Polk Ls50/ 70/ 90 versus Polk RTiA and Signature

Hyme2019

Curious for some Polkies input, I have a chance to buy a pair of Polk Ls90 for $275 a pair. Has anyone done a side by side comparison between them and current Polk RTiA or Signature series? Thoughts? Thanks

FestYboy

Totally different animals. Before considering any of those series, ask yourself what the end goal is. An answer to that question will point you to the most appropriate series.

FestYboy

Please, if you're not going to be positively productive, don't comment.

BlueFox

Actually, you can do that on almost any Internet forum, at least for a while.

BlueFox

Why support censorship? Just ignore posts you don’t like.

Hyme2019

Um ok but not of this give me any input lol

daddyjt

F1nut

I'm amused at how some give me the power by letting me get under their skin. That includes you, honestaquarian.

BlueFox

Makou wrote: »

BlueFox wrote: »

Why support censorship? Just ignore posts you don’t like.

That's just a quick and/or temporary solution to a problem that does not address or resolve the underlying cause of said problem.

What problem? Somebody saying something you don’t agree with?

F1nut

Makou wrote: »

F1nut wrote: »

I'm amused at how some give me the power by letting me get under their skin. That includes you, honestaquarian.

Is that why you threatened to flush Omgwtfpwnd225 down the toilet after he schooled you about colors?

Oh don't you worry, you and he will be flushed. Have a nice swim fastz28.

ken brydson

Hyme2019 wrote: »

Um ok but not of this give me any input lol

My input. Big fan of the LS series. Better for music than the RTiA, less bright IMO. Haven't heard the Signatures so I can't comment there. They do have me curious though.

Hyme2019

Ken put aside the tweeters for a moment do you feel they both have a similar punchy sound?

FestYboy

@Hyme2019 , what do you plan on using the speakers for (majority of the time)?

FestYboy

@F1nut , @BlueFox , @Makou , @Omgwtfpwnd225 please take this somewhere else, some respect and decorum would be greatly appreciated. Address the OP or don't post at all.

BlueFox

Good point.

Hyme2019

I’m bit of a collector so prob just occasional music no ht.

FestYboy

Hyme2019 wrote: »

I’m bit of a collector so prob just occasional music no ht.

In that case, I'd go with the LS, as they were designed for that job, the signature are supposed to be all-rounders. I have a pair of LS 50s and can attest to them not being suited for ht use as compared to the RTIs (which I also have).

Jstas

Hyme2019 wrote: »

Ken put aside the tweeters for a moment do you feel they both have a similar punchy sound?

The LS series was one of the first to use Polk's "Dynamic Balance" technology in the woofers. Like Ken said, the tweeters are a bit muted compared to newer, brighter offerings but it lends well to music, especially vocals, as they blend well with their woofers.

That said, the Dynamic Balance tech was not revolutionary in idea but revolutionary in execution since Polk was one of the first to use materials in cone design that complimented each other for their damping properties. One material would damp an unwanted sonic artifact of another and they all did that to each other. With the "sandwiched foam" design using disparate yet complimentary materials, you ended up with a very light cone that was fairly rigid. They put beefy butyl rubber surrounds on the cones and gave them pretty long throws. That made them a bit less sensitive than the older drivers you see in the Monitor series and the SDAs but, the LS90 could dig as deep as any of the lighter, larger drivers from the earlier series and did it in a fraction of the foot print.

Every LS speaker I've heard, even the bookshelfs, had impressive low-end extension and authority. Especially for the size of the enclosure and the driver. They like power and the more you give them the more they serve to impress. Back when they were all new, you were only getting that kind of performance out of diminutive drivers in line arrays if you were going for higher end stuff that was using esoteric tech at the time.

Polk was doing it cheaper than everyone else and last I knew they still have the patent for their Dynamic Balance tech and they still use those principles in driver design because of how effective it is.

Compared to the RTiA and the Signature series, I think the LS series is smoother than the RTiA series. The RTiA series lends itself more to the dynamic range of movie viewing. Musically they are good, not great. Theater-wise, the RTiA is hard to beat, especially because of their price. The LS series will do HT duty but not quite as well as the RTiA. The brightness of the RTiA is what makes them so good at movies but detracts from music. The LS series still has the punchy bass, it's probably not as authoritative as the RTiA series but it still has significant impact, especially in the LS90's. It's a smoother delivery, though, if that makes sense.

I have yet to hear the Signature Series so I can't comment on that.

Hyme2019

Thanks j stas so I had a chance to hear the LS90 and I owned the ls50 for a short time back when they were new. So listening to the LS90 they reminding what I liked so much back in the day and that’s their punchy bass. I set up a pair is s55 and s15 at our office (we’re a distributor) And they don’t have that punch granted not side by side also very different price levels. That being said I have a pair of the 5 1/4” RTiA bookies at home they have that punch but yes their high end is sparkly. I see a lot of comments that say they don’t feel the RTiA is as good for music. I kind of like the airiness of the RTiA series.

Jstas

Yeah, I can see that but honestly, depends on room size for that "airiness". In a small to medium-sized room, it can come off as shouty, bright and busy and a bunch of that probably has to do with reflections and resonances due to those reflections.

I had a set of RTiA3's in my living room at my old house. That was about 13 feet by 11 feet. So a moderately sized room. They had hints of that ethereal soundstage like you're talking about with the airiness. I moved them to the library and put them on better equipment and that changed things but I noticed that they didn't like the smaller room. I got a ton of reflections and they got shouty, quick.

I brought them down to my basement where the home theater was and hooked them up to a beefy Adcom GFA-545ii with the Adcom GFP-750 (blue board) and gave them a workout. That room was about 35 feet long by 14 feet wide and there was a ton of space for them to breathe. As you stepped farther away from the speakers, they opened up the sound stage and disappeared at a sweet spot that was about 14-15 feet away.

I never heard the LS90's in that kind of environment but I guess the best way to describe the differences in regards to music is that the LS90's driver compliment never seemed to overwhelm the room where as the bright and "sparkly" tweeters on the RTiA get kinda sterile and, I dunno, I guess removed is a good word? In small rooms, they are just shouty. For a small room I would go with the T series or the R series or even Blackstones if they were still making them.

They aren't bad speakers at all and an upgrade from the RTi of the generation they replaced. They just seem to be a "jack of all trades" which comes with trade-offs when talking music programming vs video programming.

Still, we're comparing a Ferrari to a Lamborghini here, or a Camry to an Accord. Ya know?

daddyjt

Thanks for the great analysis - I could not agree more.

My first “real” speaker purchase was a pair of LS70, back in the early 90’s. They were my “daily drivers” in the family room for the better part of 20 years. I still have them, as I just can’t bring myself to part with them.

The LS series also brought us possibly the best center channel Polk has ever sold, in the CS350...:-)

Viking64

Bump.

scubalab

TTT

tonyb

bump

tonyb

bump