Upgrade Advice

All4Heels

I currently have some old Polk RM series speakers and was just getting ready to upgrade to Polk RTi6 for the two front, the CSi5 for the center and the FXi5 for the two rears. As I understand it from the "new product" thread, Polk is coming out with the updated RTiA series in May, that will have a possible replacement for the current RTi6. If I wait until the new RTiA series comes out in May to update my front speakers, is there a problem with going ahead and purchasing the CSi5 center and two FXi5 surrounds now and using them with my existing two RM2300 front speakers until I upgrade the fronts in May? My primary use is for HDTV and DVDs. Thanks in advance.

Ron

WilliamM2

The Csi5 and FXi5 may not be a perfect match for the new RTiA series. as they have supposedly updated the drivers.

Or you may want to wait for Polk to upgrade the RTi line, last ime they did this, the old series were on sale everywhere for fire sale prices.

Joey_V

All Heels,

Welcome and enjoy your stay!

My opinion on the subject is to be on the lookout for the retiring RTi at closeout prices. Getting them for that price would be a great buy, regardless of how the newer series sound.

HOWEVER, if you can, the ideal situation is to be able to demo the two and choose accordingly. What I mean is the ideal situation would be that a store would have the outgoing RTi and the new RTiA series in the same store for demo and the RTi being on closeout while being in stock.

I wish you luck.

Let us know what you end up doing.

Regardless, know that you are getting an upgrade either way.

Joey

Nostalgic

I'm in the same boat. About to pull the trigger on some RTi8's and a CSi5 center and possibly some RTi4 rears.

I love the cherry face of the new speakers though and would like to get those or get my current selection at a big discount. I just don't want to wait!

My question is this: I know you can't give a definitive answer but please GUESS for me.

What will the RTi8 and CSi5 prices go to once the RTiA's are released in May? They are $700/pair for the RTi8's now and $400 for the center.

Thanks for your guess!!

Ricardo

1/2 price

TroyD

Find the speakers you like, buy them and then don't second guess yourself.

Probably the worst thing you could do is say, I really want A but I can get B at a discount. Eventually, that will come back to bite you.

Worry less about the discount and more about a selection of gear you enjoy.

On the flip side of that, I've never really worried about things becoming obsolete. If it sounds good to me today, why wouldn't it continue to sound good tommorow? New models come and go every year, the sound is pretty consistent though and the improvements are incremental rather than wholesale.

Clear as mud?

BDT

cfrizz

Makes perfect sense to me Troy!

steveinaz

TroyD wrote:

On the flip side of that, I've never really worried about things becoming obsolete. If it sounds good to me today, why wouldn't it continue to sound good tommorow? New models come and go every year, the sound is pretty consistent though and the improvements are incremental rather than wholesale.

True stuff. Look at how many people wish they had a vintage speaker from 20-30yrs ago back in their rig (me for one).

TroyD

I kind of like the attitude of Peter Walker of Quad, pretty much, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The original Quad ESL was in production basically unchanged for the better part of three decades. It's successor, the 63, nearly 20.

BDT