doing a basic cabinet rehab on the 38s cabinets for practice, and will give them away. Too much like my bad experience with RTi10 for music.

I'd be curious to try anything in the RTxxi lineup.

K_M

msg wrote: »

Another thumbs up for the RTxxi series. I picked up a set of RT25i speakers under the recommendations on the board for a desktop/small office setup, and that's one of my favorite systems of all. I have to agree, there's something special about the RT25i. Very smooth, not at all fatiguing.

Also agree about RTixx - to me, awful for music, but they did seem good for HT.

I did also try a set of RTi38 just to see how they sounded, because they do appear similar in design to the RT25i, but the sound just isn't there for me. I'm doing a basic cabinet rehab on the 38s cabinets for practice, and will give them away. Too much like my bad experience with RTi10 for music.

I'd be curious to try anything in the RTxxi lineup.

Polk has so many speaker "lines" over the years, they give me a headache!
I can not keep track of most of their stuff from the 90's onwards....just too much.

Wonder if there is a timeline reference that would show all the lines year by year?

msg

I thought I'd seen a timeline thing at one point but not sure, and can't remember where.

There is this, though - list of all Polk speakers on the Internet Archive from back in 2014, I think just before Vanilla?
http://web.archive.org/web/20140628092311/http://www.polkaudio.com/vintage

Polk SDA/Monitor - https://polksda.com/list.shtml

And then this kinda/sorta timeline - https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/158644/polk-speaker-timeline