RTI 4's with Carver update

dale 442

I mentioned some time back that when I purchased my RTI 4's for HT use only that one day I would give them a go with my 2 channel setup. Well, that day did finally come last weekend.

There were two reasons for trying this out.

One was just for pure listening comparison to my SDA-2b's. What the hell, they are just sitting there. The second was to see how a speaker rated to handle 20-125 w/channel would fair with considerably more power than recommended running through them.

Yep, the "You do more damage by underpowering a speaker than overpowering a speaker" argument again.

This bit of a review is subjective only to a point.

Firstly, the 4's took basically all my tfm-45 would allow them to have. No severe harshness, bottoming or mids or tweeters flying across the room for that matter. Impressive as hell considering the cost.
My wife said I should sell the SDA's because she didn't notice the difference.:D Yeah, get right on that one:rolleyes: I did find however that the soundstage was very limited with the 4's compared to the 2b's. Not surprising at all. Maybe playing more with the placement of the 4's could have helped.

Secondly, to start the argument again, here I was running a small inexpensvie bookshelf speaker with an amp that is "Suppose to be" waaaaay to powerfull for the speakers. Hmmmm. This was not the case.
No way, in my opinion, that this can happen. If the source is clean and stout, a decent speaker will produce very loud levels problem free for a long period of time.

Thirdly, I hooked the 4's back to the low end HT receiver and listened again. NO comparison. At loud levels these things were screaming for mercy. Poor little guys.;)

Finally, I am a firm believer (always was but now that I went through the tests myself) that the more clean power you can deliver to your speakers the happier you and the speaker will be!

Don't concern yourself with how much a Polk speaker can handle, instead be concerned about how much can you possibly give them.

Bigger, in a speakers case, in regards to amplification is always going to be better.

Enjoy all,

aaharvel

excellent. imo these are the best speakers for the money that Polk makes.
Hooking them up to a nice, powerful warm-sounding amp should please most anyone, even those (like me) who desire warm sound over neutral and or bright.

MattN03

Cool review. I'm waiting on I/C's so I can bi-amp my Rotel 985 to the RTi8 fronts for 200 watts/channel. I can't wait to hear the results!

jcaut

While I agree completely with the premise that you're more likely to damage your speakers with a low powered receiver, I have to also point out that there ARE limits. It's not like you can't fry a speaker with too much power: You can. It's just that you are less LIKELY to do so because you can usually obtain as much volume as you want without damaging distortion if you're driving the speakers with a beefy amp.

I'm sure dale 442 (Olds?) knows this, and I'm not trying to lecture. Only trying to inform the inexperienced who might be reading here, that it IS possible to go too far.

Your ears are the best tool, IMO. If you're not hearing distortion, and the speakers don't sound distressed, you're okay. Unless the loud volume has so damaged your hearing that you can't HEAR the distortion, in which case... well, it's too late either way.

Jason

Shizelbs

Wait a sec, the RTi4s have a smaller soundstage than the SDAs? Get the F out.

Good work. I'm going to throw my Rti70s on the 2 channel gear here this weekend just for fun.

dale 442

Wait a sec, the RTi4s have a smaller soundstage than the SDAs? Get the F out.

I did say that it was "Not surprising at all":D

Oh, and the name dale442 IS about Oldsmobiles. Nice pickup!!:eek:

Enjoy,