Moving to 7.1 channels, need advice!!!

PhillyDan1969

First let me say that I love these forums and I appreciate all the wonderful advice that fellow Polk lovers so easily and thoughtfully provide.

I became a "Polk" fan back in 97. I had recently moved to Jackson, MS and I found a small electronics chain called Campo Electronics in town. They were actually going out of business and they were selling all their Polk speakers real cheap so I bought a full 5.1 set-up to go with a Sony STR-D790 Dolby Pro Logic receiver I had:

RT8 fronts
CS101 center
Polk M2 surrounds.

I think I bought everything for about $400 then, but I can't really remember exactly.

Anyway that is how I became a Polk fan. Currently I have RTi10s for fronts, CSi3 for center (looking to get a CSi5 soon) and RTi6s as my surrounds. I recently purchased the Denon AVR 3805 and I want to add surround backs and I am really looking for some advice on which speakers I should add to this current set-up? Should they be bipole/dipole speakers?

PhillyDan1969

I wanted to add that through the advice I found on these forums I recently upgraded my Velodyne subwoofer and bought the SVS PB10-ISD and I absolutely love it.

Vgamer4550

Hey there......you have almost the same exact setup as I am trying to finish up. You will not regret getting the CSi5 Center channel, I just got mine about a month ago and let me tell you; its a phenominal speaker.

I also have the same reciever as you.....It blows my old sony reciever right out of the water.....best $1200 I ever spent.

As for your surround speakers......I personally got myself two sets of FXi3 bipole/dipole speakers. I did not get the FXi5s primarily because of the size of them and the room they were going in.

I consider these to be some of the best surround speakers I have ever listened to. I went through several different kinds before I finally decided on these. The price was right and they add just the right touch to the surround to make watching movies and listening to surround music as enjoyable as possible.

Hope that helps.

Vgamer4550

One more thing, I just had a real quick question about your RTi10 Fronts........

How do you like them.......my final purchases for my system are my Front speakers and a new sub and I am trying to decide between the RTi10 or the RTi12s.....

I hear they are both good speakers but I cant decide between the two. What are your opinions....Thanks

PhillyDan1969

I love my 10s, though I honestly never even considered the 12s. I compared the RTi8s and the RTi10s prior to CC discontinuing the sale of the RTi lineup.

jammik

Originally posted by Vgamer4550
One more thing, I just had a real quick question about your RTi10 Fronts........

How do you like them.......my final purchases for my system are my Front speakers and a new sub and I am trying to decide between the RTi10 or the RTi12s.....

I hear they are both good speakers but I cant decide between the two. What are your opinions....Thanks

Just thought I'd chime in with my first post. I did quite a bit of research before concluding that the RTi10's were what I wanted, based on opinions and price. I went down to my local Tweeter and auditioned them. They sounded pretty good but I wanted to compare them to the RTi12's they had and literally felt the difference was far too much to ignore, price be damned. I bit the bullet and picked the 12's since the difference to my ears was just a landslide. I was listening to an Alanis Morrisette disc and the vocals were resonating with 10's but the mids/vocals and highs on the 12's were like lifting a thick haze. The details just came alive and I think the extra mid woofer on the 12's may be the key. Of course, I recognize everyone's tastes may differ, but that's my humble opinion. Anway, I couldn't stop listening to my 12's tonight. They almost brought tears to my eyes. Good luck.

Mike Reeter

Pilly Dan,I picked up a couple of used center channel speakers for my rears,work very well...you might keep the CSi3 you have and try to pick another one...

jammik,I would go with the 12's...don't think you would regret it for a moment.

Vgamer4550

Hey thanks guys for your opinions.......I think I definitely would like to go for the 12s but size might be a limiting factor for me. From what I hear, these are some pretty big speakers. I'll have to redo some measurements to see if they will fit.

Thanks again for your guys' opinions, now......to get some money together .

PhillyDan1969

Well for me personally the biggest difference between the 10s and the 12s is, to put it simply, $440 ($959.98 vs $1399.98)!!! The $440 was easily the biggest difference even if I could listen to 10s vs. the 12s. And then consider for a moment that another measly $100 you could move up to the LSi15s($1499.98) instead of the RTi12s.

All pricing here is directly from Crutchfield if anyone is wondering.