Polk RTi series power requirements.

Eman

For those of you who own these speakers what is the minimum recomended amp/receiver to run these or what are you using?

I have an Harman Kardon AVR630 that puts out 90WX2 in stereo and 70WX7 and I know its high current but dont know if its enough to power the RTi speakers. Reason for asking is I have come across various threads that state a separate amp is needed etc.

danger boy

the RTi speakers don't need a ton of power. your HK will work just fine. if you are pre out's on your HK, then an external amp will help lighten the load off the HK. otherwise you should be just fine. now which RTi's are we talking about?

Eman

I liked the RTis12 very much, the 10s were OK but really did not like the handicapped mids it was putting out in comparison to both the RTi12 and RTi8 or even the Monitor 70s.

As of yesterday I was all set on the Monitor 60s (they are backordered) but with the current sale and discounts I am considering the RTis or the Monitor70 as well. Anyway, from a recent listening test I did not find the RTi8s a worthwhile upgrade from the 60s (both need a sub). I also did not find the RTi10s a worthwhile upgrade from the 70s the later which I liked better anyway.

So I guess its the Rti12s, the M70s and possibly the Rti8s due to the backordered M60s (on sale at tweeter).

gregure

Your HK would be plenty for models Rti4-Rti8. My experience with the 10's was that they sounded rather thin for two-channel on the Onkyo 701 and HK 630, although both did ok for movies. I found that the 10's didn't really shine until I purchased my B&K 507 receiver. At 150 wpc, it drives them very well. B&K use very good, high current amps, which revealed more detail in music and tamed the brighter top end a bit. It also finally sounded open and dramatic, as opposed to limited. If you have the 10's or 12's, the HK would be "enough" but would not drive them like a quality separate amplifier would. A sub $2k receiver just doesn't have the head room for larger speakers to sound their best. I would recommend looking into a good separate amp to drive your mains. The other speakers would be just fine off the receiver, but for music you will notice a huge difference. Better speaker cables would help as well. If you are running bulk cables to your mains, try purchasing a nice, braided pair of cables for L/R. The company I work for exclusively sells Audioquest cables, and I can attest to their quality. Even their entry level speaker cables (such as Type 4, Type 8, or CV 4/CV8) can be had for $160-$700 depending on length and are very good cables at their entry-level. Much better than Monster's stuff at any level, down to the cheap stranded stuff. Above that Audioquest uses all solid conductors, no stranded copper for them.
Some suggestions for affordable new amps:
Outlaw Audio 200 monoblock
B&K Ref 125.2/200.2
Adcom

You could also scour Ebay/Audiogon/Polk Forum for used stuff that might make your money go a little further.

aaharvel

if you're getting 12's i wholeheartedly recommend a separate amp to hook up to your H/K.

As nice as my h/k235 sounds- when I hooked up two Adcoms to my 7speaker setup there was just no comparison. ANd my speakers were the rti4's, the runt of the litter.